Discuss Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe as a postcolonial novel.

Chinua Achebe provides the perspectives of numerous Igbo people during a period when British interests—in business, government, and religion—were challenging traditional social structures. As he shows how the cracks in Igbo society widened, he offers a critical view of European colonial domination. At the same time, he suggests that previous social problems existed and that such problems provided reasons for some Igbo people to see the colonizers’ innovations as beneficial.

The break from traditional religion through Nwoye’s adoption of Christianity while his father is in exile is one feature. He also shows that the British interests included internal conflicts, such as through the missionaries’ different approaches to proselytizing, thus showing some of the complexities of the colonial project.

Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart not only long after the events depicted in the novel but also after Nigeria achieved independence and ended British colonial control. From this point of view, he could see the negative impacts that foreign control had ultimately produced, which the Igbo—along with the other ethnic groups that later formed Nigeria—could not have anticipated.

Beyond the general critique of colonialism, Achebe’s novel can be seen as postcolonial literature because he employs Western literary traditions, including the genre of tragedy. The novel draws from theatrical traditions of classical tragedy, especially in centering on Okonkwo as a tragic hero.

Discuss Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe as a postcolonial novel.

Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a great example of a literary work that intentionally situates a colonized people as the cultural norm while depicting the colonizing people as outsiders - or as "the other."

A key to understanding many of the 20th century critical and literary movements like postcolonialism is found in the notion of "the other." Essentially this term refers to groups that are perceived or portrayed as being outside of a cultural norm in a given discourse (that discourse might be exemplified in literature or political speech). 

The concept of "the other" is central to the critique presented by critical schools that sought to counter-balance a widespread cultural perspective in the arts that was seen to favor Western white males over other demographics. Simply put, postcolonialism suggests that there are a number of negative effects that stem from an unchallenged bias in favor of a single (economically dominant) group.

"As more and different people began to assert their own rights to explore their heritage and express their identities, critics began to expose the ideological underpinnings of the literary canon and how those underpinnings served one group of people while excluding another" (eNotes). 

Presuming that the white male perspective is the only normal perspective, postcolonialism suggests, leads to a dangerously skewed worldview wherein morality is presumed to be "owned" by the dominant group. 

In novels like Things Fall Apart the colonizing group participates in this presumption, assuming that the changes they bring to the tribe are good almost by default. The beliefs and values of the white colonizers are "good" in their eyes because they represent the values of the normative group. 

What happens when we see the world through a different lens? What happens when we see the Igbo as the normative group? 

"Although the novel is narrated in the third person, the sympathetic point of view is located within the Igbo culture, and the reader gradually comes to accept this perspective as natural" (eNotes).

When the moral norms are situated within the colonized group (the Igbo), the presumptions of right and righteousness of the colonizers is challenged. The actions of the colonizers cannot be automatically validated simply by virtue of the fact that they have guns and money. By depicting the colonizing whites as "the other," Achebe's novel enacts the challenge raised by postcolonialism against a worldview wherein one demographic stands as a universal norm.

Morality is not "owned" by the colonizers in Achebe's novel. The Igbo have customs and cultural mores that define their lives and their moral sensibilities. It is the Igbo's point of view that stands as the norm in the novel. The colonists are clearly identified as "the other" as we see in this late passage in the novel. 

Here the District Commissioner asks Obierika why the tribe does not take down Okonkwo's body after he has killed himself.

“Why can’t you take him down yourselves?” he asked.

“It is against our custom,” said one of the men. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers.”

Discuss Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe as a postcolonial novel.

The primary objective of postcolonialist literature is to transcend the destruction of colonialism on various cultures--in particular, considering the "civilization" of "savage" societies. This theme is common in colonial and postcolonial literature and generally blurs the distinguishing lines between what--and who--is civilized and what--or who--is not.

Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a postcolonial novel in that the author portrays the African Igbo as possessing of not only their own form of leadership and government, but also as a group of multiple systems one might expect to find in common Western civilizations. By showing the destruction of the community following colonization, Achebe suggests that it is this "civilizing" aspect which has destroyed the African village. In other words, they are on the opposite ends of a spectrum of extremes; while some aspects of Western civilization would have been useful to the African village, too much of it tipped them over the abyss. As postcolonialism attempts to create a balance between past cultures and "progressive" cultures, this novel set forth a precedent of caution and moderation.

Why is Things Fall Apart considered a post-colonial novel?

One purpose of post-colonial literature is a consistent correction of the false perception that colonized people had no true culture of their own or were uncivilized before the arrival of the colonial power.

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart goes to great lengths to demonstrate that the Ibo have a rich heritage of cultural traditions and a fully-developed civilization that includes courts of law, formal religion, and systems of diplomacy and trade. When the English arrive, they do not bring a previously-missing light of civility with them. By detailing the highly-developed cultural institutions of the Ibo, Things Fall Apart calls into question existing stereotypes regarding the peoples of the African continent as uncivilized. 

A substantial portion of the novel is dedicated to depicting these aspects of Ibo civilization and culture and this fact alone is enough to qualify the novel as a work of post-colonial literature. This is especially true considering Achebe’s expressions elsewhere about his intentions with the novel and his feeling that Nigerians and Africans in general had been too often shown as uncivilized savages in Western literature. Far from being uncivilized, the people of the nine villages in Things Fall Apart possess the same civil and religious institutions that the English claim to bring to them to save the Ibo from a brutish or uncivilized state.

The English presumption that the Ibo are without civilized principles (lacking religion and law) is at the heart of the novel’s conflict, as the native people who rely on the integrity of their culture struggle to maintain their identity when a powerful and determined colonizing culture attempts to uproot and replace that identity.

While individuals like Okonkwo’s son Nwoye are served in positive ways by the colonizing cultural norms, many people like Okonkwo are deeply compromised and, in the case of Okonkwo himself, powerfully damaged by the loss of cultural identity.

He saw himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days, and his children all the while praying to the white man’s god.

Thus the novel articulates a response to the presumption that Nigerians like the Ibo had no civilization or culture prior to the arrival of the English colonists. In doing so, it suggests the questionable ethics of the colonial mindset. If the colonists’ rationale for occupying and dominating this region is based on the notion that the Ibo need to be saved from a lack of law and order and a lack of religious principle, Things Fall Apart presents an idea that fundamentally undercuts the basic validity of that rationale and in doing so posits a post-colonial critique of the colonial mindset.

What features contribute to the Postcolonialism within Things Fall Apart?

African post-colonial writers usually write about how African cultures were dismantled by imperial governments during the colonial period. Chinua Achebe was born just about a quarter of a century after the establishment of colonial rule. As such, Achebe profoundly understood both African and European cultures. Things Fall Apart is a perfect example of literary texts that reflect the impact of colonialism on African communities.

In the text, the European occupation of Umuofia left the Africans divided into two distinct groups (i.e., the converts who chose to follow the new faith, and the ones that remained loyal to their cultures). Okwonko’s son Nwoye is among the first Christian converts in Umuofia. On the other hand, Okonkwo tirelessly fights against the missionaries' activities.

Things Fall Apart presents a picture of the collapsed Igbo traditions at the hands of the new Western culture. The Western beliefs and views are utterly different from those of Africans. Customs that are acceptable in the Igbo culture are dismissed by the white missionaries as evil and primitive. For example, a “real” man in the traditional Igbo culture should possess two or more wives. Women in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart have accepted this custom and live in relative harmony with their husbands and children. However, the missionaries strongly disapprove of polygamy because it is against Christian teachings. Also, according to Igbo traditional beliefs, twins should be killed because they are a sign of the devil’s work, but the white missionaries are horrified by this idea.

Post-colonialism in Things Fall Apart is illustrated by a Nigerian society which has been left bereft of its traditional beliefs and culture.

What features contribute to the Postcolonialism within Things Fall Apart?

One distinct Post-colonial feature in Achebe's work is placing focus from the Ibo point of view.  In Post-colonial works, the point of view feature helps to emphasize a different reality than the Eurocentric one.  For Achebe, this exists in the reference point from the traditional indigenous people of the Ibo.  Another feature of Post-colonial writing present in Achebe's work is its critique of Colonial reality.  Achebe does not present Colonialism in a traditionally affirming manner.  A distinctly Post-colonial feature of the work is how it represents a sense of honesty in the work as it shows Colonialism to be a force of control and oppression.  Additionally, the sense of loss and the forlorn condition is another feature of Okonkwo's narrative that is a Post-colonial feature.  Postcolonalism discusses the reality of alienation that individuals feel in the wake of a Colonial reality imposed on a particular region. This feature is evident in Achebe's work.  Upon his return to the village, Okonkwo cannot recognize it as European control has been effective in transforming it.  His forlorn condition is brought about in part due to Colonization, a Postcolonial reflection of realty.

What characteristic features make Things Fall Apart a postcolonial text?

• The term 'postcolonial' is primarily cultural in import - the missionary, new religious consciousness, the gap between the tribal and the western outlook.
• Things Fall Apart is a postcolonial text because Achebe writes back to the centre, representing a phase in Nigerian history during pre-colonial period and during colonization.

• Deals with decolonization and re-claiming history

• It shows the aftermath of colonial invasion where the colonizer's use the twin tools of religion and language to dominate the colonized.
• Another important feature of the book is the employment of language which poses a constant challenge for postcolonial writers. In this novel, Achebe establishes the cultural specificity of language through the use of Ibo phrases and proverbs.
• Things Fall Apart also deals with Achebe’s call for revising European view of Africa’s history.

Discuss how things fall apart in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart.

Things fall apart for both the protagonist of the story and the Igbo village of Umuofia in Achebe's classic novel. Okonkwo is depicted as an aggressive, violent man, who fears being viewed as weak and becoming like his inept father Unoka. Okonkwo's fear of being viewed as weak and effeminate influences him to behave hostile, rigid, and insensitive.

Despite attaining titles and being one of Umuofia's most revered men, Okonkwo makes several costly decisions that lead to his demise. Okonkwo disrupts the Week of Peace by viciously beating his wife, plays a role in Ikemefuna's death, and accidentally kills Ezeudu's son when his gun goes off during a chaotic funeral ritual. After accidentally killing Ezeudu's son, Okonkwo is exiled for seven years and loses his titles. When Okonkwo returns, white colonists have dramatically transformed Umuofia.

The presence of the white Europeans has gradually eroded the traditional culture and way of life in the Igbo village. Missionaries have successfully converted many villagers and the European institutions have had a profound effect on life in Umuofia. Christian churches, trading posts, schools, and European bureaucracy have transformed Umuofia's landscape and are gradually replacing the traditional culture.

Okonkwo despises the white men and cannot contain his anger when he returns home. He ends up beheading a court messenger and hangs himself before he can be arrested. Achebe's novel portrays how things have fallen apart in Okonkwo's personal life as well as in his village of Umuofia, which has slowly assimilated into European culture.

What shortcomings does "Things Fall Apart" have as a postcolonial text?

In most ways, Chinua Achebe's seminal debut novel Things Fall Apart is a textbook example of a successful postcolonial text. Indeed, Achebe presents an authentically Nigerian story about a traditional individual and his diminished role in society as his world is disrupted by white colonial settlers. However, one aspect that I argue that Things Fall Apart has explicitly neglected is demonstrating how native individuals can subvert and challenge Western influence. I acknowledge that by writing this text, in English no less, Achebe upsets Western expectations of what constitutes an "African" character. However, his characters have no answer for how to counter colonial influence. The text even ends by focusing on the District Commissioner, and this reflects the marginalization that native characters experience moving forward:

"The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate" (208-9).

Thus, the one aspect that Achebe fails to incorporate into his postcolonial text is a sense of hope for natives addressing the massive changes of colonialism.