Postcolonial Lens

After much deliberation, I have decided to analyze the novel, Things Fall Apart, through a Post- colonial lens. Post- colonialism is a theory that explains “what happens when two cultures clash and when one of them, with its accessory ideology, empowers and deems itself superior to the other” (Cultural Studies 236).The novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, explains just that. The white man comes in and tries to change the beliefs of the natives, and eventually Things Fall Apart.

            According to Cultural Studies, “Many British people believed that Great Britain was destined to rule the world. Likewise, the assumption that Western Europeans, and, in particular, the British people, were biologically superior to any other race” (236). This showed in the novel when the white men came into the African village, Mbanta, to convert the Ibo tribe to believe and to accept their religion. The white men believed in Christianity, the belief in one God. They believe that their government is more structured and more concentrated around a single authority figure. While the Mbanta village as well as other Africans, believed in many gods and their government is more of a democracy. Their form of democracy, where all the men make the decisions, is prone to disintegrating. The white men traveled throughout Africa to spread the news about their God. They told the people of the Mbanta village “about this new God, Creator of all the world and all the men and women. He [the white man] them that they worshiped false gods, gods of wood and stone” (Achebe 120). In order for the Africans to convert, the white men must use forced labor, thus beginning slavery.

                I am choosing to write my essay through a Post- colonial lens because there are many examples of this throughout the novel; I just barely skimmed the surface. I will be sure to go into more detail about the forced labor and how the white men were able to suppress the beliefs of the Ibo tribe. Also I will discuss both styles of government and both styles of religious beliefs. All in all, these are the main points I will present in my essay.