Africajn Writer Literature & Language Essay Research (Essay Sample)

Name
English 201
Instructor
Date
Thing Fall Apart: The Impact of Colonialism on the Igbo Society.
It is irrefutable that literature, apart from portraying people’s artistic imagination, has also helped in archiving numerous events that have affected mankind. Consequently, just as literature has succeeded in entertaining the reader with romantic novels, science fiction and fairy tales, it has similarly managed to portray thoughtful subjects regarding global matters such as capitalism, feminism, human rights, racism, and colonialism. In fact, this essay will explicate on colonialism as depicted in Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe, and how it affected the Igbo people and managed to pull them apart in different directions. Despite the fact that the literature is a work of fiction, it has managed to portray certain truth regarding colonialism and how it affected a people’s culture, ruined relationships, and destroyed the protagonist’s life who consequently committed suicide.
Things Fall Apart is a heartbreaking story concerning the Igbo community of Nigeria. The reader is transported to the uncanny world of a typical traditional African culture. Although a lot of Igbo’s history and cultural values are revealed, the book was never intended to be an ethnographic account but rather to pass the final message. According to Daniel, Achebe is trying to remind his readers about the breakdown of Igbo society and colonialism as the catalyst which facilitated the loss of their culture (49). Even though the concept of colonization is presented almost at the end of the novel, there are some hints throughout the book which are allegorical in illustrating the start of colonialism. These hints give the reader a wake-up call and hold the last impression regarding the degradation of African cultures by Western culture. For instance, the novel’s last sentence exemplifies this destruction. Apparently, the white District Commissioner is writing a book and it is a revealed that his drive for writing the book is based on his aspirations of taming these "savage" human beings.