Post colonial criticism within Chinua Achebe’s

Post colonial criticism within Chinua Achebe’s award winning novel ‘Things Fall Apart’

Chinua Achebe published his first and most successful novel Things Fall Apart in 1958, just 52 years following the colonisation of Nigeria. Born on the 16th November in 1930 Ogidi, Nigeria, Achebe was submerged into the combination of postcolonial Christianity and Igbo’s traditional culture. This submersion was furthered by his parents transferral to Christianity and his Grandparents’ contrasting support for the traditional Igbo culture. Achebe highlights, throughout the novel, the glorious independence of this culture, pre-colonisation, allowing Achebe to compare life pre and post colonisation in Umofia and more widely Africa. In doing so, he draws upon the positive and negative sanctions of the culture. For example, he presents the festivals of Igbo, the worship of Gods, common practices and rituals and the importance of nature. However, later in the novel the

Image: The story of the hunt glorifies no one by Toyin Ojih Odutola Essay by Uma O’Hara

reader experiences the extinction of these characteristics due to the process of Colonisation. This decay in culture can be seen to directly mirror key protagonist Okonkwo’s decay in relevance and success. The setting of the novel is situated in the outskirts of Nigeria in a small, united village Umofia. The novel follows the journey of Africa and specifically Okonkwo’s reaction to the white missionaries, emphasising the people’s confusion as they become threatened by sudden cultural changes imposed on the Igbo such as the introduction of alternative political structures, institutions and religion (Christianity), tdescribed as the “collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion” (Alimi 121). Achebe’s incentive of writing the novel was in an effort to reclaim the lost voices of the previous culture and educate his readers of traditional African values, by revising the stereotype provided by post colonial literature. Before Things Fall Apart was published, most novels that had been written about Africa had been written by Europeans. The majority of these novels provided stereotypical presentations of Africans as wild, animalistic creatures, however Achebe’s account of Africa largely revises this racist stereotype as he celebrates the culture, people and values.

Wanting to challenge the stereotypical view of Africans at the time, Achebe highlights the similarities between the colonisers and colonised cultures to show that the cultures aren’t as different as Western literature portrayed. This idea is immediately introduced as the importance of possessing fame and strength becomes clear through Achebe’s characterisation of key protagonist Okonkwo, a legendary figure, largely worshipped due to his success in Umofian society. “His fame rested on solid personal experiences” and “Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush fire in harmattan”. Achebe highlights how strength catalyses success, a similarity in every culture as physical and physiological strength both cultivate success. Achebe amplifies the importance of strength in Umofian society, due to his comparison of Okonkwo and his late father Unoka: “Unoka, the grown up was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him money because he never paid back”. Achebe’s contrasting characterisation of Okonkwo and Unoka highlights the importance of motivation and respect in Igbo culture further creating a revised version of African culture. Achebe does this by replacing the out dated ‘wild’ stereotype of Africans, showing Africans to possess their own goals and ambitions.

This is accentuated by the importance Achebe places on money, debt and respect throughout the novel, this largely diminishes the stereotype of Africans being uncivilised as their culture was seen to value many of the same elements of Western cultures. Achebe’s comparison of cultures is a key revisionist tool as he strives to criticise post colonial literature due to the differing portrayal of characters from Europe and Africa. Western Literature largely stereotyped Africans as uncivilised, this novel is often compared to Conrads “The Heart of Darkness” by Post-Colonial critics, Conrad motivated this stereotype: “They passed me within six inches, without a glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages”; here Conrad’s description of chained slaves as savages massively highlights the unjust nature of Western literature. Achebe fights to revise this by his presentation of Umofia before the arrival of the colonisers, such as the Igbo have their own judicial system constructed by centuries of knowledge, which the ancestral gods trusted the oldest men in the village to carry out a fair ruling. Achebe provides multiple examples of the strict yet fair system in play throughout the novel. It is initially shown in chapter 2 of the novel, when the sons of Mbaino murdered a daughter of Umofia; following this announcement there is a dramatic yet orderly raucous throughout the crowd before “An ultimatum was immediately dispatched to Mbaino asking them to choose between war on the one hand, and on the other the offer of a young man and a virgin as compensation”. Although this may not be the obvious or perhaps fairest way to run, these rulings are what makes Umofia an orderly place. Achebe’s inclusion of these rulings is significant, as when the white missionaries arrive they remove the structure of Igbo culture and replace it

continued importance placed on light and dark, light being used to symbolise safety, whilst dark is seen to represent terror. This is a somewhat striking feature of the culture, due to Achebe’s narrative decision of placing Okonkwo’s clear characterisation as a resilient war hero constructed to be feared, however he too places the same significance on light and dark. This highlights the people of Umofia’s respect for common practice which keeps the peace in the culture. Additionally this presents Umofia as a strong community, with everything and everybody working neatly around the central aspects of the culture. On the other hand this strong emphasis on light and dark, could be Achebe presenting the innocence of the people, as in the novel the Igbo’s ignorance to the wider world immediately becomes clear, as throughout the novel there is little reference to the wider world, and therefore Achebe’s focus on light and dark may be presenting the culture’s naivety. This however has the affect of making this culture appealing as “On a moonlight night it would be different . The happy voices of children playing in open fields would then be heard”, intensifying the happy naivety of the community. Achebe’s focus on these aspects of the culture provides more empathy from the reader when the Colonisers arrive and are seen to largely obstruct this initial innocence. Achebe further amplifies the significance of dark and light in Igbo culture, as Chielo is shown to be possessed by the spirit of her God, demanding to see one of Okonkwo’s daughters Ezinma to take her away to Agbala the priest. The appearance of spirits is accompanied by the blanket of darkness, therefore in Igbo culture nighttime has the effect of causing great chaos and discomfort within the compounds. Achebe’s inclusion of these aspects has the effect of educating the reader of key features of Igbo culture as he highlights the great importance whilst presenting them as normal rather than unusual or strange.

Achebe’s introduction of the white missionaries is rather late on in the novel, giving time to characterise the people of Umofia, including their core values, traditions and cultural features. It could be argued this section leading to the colonisation of Africa is the key revisionist part of the novel as it allows Achebe to replace the outdated stereotype by a revised and corrected vision of African society. Additionally Achebe’s large emphasis on the culture throughout the novel has the effect of amplifying the readers sympathy as they watch these aspects get discarded and replaced. Achebe makes the narrative decision of removing Okonkwo from directly witnessing the colonisation of the culture, as he was exiled, therefore Okonkwo hears everything through his friend Obierika. This direct removal from the introduction of the white missionaries is a key narrative decision, as it shows how previous key leaders such as Okonkwo weren’t able to fight the colonisers, fuelling the idea that the decay in Okonkwo’s success can be seen to physically represent the colonisers success, as the power of the original leaders diminishes as does their culture. Achebe’s initial introduction of the colonisers is somewhat subtle: “During the last planting season a white man had appeared in their clan”. This subtle introduction of the white missionaries is effective as it echoes the clear confusion of the Umofian people. However, Achebe’s inclusion of an Oracle has the effect of foreshadowing the later colonisation “the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them… and it said that other white men were on their way”. Due to the inclusion of the oracle, the reader immediately expects the severe colonisation that is quick to follow the arrival of the white man “The three white men…used a powerful machine to make themselves invisible…and they began to shoot. Everybody was killed”. Although Achebe’s initial introduction of the white missionary is highly subtle and seems to be somewhat ignored by the people, it soon becomes evident within the novel how un-expectant the people were of any intrusion upon their society, largely magnifying how the colonisers used this to their advantage, as by the time key members of the culture found out about this intrusion, such as Okonkwo, it was too late as the people of Umofia were already terrified by the deaths and colonisation of surrounding villages. Achebe additionally highlights the destruction of Umofian culture as he draws attention to the construction of coloniser’s systems such as the church, which many Umofians joined including Okonkwo’s son. This amplifies

A Proud Trio, Igbo Women in the early 20th Century

Photo depicting early christian missionaries and native africans

the decay of the villagers original emphasis and reliance on the traditional God’s of Igbo culture. The people of Umofia are separated into two groups following the colonisers arrival, those who carry on following the traditional beliefs of Igbo culture, such as Okonkwo and those who convert to Christianity and begin to follow the structure of the colonisers such as Okonkwo’s son Nwoye. This may be explained by Fanon’s theories surrounding postcolonial criticism, as he believes the “native’s develops a sense of ‘self’ as defined by the ‘colonial master’…while the coloniser develops a sense of superiority”. He furthers his theory “in an attempt to deal with the psychological inadequacy the native tries to be as white as possible by adopting Western values, religion, language… and by rejecting his own culture”. The change in belief of Nwoye, mirrors Fanon’s theory, presenting the idea that the natives were psychologically forced into thinking in the same way as the white people they feared, whilst members of the community such as Okonkwo who were determined to fight held onto their traditional values. Therefore Achebe’s narrative decision of introducing the missionaries far into the novel amplifies the sudden effect and domination of colonisation on African society.

Achebe’s novel is a successful revisionist insight and portrayal of the effects of colonisation upon African society as he revises the stereotype of African people in literature. He replaces the illusion and unjust view of Africans as uncivilised savages, with a structured society with unique traditions, monitored by generations of ongoing beliefs and wisdom. This has the effect of combating the claim made by Europeans, that one of their reasons for colonising Africa was to civilise unsophisticated African minds as a humanitarian act, which is clearly unjust. Achebe’s novel also is successful as he normalises and protects traditional aspects of the culture, therefore Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart is a highly influential, as it provides a voice to victimised cultures.

Chinua Achebe, Lagos, 1966

Igbo masks oppose beauty to bestiality, the feminine to the masculine and black to white.