Aftermath of colonialism in the novel Things Fall Apart
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. (Kohn Margaret) This present paper tries to find out the effect of colonialism on the Igbo society in Things Fall Apart. What happened Aftermath of colonialism in the Things Fall Apart. Here I am trying to compare what is happening before colonialism and after colonialism in Achebe's Things Fall Apart. How people's minds get disturb from that and even the protagonist committed suicide because he can't live that type life. The African people have their lifestyle, their religion, god and goddess, culture, rituals, language and so many other things; but because of the colonizers and their ruling agenda the natives lost all the things they had before, in a way they had lost their Identity. So colonialism made an effect on each and every aspect of natives Life. Colonialism affected their social, cultural, phycological, mental, educational state of mind. Chinua Achebe portrayed a real picture of the aftermath of colonialism. He had not included bad things done by colonizers but he had also mentioned the good things done by them. Achebe was very critical about his own people and that is the powerful thing. Achebe depicts how a culturally rich and well-governed society is destabilised by the arrival of Christian missionaries and British colonialists.
Key words : Colonialism, Religion, culture
Chinua Achebe's masterpiece novel "Things Fall Apart" is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first novel, receive global critical acclaim. This is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel followed the life of the protagonist 'Okonkwo'. Things Fall Apart,” one of the first works of fiction which presents African village life from native perspective, Achebe began the literary reclamation of his country’s history from generations of colonial writers. The novel " Things Fall Apart" was listed by Encyclopædia Britannica as one of "12 Novels Considered the 'Greatest Book Ever Written. Chinua Achebe was writing about African society, in telling from an Africans point of view the story of the colonization of the Igbo, tends to extinguish the misconception that African culture had been savage and primitive.
There are a lot of things which are affected by the colonizers on natives. There are many notable changes we can observe in the lifestyle of African people. Let's talk on various points one by one :
Religion :
In Things Fall Apart people followed the Igbo religion. They lived in the Umuofia region. In which they have so many Gods and Goddess like Indians. Basically religion in Umuofia society is based on agriculture. There is a god for rain and another for earth. Most of these gods are focused on nature. Since they are mostly an agricultural society, it makes sense that nature would be important to them. Since they worship the earth, they take care of the earth and are careful to not dishonor the earth in any way. However they also worshipped their ancestors as gods. The people of Umuofia had also believed in ' Chi', which is the personal Spirit of men and women.
In Igbo community Being spiritual and religious is important for the entire society, since it “unites everyone into a clan, giving them a sense of purpose and attachment. Its religion connects the people to the heavens, the earth, and the land and places everyone in the social order” (Levine )
" He had been cast out
of his clan like a fish onto a dry, sandy beach, panting, clearly his
a personal god or chi was not made for great things. A man could not
rise beyond the destiny of his chi. "( 131, Things Fall Apart)
Okonkwo was thrown out in the clan because the earth god was not happy with him because he killed a young boy of the clan unintentionally. So in a way the African who are happy with their god and goddess. They live their life peacefully. But after the western religion came to Umuofia the situation in the novel where religion is almost a vehicle for the fall of Umuofia society.
Western ( Christian) religion breaks order in the Umuofia society by taking in outcasts and clan members without title and giving them power. By taking power away from the clan's authorities, Christian religion destroys the clan's old methods of justice and order, creating an apocalyptic scenario for the clan's former way of life.
In Christianity, there is one all-powerful god. This god is there to save them from their sins and to save them from this life. For the Igbo culture this is unbelievable because this life and land is their entire life. A single god doesn't seem very applicable to them.
From the machineries Mr. Brown manages to live peacefully in Igbo society as he shows openness towards its religion and traditions and daily communicates with the people while Mr. Smith’s methods have devastating effects on Igbo society. The main reason for this is Mr. Smith’s lack of willingness to communicate and as language and speech are so important to the Igbo people this has devastating effects. In the novel we have evidence that how colonizers are trying to portray his religion is higher than native Africans.
"And he told them about this new God, the Creator of
all the world and all the men and women. He told them that they
worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone."
"All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They
are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy
innocent children. There is only one true God and He has the earth,
the sky, you and me and all of us."
"Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm," replied
the white man. "They are pieces of wood and stone." (Things Fall Apart)
In this way the missionaries are convincing clan members to change their religion and accept the Christian religion. There are several good things in Christian religion and several bad things in Igbo religion. But the missionaries are harming their beliefs and faith in their god. So because of the British missionaries Igbo people lost their religion and their god and goddess.
Culture , lifestyles and Traditions :
" Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. "
This is the opening line of the novel, through which we come to know about the tradition of Igbo community. They have a community of warriors. Those who won the most titles were the powerful men of the clan, who were the rulers over the community. Who had the power to make a decision.
But after the missionaries came they lost their social structures, their law system , their rituals.
" Such a man was Ogbuefi Ugonna, who had taken two titles,
and who like a madman had cut the anklet of his titles and cast it
away to join the Christians"
When Okonkwo came after the seven year of exile he came to know that the people who had titles had also joined the Christian religion.
In chapter twenty the conversation between Okonkwo and his friend Oberika gives us a clear idea of how the missionaries are working on the land. They don't understand the situation and the tradition of the community, but they are only trying to ensure that each and every person of the clan follows their so-called rules and regulations.
" The White man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his
religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay.
Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like
one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we
have fallen apart." ( Things Fall Apart)
Okonkwo and Obierika are here talking about how their own people changed under influence and fear of colonizers. They have unity to war against any other community or other problems but They lost their unity of the community.
Okonkwo's one question to Obierika explains to us about the colonizers' way of dealing with things : "Does the white man understand our custom about land?" To some extent we can say 'yes' because Mr. Brown who had tried to understand the religion and the other social traditions and it's meaning. But that is not for the sake of the natives but only for their benefits. And also expand his own missionaries and religion.
Language is a very important part of Igbo culture and it is highly stylized by the use of fanciful and didactic proverbs so that points are made without inflicting pains on the listeners during conversations. This is why Achebe says that “proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten”. This implies that proverbs, though highly symbolic, are the only strong weapon of impressing words into the minds of individuals. So, proverbs are matchboxes used to ignite words or conversations because they imbibe some truth. As a result, the Igbo use their proverbs to teach industry and hard work when they say;If a Child washed his hands, he could eat with Kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and he ate with Kings and Elders. (P. 7) This proverb reiterates the importance and dignity of labor (hard work). So, the Igbo recognizes that through hard work even a person from a poor background like Okonkwo can overcome his father’s laziness to make himself “one of the greatest men of his time ”(Awa).
Thus, Colonialism affected each and every aspect of Igbo society. Firstly Colonizers emphasis on religion. They explain the things in a way that the African gods are not God but just part of woods and stone. They had a strong argument against the African gods and culture and rituals. Missionaries had devastating lives. Natives already have their law system and other things with particular reasons, but Colonizers want to make changes according to them. Those who do not follow the rules made by missionaries are imprisoned. If we talk about the suicide of protagonist then who is responsible for Okonkwo's suicide ? Maybe the Clear cut answer is the Colonizers. He doesn't want to live under the colonizers cruel rules. So in the aftermath colonialism time is the worst time for natives. At some points it was good for people but at what price that is the question.
Work Cited :-
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Penguin Books Ltd, 2010, Print.
"All-TIME 100 Novels| Full list", Time, 16 October 2005.
Awa. J. O. Language and Culture in African Literature: A Stylistic Assessment of the Works of the Contemporary Nigerian Novelists. In Journal of the English Scholars Association of Nigeria (JESAN), Vol. 18. No. 1, Pg. 126-137
Levine, Alan. “Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as a Case Study in Nietzsche’s Transvaluation of Values.” Perspectives on Political Science, 28.3 (1999) 136-141. LibHub. Web.
Margaret, Kohn. "Colonialism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University. 29 August 2017.
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