Correcting Literature's Mistakes

It is difficult to capture an entire story if you are only given one point of view. For most, their only exposure to life under imperialism is through literature, and most of this literature is focused only on the European perspective. Things Fall Apart is a model novel representing the type of story post-colonialist critiques think should be spread. It focuses on the voices usually ignored and portrays Nigerian landscape and culture accurately, two things usually missed by non-African authors.

One of the biggest problems critics have found is the marginalization of key voices in stories. In most novels trying to approach imperialism, they tend to focus on the colonizer rather than those being colonized, as the author is often European and creates a similar main character. In doing so, only one opinion of the event is shared. By having the main character be a Nigerian man viewing the white men as an outsider, Things Fall Apart reverses the normal dynamic. Instead, the main opinion shown is that of those being colonized. I don’t think Things Fall Apart could be critiqued for marginalizing the missionaries’ voices, as they are so prominent in most other literature concerning colonialism it seems unnecessary to have a major focus in this novel as well.

Unlike criticized works such as Heart of Darkness, Things Fall Apart does not stereotype Nigerian culture or landscape as a wild, uncivilized land of tribes of lawless men (also painting all of Africa as one culture). Instead, it shows the rules and customs of Umuofia, and how it differs from those in Mbanta. It describes the landscape well with the nature of the soil, climate, plants that grow well, and the relationship with wild animals. There is a clear painting of order and tradition in this novel, something often overlooked in other works because it differs from European custom.

In approaching imperialism in the opposite approach to most non-African authors, Achebe has created a response to post-colonialist critics’ largest complaints. He addresses the opinions of those who normally go unaddressed, giving them the main voice in his novel. He also avoids stereotyping the character’s culture and fully develops it throughout the novel, especially with the comparison of their religion to Christianity. He also makes sure to not generalize the Nigerian landscape, in a way almost correcting mistakes commonly made in other works.