Effects of Colonization in Things Fall Apart by madusu

Effects of Colonization in Things Fall Apart by madusu - July 2013 Scholarship Essay

The late Chinua Achebe is often cited as the father of modern African literature due to his most renowned work, Things Fall Apart. Nearly anyone who has ever studied in Africa or taken an African literature class has probably read, heard of, or somehow encountered the book. Since reading it more than five years ago, it remains one of my favorite books because unlike any history class I have ever taken, Things Fall Apart adds depth and reality to the tragedy that was part of African colonization, it delves into the effects colonization had on traditional African behaviors particularly that of the Igbo people. An example of this was the death of the protagonist, Okonkwo. The egocentricity of the Europeans and their sense of God given superiority, or in other words, “the white man whose power they (the villagers) knew too well” pushed a natural warrior like Okonkwo to abandon his knowledge of cultural taboo and commit suicide. For me, the book raised the subject of morale corruption that colonization brought upon both Africans and Europeans. With this book Achebe effectively illustrated the inhumanity humanity is capable of as one group rises blindly through the ashes of the one it decimated.