Postcolonial Criticism

Things Fall Apart 

'Things Fall Apart' is a novel by African writer Chinua Achebe set before and during the colonization of Africa by the the British empire: referred to as 'white men' in the book. The novel portrays the drastic and foreign changes the different tribes in the colonized sections of Africa had undergone through Okonkwo, the protagonist-antagonist of the story, and his tribe, the Igbo people of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria.

Achebe introduced first the life and culture of these people before the arrival of the colonizers. Okonkwo was the son of Unoka - a man considered lazy, wasteful, and without honor by his tribe. He died with nothing but shame and debts in his name. Okonkwo was determined to be unlike his father for the people of his tribe value strength and despise weakness. So after defeating the 'strongest' man in the village through wrestling, he gained his fame, power, and soon, his wealth - and apparently became the leader of the Igbo tribe. Looking back to his father's gentle ways that he considered a weakness, he in turn, had become a difficult husband to his wives, an unerring leader to his people, and a stubborn man. But after an incident by which he accidentally killed one of his tribesmen, Okonkwo, together with his family, was exiled for seven years - for they believe that the killing of a clansman was a terrible crime against the 'earth goddess' that they worship. Thus, Okonkwo left for the native village of his mother to spend his years of exile there.

One of the main reasons that colonizers provide to give  'honor' and 'justification' to their deeds in colonizing a country is the wish to educate the 'savages'. This is the kind of thinking that most Western colonizers possess: only they are the educated and powerful, and the others are ranked far below them and are rightly labeled as savages. There are a lot of scenes in the novel that show this; one is when a white man arrived in the village of Umuofia who, after a prediction that he would bring destruction to the clans, was killed by the people. The act of the Igbo people only proved to the 'white men' that they are indeed uneducated people living in an unsystematic community - thus, they reeked their revenge and destroyed the village.

One effect of colonization to the colonized people is the lack of individuality. The people, despite wishing to be freed of the tethers that limit their beliefs, actions, and thinking have learned to "love their chains" - without it, they can no longer identify themselves. Thus, they stand amidst confusion and follow the mighty. After all, might used to be right. So when Okonkwo returned from his exile and after witnessing what happened to his village and discovering that his people no longer have the intrinsic motivation to fight, he hanged himself.