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M.A Part II Replica

Postcolonial Fiction

Dr. Aamir Aziz

Fate of Colonized Territories, Civilization of White Savages and Aftermaths of Insatiable

Rapacious Desires to Plunder Humanity in Paraphernalia of Indigenous African Culture

and Society as Depicted in Things Fall Apart of Chinua Achebe.

Depiction of so called “civility” of white men, malicious intentions under disguise of

missionaries, at last left broken culture, Faith, society and “salves” in Things Fall Apart. Animal

like dark continental community is vividly established through the ground facts embodied in

Things Fall Apart of Chinua Achebe. Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart portraits the realistic

account of deep insighted malicious intentions abode in Coloniser architectures. He gives the

view that how a basic and blameless looking word with no feeling of brutality appended to it can

turn a man's, a family's, a general public's or a country's regular daily existence topsy turvy. With

the psalms of a great 'genuine God' come the evangelists; and educate to the individuals the

expression of God. They don't have anything to stow away or fear and consistently acknowledge

everybody intrigued with great affection. In spite of being simply the righteous men, they act like

the 'counter Christ'. Individuals are overwhelmed and messed with their hyprocritic language and
soon a remote government begins acting all self important on the place where there is the dim

individuals and the individuals who should be the leader of their own property, fall go to the

guile ploy of the Colonizer Whites. The locals of the land lose their own entitlement to govern,

and opportunity of training of their own one of a kind convention, religion and culture. Any

place the White Colonizers go, they deteriorate to the individuals and countries of numerous

grounds afterward.

Chinua Achebe has deliberately presented the Igbo tribe as a traditional and well

designed civilization that repels to absorb the materialistic views of white men. There is a sharp

contrast between tradition and Christianity throughout the discourse in order to reveal the

individuality and societal standards. Consequently, the Africans face the music for not accepting

the materialistic views of white men in order to protect their own individuality and society. In

Things Fall Apart what actually fall apart are the traditions and customs of Africans,

individuality, identity and foremost Okonkwo’s hubris. Through the character of Okonkwo the

narrative holds power to narrate the individuality correspond to traditional values and customs.

Okonkwo is a fighter and he wants to fight for his tribe but he cannot uphold the rational views

of Christianity. Achebe presents the rationality of both Christianity and Igbo tribe and leaves the

interpretation up to reader to unveil quagmire lie in narrative.

Ambition of Things Fall Apart is to rummage the defects of Igbo culture and qualities as

well. Imperfections entailed in their culture though play their role towards annihilation of society

but major reason remains their reluctance to learn English language and preservation of their

language. The white preachers considered Igbo to be uncouth people in urgent need of their

assistance. In spite of the fact that the thought process of the appearance of evangelists in

Umuofia was to control over its kin, the ministers ought to have likewise considered this to be a
method of a social trade between the two. Since both Igbo and the preachers had up to this point

not known about the way of life of the other. The social trade between the two could have

profited the Igbo more since they have not showcased alacrity for knowing about the world that

exists outside of Umuofia and had the white ministers not showed up in their property, they

would even now be dumbfounded of the presence of humankind somewhere else. It is no ifs,

ands or buts that the white evangelists trusted themselves to be better in correlation than Igbo,

that is the reason they had a portion of the proselytes of Christianity be their delivery people. The

white men considered Igbo to be a weight that they needed to deal with by advising and

instructing them of things they didn't have the foggiest idea. The white man accepted his way of

life to be ethically better than Igbo culture and this caused a contention between the two

societies. In spite of the fact that these issues appear to be settled in right now, they still

especially exist and are causing a conflict between the two societies. At long last, it is essential to

recognize both the advantages just as the difficulties that come about because of European

imperialism on Igbo society. The Igbo incredibly profited by the presentation of school and

training in their general public that helped check the pace of absence of education in the town.

As a result of it, today most of the Igbo people are educated people who have widened their

information to be progressively "edified". The Europeans likewise showed Igbo their own

culture, and despite the fact that the Igbo thought that it was hard to change from their own way

of life to that of a more bizarre, they discovered some new information from it. In any case, there

are difficulties that face Igbo as an outcome of the appearance of the white evangelists. Igbo lost

the vast majority of the qualities that integrated them as one; social intelligibility between the

individual and society was lost, combined with their conventional qualities and lifestyle. Due to
the confounded perspective of Igbo not realizing whether to reject or grasp these progressions it

at last prompted their fall primarily in light of their dedication to the language.

The appearance of white evangelists in Umuofia was to assume control over its decision

and on the grounds that Igbo are a merciful society that was likewise clueless of the white men's

goals, they invited them into their territory and furthermore gave them a bit of their property not

realizing that these men will be the reason for the breakdown of their way of life. Without

culture, Igbo society is in the same class as dead, consequently the noteworthiness of Okonkwo's

passing at long last. Like Okonkwo, the Igbo ended it all by not being dubious of the white

teacher's goals in their territory or scrutinizing his quality.

Chinua Achebe was disappointed with the manner in which Europeans spoke to Africa.

That is the reason he composed Things Fall Apart as a response against the obtrusive and off

base portrayal of the landmass. Achebe takes note of that Things Fall Apart, "retell[s] the

narrative of my experience with Europe in a manner adequate to me," and he further announces

that he composed this novel "so as to reassert African character and as a major aspect of the

development of Nigerian patriotism" (O'Reilly 61). Along these lines, Things Fall Apart stands

as a counter talk, a postcolonial novel second to none, which was one of the main works, as

Gikandi notes, to "speak to the African involvement with a story that looked for, reluctantly, to

be not the same as the pilgrim novel" (Ojaide xvii b). As per O'Reilly, when moving toward a

postcolonial content, the author thinks about some key issues that may incorporate "the

utilization of indigenous social customs, the allotment of English, and the effect (regardless of

whether social, mental or political) of expansionism and its fallout" (O'Reilly 61). Truth be told,

these three angles have been widely and adequately managed in Things Fall Apart. The tale is a

representation of the social conventions of the indigenous Igbo, and the effects of imperialism on
the Nigerian culture; to have the option to do as such, Chinua Achebe, utilized English, the most

widely used language, as a vehicle of articulation.

This narrative demonstrates the perils of cultural intrusion, and the reasons why things

have fallen apart, hence the title, in Nigeria. Chinua Achebe shows that the Western assault on

Africans was not merely military or political, but cultural as well. Noteworthy, Okonkwo is

depicted as someone who is truly patriotic to his land; he is deeply hurt when he sees his village

and the people around him changing by “the white men”, which evidently signify the resistance

against Western dominance. It is crystal clear that Chinua Achebe renounces Western imperialist

ideologies, manifested in their superficial claim of bringing “civilization to backward people”.

Thus we find that the Igbo man, hence every African, is regarded, to borrow Fanon’s words, as

“the result of a series of aberrations of affect, he is rooted at the core of a universe from which he

must be extricated.” To complement this view, Jenny Sharpe writes in his essay “Figures of

Colonial Resistance”:

[…] the colonial subject was produced through a discourse of ‘civility,’ I

begin by retelling the story of the civilizing mission in a manner that

demonstrates the violence of its inscriptions. The discourse of civility

strains to affect a closure in the case of the subaltern, where the violence

of the colonial encounter is all the more visible. (Qtd from the

Postcolonial Studies Reader, p. 99)

Things Fall Apart is a representation of the African history, when all is said in done, and

Nigeria, specifically. Chinua Achebe attempts to introduce the African scenes, places and times

with every one of their complexities and real reality. Truth be told, it has been consistently the

situation that history is the main methods through which 'human advancements' demonstrate
their reality and authenticity. In such manner, Chinua Achebe composes back to the inside by

depicting the real authentic real factors of colonized countries, and in that capacity, he sets up a

viewpoint which addresses Western verifiable objectivity. In this way, Things Fall Apart is an

away from of "having a genuine presence: history and legitimation go connected at the hip;

history legitimates 'us' and not others" (Ashcroft 355).

Imperialism is ordinarily seen and illustrated contrarily in any talks and even considered

as wickedness. This recognition is commonly associated with the unforgiving, extreme and

ruthless misuse of the individuals and land being colonized. It is identified with its authentic and

social denigration, abuse, concealment, monetary misuse and hardship, artistic partiality and

semantic impedance on the colonized. In any case, aside from the negative effects because of the

imperialism, there is no uncertainty at all that it has brought some specific positive effects for the

colonized. Colonizers have cultivated immense quantities of individuals by spreading

illumination, information, data, innovation, and even affection for learning everywhere

throughout the globe. It is while overseeing the indigenous individuals that they humanize them.

This examination focuses on fundamentally concentrating on the imperialism as a recovering

insidiousness in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. It features the edification, progress and

different advancements brought by expansionism to the Nigerian Igbo. The examination result

shows that expansionism has brought some positive effects and evident milestone

accomplishments to the Igbo regarding foundation of religion, working of places of worship,

schools, clinics, courts, government, exchange and business, the acknowledgment of pariahs, the

stoppage of the executing of twins, that have made it an essential recovering malice, and even a

surprisingly positive development. It additionally uncovers that Chinua Achebe really recognizes

that expansionism has carried positive effects on the Nigerian Igbo.

Work Cited:

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Oxford: William Heinemann Ltd., 1958.

Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back. London: Routledge,

2002.

Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge, 1998.

Ashcroft, Bill et al. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. Routledge, London and New York. 1995.

Kenalemang Maatla Lame, “Things Fall Apart”: An Analysis of Pre and Post Colonial Igbo

Society. 11 Jan 2013. www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:648320/FULLTEXTOI.pdf.

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:518158/

Webster, Roger. Studying Literary Theory an introduction. London: Arnold, 1996.