Multiculturalism and Colonialism in Africa
Added on 2020-04-01
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Running head: ENGLISH LITERATUREEnglish LiteratureName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor Note
1ENGLISH LITERATUREIntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to design a portfolio on the basis of the novel by Africanlegendary author Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. In this paper, certain things have to becovered because the novel displays various issues and it is built on various themes. These themeshave to be addressed in a unified whole and further research will be done on a particular theme.The novel has dealt with many societal and personal things from the colonization in Africa to thedemise of the protagonist Okonkwo. These themes have been dealt with the author very subtlyand he has portrayed the characters in a well-defined manner. The literary criticism of this novelshows that the contemporary African society has not been that much knowledgeable about theculture of the British and there had been many clashes regarding the culture. Research QuestionHas multiculturalism left an effect in the society of Africa in that contemporary periodbecause British colonialism? Does it have any international influence because of the multicultural effects?Development of the topicThe topic has to be developed in this segment by bringing the international aspects andcomparing with the other international cultures. The contemporary period when this novel wasbrought out, there was an utterly chaotic situation in the African continent. The term‘multiculturalism’ has come into effect from the mid-twentieth century and it has been a definingcriterion in the various countries and continents (Modood, 2013). The clashes among cultureshave become a common phenomenon in this scenario. The political activities of the minoritygroups, the multiculturalism and feminism have been operating within the society very actively
2ENGLISH LITERATUREsince it requires the attention and recognition of the people in the society. The focus that hasbeen there in this novel is the Igbo culture and the complexities have grown from this culture ascompared with the Christian culture (Bynum, 2012).The cultures have collided at different points within the novel. The effects of this culturalclash have been felt at both the societal and the individual level. Many misunderstandings havebeen created in this novel because of these cultural differences. The problems have been faced bythe contrasting cultures (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014).The reverend smith who is shownas uncompromising has remarked the Africans to be ‘heathens’. The Christian missionaries hadcome to Africa for spreading the Christianity among the people there. The native people or theAfricans had categorized them to be ‘foolish’. They had realized that a culture which has nosimilarity with that of theirs cannot be unified at any cost. The two cultures had greatmismatches so there will be no similarity in the behaviors and attitudes or approaches of thepeople who belonged to those Igbo and Christian cultures (Joseph, 2014). The author of the novel, Chinua Achebe had noticed that the behavior and point of viewof both these cultures towards the other one has been not at all satisfactory. Achebe had opinedthat the native Africans needed to change their viewpoint about the Christians just as theChristians needed to do the same. He has been regarded as an African writer who has been‘Europeanized’. This entire novel has been looked upon as a novel to be reflected as an act ofatonement for the chief protagonist Okonkwo. The novel was written to be the social reflectionof the colonial period of the British in the African Igbo society (Eskay et al., 2012). The Britishimperialism had strated its dominance in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century and in thebeginning of the twentieth century. The clash had been on as for deciding the reigning power ofthe state of Nigeria (Juffermans, 2015).
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