READING CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART AS A POSTCOLONIAL NOVEL

Abstract

Postcolonial Literature is a body of literary writings that react to the discourse of colonization. It is written by natives of formerly colonized countries. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is an African novel set in the precolonial past. It was written in the 1950s when the colonial rule in many African countries began to collapse. Through this novel Achebe intends to prepare the natives of colonized countries for self-rule by making them realize that Africans did not learn to be civilized from their colonizers, they had their way of life before everything was snatched away from them. This paper attempts to highlight the indigenous culture of the Igbo community before colonization as depicted in the novel and the effects of colonization on the people. This paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, we will look at the cultural aspects of the precolonial Igbo community, and in the second part, we will look at the beginning of colonization in Igboland and its adverse impacts on people.