Looking at Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart as tribal people’s response to colonial invasion

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to focus on the Igbo tribe’s social structure before and after colonialism – the ideas, the places and people who constitute the context of colonialism as narrated by Chinua Achebe. We find a lot of works about colonialism in different parts of the world. But, exploring tribal people’s response to colonial invasion in Things Fall Apart will be a new one contributing to the field of research on Achebe. The changes that occur as a result of colonial rule with their various impacts on the particular people’s politics, culture and social system comes under scrutiny. In the Introduction, a general discussion on tribe, tribalism and a historical account of Igbo culture will be placed. In the second chapter, there will be a general discussion on Igbo life-style and their encounter with colonialism as presented in Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart. The third chapter presents a comparative study of Achebe’s and some other writers’ writings on colonialism and the reasons behind his dealing with the issue in a different way. Finally, in the concluding chapter, there will be a general discussion on how Achebe wrote a profound critique of colonization while constructing hints for changes to come.