INTRODUCTION:

During the colonial period from the 15^th century until the first half of the 20^th century, countries like England, Spain, Germany, France, Portugal, Netherland and others annexed different colonies of the world by force or on the name of mercantilism. Eventually, this practice ceased after the Second World War and the colonies got liberation from the colonial clutches. However, the damage done to the colonies was immense in every field and it was difficult for them to overcome the damage in a short period,. They were disparaged economically, socially, politically, culturally and psychologically. The colonies were not only drained materially but the inhabitants were looked down upon as creatures and inferior type of people. Colonialism gave birth to the concepts of East and West, Superior and Inferior, Cultured and Un-cultured, Barbaric and civilized etc.

Colonialism could only exist at all by postulating that there existed a binary opposition into which the world was divided. The gradual establishment of an empire depended upon a stable hierarchal relationship in which the colonized existed as the other of the colonizing culture. Thus the idea of the savage could occur only if there was a concept of the civilized to oppose it. In this way a geography of difference was constructed, in which differences were mapped (Cartography) and laid out in a metaphorical landscape that represented not geographical fixity, but the fixity of power. (Ashcroft et al 32)

The European writers through their writings dismantled the original image of the People of Colonies. They created a discourse which became the dominant and master discourse all over the world to scrutinize the Colonized people. The Europeans dominated the people of the colonies not only through coercion and physical power but through their ‘intellect’ as well. The European writers justified colonialism and questioned the identity of the colonized people. They recorded them in their books on their own without showing a miniscule of respect to their aspirations and feelings.

Post-Colonialism can be defined as the complete departure from Colonialism. In the broader perspective, the succeeding period after Colonialism is called Post-Colonialism. Thus, Post-Colonial writing was an attempt from the writers of the colonies like Chinua Achebe to counter the discourse created by the Colonial writers about the colonies and its people. These types of writings came into existence because of the impact of colonialism on the countries forcibly subjugated and controlled by the Colonizers. The discourse created by the western authors distorted and Denigrated

the image of the people living in these countries. In order to strengthen their rule, they created stereotypes about the people of Africa and Asia and many other different countries to justify their rule in the name of civilization, culture and education. They constructed the image of the Colonized the way they liked by pigeonholing them as Barbaric, un-ethical, Un-civilized and what not. The novel Things Fall Apart too is an attempt from Achebe to respond to the colonial discourse and present the image of his homeland and his people and culture as it is. While reading the novel, it becomes clear that Achebe considers it his moral responsibility to reassert and revitalize the glorious past of Africa. In this sense, Post-Colonialism is described as “after Colonialism” (Ashcroft et al. 12). Achebe wants to present the true and clear image of Africa (Igbo Culture) to let his people know about the true and comprehensible image of his native land rather than seeing it through the prism of western discourse. Things Fall Apart (1958), “re-interprets the European view of African culture and history prevalent since the zenith of imperialism” (Meyers 25). The inter-mingling of two different cultures i; e. the native culture and the culture thrusted upon the native people created a type of an identity crisis among the people. In this way, the novel highlights an impact of Colonialism on the African Culture and Society. In order to implement and inculcate their own beliefs and ideas, Colonizers took the advantage of colonies by abrogating their culture by using different stratagems and to manoeuvre their colonial agendas, they used different institutions to exercise their power in an intelligent way.

Achebe in the novel has used many Igbo names and proverbs, which uncovers Achebe un-ending bond with his culture and people, “Go-di-di-go-di-go.Di-go-go-di-go. It was the ekwe talking to the clan” (Achebe 84). Things Fall Apart tries to re-frame and re-construct that image which has been distorted completely by the so called Colonial masters to suit their own designs to rule over the poor countries like Africa. The novel Things Fall Apart is about “collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion” (Alimi 121). The Igbo tradition and culture seemed a threat to Europeans and who were hell bent upon introducing their own culture and a way of living. This was one of the key elements to touch upon to soften and naturalize their rule on the colonies. They found the culture as the soft target to attract the people towards themselves by using Churches, schools as a source of tool to mould the general hoi polloi towards their own culture.

. So, “The historical image that the Orientalists created for the Orient was a complex one, overlaying the ‘lost glory’ of ancient cultures with a negative image of decline Historians, novelists, artists, travelers, administrators and others cooperated in the creation of this image of the East” (Liddle et al 497). It was an ardent and deliberate attempt from the Colonizer to hegemonize them mentally, politically, culturally and economically and make them believe that their culture, way of living, tradition, and civilization is inferior, weak and unfit to survive. While going through the text, we encounter a number of proverbs, which the Europeans couldn’t understand. L M Kenalemang says,

Most of the text in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart chiefly features in the use and explanations of the complicated Igbo myths and proverbs that the Europeans fail to acknowledge. Throughout the novel Achebe craftily uses his characters to speak in proverbs when they address one another. The use of proverbs is very important in conversations as the Igbo believe them to be a fountain of wisdom and of respect. (Kenalemang 10)

The novel provides a wide range of knowledge about the Igbo culture and society. It predicts the fate and future of the Igbo culture and society and the repercussions of Colonialism Achebe tries to break the Eurocentric view which the Europeans had on the people they considered inferior. They considered themselves superior to all and wanted the colonies to be submissive all the time. The Orient was depicted in such a de-humanized way that he/she may have sometimes reckoned of inequality, repression, inhumanity as all but natural and considered himself as one who has to beat this brunt all the time. In this regard, Edward Said says:

Orient suddenly appeared lamentably under-humanized, antidemocratic, backward, barbaric, and so forth. A swing of the pendulum in one direction caused an equal and opposite swing back: the orient was undervalued. Orientalism as a profession grew out of these opposites, of compensations and corrections based on inequality, ideas nourished by and nourishing similar ideas in the culture at large. Indeed the very project of restriction and restructuring besought scholarly, scientific treatment of the kind to be found in disciplines like philology, biology, history, anthropology, philosophy, or economics (Said 150)

Chinua Achebe is positioned between two different world orders and cultures as well, one is his own and the other totally foreign and westernized which prompts his creativity. These things gave birth to the sense of belonging to Achebe and his people. It is because of the multiple cultures that an identity crisis sprouted among the people and the author intrinsically. Achebe in heart of hearts too wanted to highlight and represent his own culture and not the culture of the Europeans. He through this novel conveys a type of message to the people regarding his own culture and identity and his people’s adaptation to it. F. Abiola Irele says, “The culture of Umuofia as depicted by Achebe functions through an immanence of its foundational myth in the collective life and consciousness. The immediate and practical implications of this myth and the system of belief derived from it are experienced at every level of the collective existence” (Irele 6). The question remains why Achebe wrote the novel in English, if he wanted to preserve his culture which includes his native language as well? The fact is that this novel wants to remove the stereotypes created by the Europeans about the native Africans. Being himself educated in west, he wants to counter and respond to the texts produced by the colonial writers about the Africans. Ashcroft says, “non-English writers who have chosen to write in English do so not because their mother tongue is regarded by them as inadequate, but because the colonial language has become a useful means of expression, and one that reaches the widest possible audience” (Ashcroft et al 16). By using the native Igbo Proverbs, folktales and songs, he shows his affiliation towards his culture. Achebe challenges the writings of “Joyce Cary and Joseph Conrad which to Achebe was an appropriation of ethnographic modes neither of representation to prove that the communities of his African past were neither ‘primitive’ nor without history” (Clifford 10).

The interpretation of the Eastern culture and their tradition was rather biased as Edward Said says:

“Orientalism responded more to the culture that produced it than to its putative object, which was also produced by the West. Thus the history of Orientalism has both an internal consistency and a highly articulated set of relationships to the dominant culture surrounding it. My analyses consequently try to show the field’s shape and internal organization, its pioneers, patriarchal authorities, canonical texts, doxological ideas, exemplary figures, its followers, elaborators, and new authorities there is a linguistic Orient, A Freudian Orient, a Spenglerian Orient, a Darwinian Orient, a racist Orient-and so on”. (Said 22)

The Igbo society had their own judicial system which their ancestors have passed unto them. The white missionaries Tried to abrogate the native laws of the Igbo society with their own ones The reaction of the Europeans or the white missionaries was reprehensive when the people of the village torched the Church. They hardly cared about the native laws and culture and were trying to impose their own culture These things created a deep chasm between two communities (natives and colonizers) and kept them poles apart. The statements of the missionaries proved to self-contradictory as they claimed themselves to be the civilized and cultured people but their actions proved them wrong in the village of Umuofia. The inherent values and the culture embedded in them was shattered after being suddenly violated by the Europeans. Frantz Fanon says:

“To fight for national culture first of all means fighting for the liberation of the nation, the tangible matrix from which culture can grow. One cannot divorce the combat for culture from the people’s struggle for liberation National consciousness which is not nationalism, is alone capable of giving us an international dimension. This question of national consciousness and national culture takes on a specific dimension in Africa” (Fanon 168-179).

The main character of the novel Okonkwo is not only a mere actor but he has had an immense significance so far as the concept of nation ‘Africa’ is concerned. He represents the whole of African historical authenticity. Achebe very craftily and aptly constructs him as a character. Achebe has himself commented about the novel and Okonkwo by saying; “The story of Okonkwo is almost inevitable; if I hadn’t written about him, certainly someone else would have, because it really is the beginning of our story” (Achebe 19991, Interview). In the novel itself, Achebe praises Okonkwo in these words; “If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land” (Achebe 19). Thus, the novel “presents one of the most powerful nationalist cultural projects which affirms the integrity of indigenous culture and provides a rationale for its beliefs that is understandable from both the perspective of an inhabitant of Umuofia and that of metropolitan student of literature in modern-day London” (Msiska 174). The suicide of Okonkwo conveys his steadfastness or the finale of his pride which destroys him. Through this episode, Achebe conveys us the continuous conflict and confrontation between two different cultures and civilizations and the exploitation of one at the cost of another.

In conclusion, Achebe highlights the marginalized and submerged people of Africa and tries to expunge and challenge the discourses or narratives labeled to the African people. Achebe without hesitating projects the collapse of African culture and identity not only during the colonial period but also in post-colonial period. The novel writes back to the dominant literature of Europe. It shows how the voices of the subdued people are ultimately heard. Therefore, the objective of this research paper was to show how Achebe jettisoned Eurocentric view of Africa And through his own point of view tries to present the exact and real image of Africa and its people?

REFERENCES:

1 Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New Hampshire: Hinemann Educational Books Inc, 1958. Print.

2 Alimi, A.S. “A Study of the use of proverbs as a literary device in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God”. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 2/3 (2012): 121. Web. 31 Dec. 2012.

3 Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen. Post- Colonial Studies. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.

4 Ashcroft, Bill, Griffiths, Gareth and Tiffin, Helen. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. London: Taylor and Francis, 2003. Print.

5 Clifford, James. “Partial Truths,” Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, Ed. James Clifford and George Marcus, Berkeley: University of California. P, 1986, 1-26.

6 Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. Trans. Richard Philcox. New York: Grove Press, 1961. Print.

7 Interview, America, June 29, 1991.

8 Irele, F. Abiola. “The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart”. African Studies Quarterly, vol.4, no. 3, 2000, pp. 1-40.

9 Kenalemang, Lame Maatla. “Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Post-Colonial Igbo Society, Karlstads University”.

10 Liddle, Joanna, Rai Shirin. “Feminism, Imperialism and Orientalism: the challenge of the ‘Indian woman” Women’s History Review, vol. 7, no. 4, 1998, pp. 495-520.

11 Meyers, Jeffrey. “Culture and History in Things Fall Apart”. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, vol. 11, no. 1, 2013, pp. 25-32.

12 Msiska, Mpalive- Hangson. “Things Fall Apart”. International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, vol. 11 (2), 2009, pp. 171-175.

13 Said, Edward. Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Print.

Received on 30.01.2018 Modified on 15.02.2018

Res. J. Humanities and Social Sciences. 2018; 9(2): 423-426.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5828.2018.00072.4