By Syeda Areeba Fatima
The novel “Things fall
apart” was written by Nigerian novelist and poet, Chinua Achebe. This novel by
Achebe was classified as a post-colonial novel by many critics. According to
Gikand, this novel is the first novel that emphasized “African
expressions in a narrative”.
The term “post-colonial” encompasses many grand ideas but generally referred to the texts written by the people/ natives of the colonial lands. The writers of the post-colonial texts emphasize much on the effects of colonialism, the culture of the natives, and the power of the language. Achebe similarly, focuses on these features of the colonial empire that labeled Africa as a “Dark Continent”. Post-colonial texts are a response to the colonial discourse and present the side of the story that was never highlighted by the colonizers.
Response to Colonial Discourse:
The first and the foremost characteristic of a post-colonial
text is that it is a response to the colonial discourse. It presents the other
side of the story which was never heard:
Until the lions have
their historians the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.
Read also,
Africa, for centuries,
was presented as a “prehistoric earth” and the Africans
as “prehistoric men” having an accursed inheritance. European
writers like Conrad and Kingsley presented Africa as land having “no
meaning, no shape, no coherence” which was highly criticized by the
natives. Achebe in his “Introduction to Africa” highlights that this stereotypical image of Africa was created to keep Africa empty of people so
that the colonizers can “people it with the creatures of our (their)
own imagination”. Achebe in his novel, “Things Fall Apart” breaks this
stereotypical image of Africa which was created by European writers and he
presents Africa as a land having its own culture, tradition, religion, administration,
and rules that are needed for civilization.
1.
Rewriting History:
The post-colonial
texts aim at rewriting history. They present their own culture which was
deliberately covered up by the colonizers to create a mysterious and exotic
image of Africa where people dance frenziedly and beat drums. According to
Achebe:
“African people did
not hear of culture for the first time from the Europeans… their societies were
not mindless... they had poetry and above all dignity”.
Achebe in his novel
represents the African culture through different institutions. Firstly, he
represents the judicial system in the village of
Umuofia. Mgbafo, a woman who was beaten by her husband, pleads before the
egwugwu (the heads of the nine villages) who decide that for Mgbafo to go back
to her husband, he must beg his wife for forgiveness and present his in-laws
some wine. Secondly, the religious beliefs of the people of
Umuofia was also presented. In the religious system, there was a supreme God
(Chukwu) who blessed the first family with yams and cocoyams which they planted
after sacrificing their eldest daughter and eldest son. Aghbala, the Oracle of
Caves, in the novel also highlight religious supremacy. Thirdly, the administrative
setup in Umuofia comprised of the supremacy of the religious
beliefs, ancestors, and the heads of the nine villages who determine the basic
rules and regulations needed for survival and civilization. Other institutes
such as currency (cowries), the institute of trade (selling
of yams), and the institute of marriage were also
highlighted in the novel. The festivals such as “Week of Peace” and
the “Feast of New Yam” also justify Achebe’s claim that the
people of Africa had a culture. Similarly, the literature of
Africa which was present in the form of folklore and proverbs also presented
the love of the Africans for their culture and traditions. Okonkwo’s father
Unoka was a flutist, a person who plays the flute; presenting the notion that
the African society was not even deprived of music. Achebe
by representing different institutes of African society rejects the European
notion that Africa had no culture and the colonialism was due to weaning the
Africans as highlighted by Conrad:
“Wearing those ignorant millions of their horrid ways”.
1.
Effects of Colonialism:
Achebe in the novel
also presents the effect of colonialism on the African culture which is one of
the most significant characteristics of a post-colonial text. Colonialism
refers to the full or partial political control over the other nation for their
economic exploitation. This novel by Achebe presents Africa before colonization
and after colonization. The effects of colonialism on Africa and African
culture were drastic as it not only destroyed the African culture but also
effect the natives politically, psychologically, and economically. Okonkwo, a
self-made African native who was a prosperous man having his compound, three
wives, numerous children, and two titles, was forced to kill himself at the end
of the novel due to his hamartia of fear of “failure and
weakness”. He was a great wrestler who defeated Amalize the Cat and
was respected by many people due to his bravery. But after seeing his people,
Umuofians submitting before the colonial powers he heads lost hope:
“He mourned for his
clan, which he saw was breaking up and falling apart. He mourned for his people
who had so unaccountably became soft like women”.
After being humiliated
by the District Commissioner, Okonkwo in a fit of anger kills a white messenger
and the Umuofians instead of helping him take revenge on the Whiteman’ for
destroying Umuofia, leave him alone:
“They turned into a
tumult instead of action”.
Seeing the unwillingness of his people to fight back, Okonkwo kills himself. This suicide was
not a mere suicide as highlighted by Obierika:
“He was one of the
greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself and now he will be
buried like a dog”.
Similarly, the
Africans who at the start of the novel were presented as one clan were now divided
into Christians and Non-Christians. They had become enemies of one and other.
After the arrival of the second Christian missionary, Reverend Smith saw “the world as a battlefield in which the children of the light were locked in a
moral conflict with the sons of darkness”. According to him, black was
evil and he taught the same to the converts because of which many fights of the
people of the clan and the Christians began as pointed out by Okonkwo, that now
the bond which connected everyone was cut off.
“The Whiteman’ is very
clever. He came quietly and peaceably with religion. He has put a knife on
things that help us together and now we have fallen apart”.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, “Things
Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe is a post-colonial text as it deals with the
representation of the culture of the Igbo society which was never represented
by the Whiteman. It is also a response to the colonial texts what represented
the colonized as “brutes and savages”.
