Amadou Hampaté Bâ is extremely detailed throughout the book, The Fortunes of Wangrin, in explaining the colonial world in West African societies. He provides multiple examples in this work of fiction that precisely describe the factual aspects of African colonialism that we have discussed in class. I will point out a few of the examples that Bâ uses such as: limitations colonial governments set on Africans, the Métis relationships within colonies, and issues that arose, not only between Europeans and Africans, but within the native African communities as well. I will then point out certain details from the book that do not perfectly reflect the components of colonialism that we have studied in lecture. The French colonists created many discriminatory laws in the colonies they dominated and the native Africans were commanded to obey
Introduced as a strong and respected man, Okonkwo starts as such, but throughout the book many of his choices lead him down a path of tragic events. He is part of the Ibo society and culture, the native African culture of the story, which praises strength and masculinity while dejecting vulnerability and femininity from its men. The overarching theme in the novel Things Fall Apart is that clinging to strong devotions can cause one’s life to fall apart, exemplified through Okonkwo’s conflicts with himself, Ibo society, and Christian society. Okonkwo was devoted to suppressing his fears, leading him to make choices that shattered him. An instance of this is when Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna, who was basically his adoptive son and whom he had grown very fond of but had been sentenced to death, “dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him [Ikemefuna] down.
In response to the stereotypical image of Africans, Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart in order to contrast the portrayal of Africans.When discussing Things Fall Apart and Heart Of Darkness, it is important to consider the point of view. Conrad’s novella is from a white man’s point of view who travels to the Congo. On the other hand, Achebe’s story is based on an African’s point of view which he intentionally wrote to combat this negative image of Africans. While Achebe’s character’s can speak for its culture, lifestyle and traditions, Conrad’s character can only speak about what he sees and they stereotypical portrayal of Africans. According to Hunt Hawkins, “Achebe observes that Africans are barely present in Heart Of Darkness… It might be said that Conrad failed to portray Africans because he knew little of their culture, having spent less than six months in the Congo, mostly in the company of white men, and without knowledge of any African language.” Since this story is told by Marlow in the Congo, it focuses on a foreigner’s portrayal of Africans during the nineteenth century.
2. Comparison of Purpose 2.1. Achebe: To Denounce Heart of Darkness Chinua Achebe is considered as the man who redefined our way of reading Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Indeed, while focusing on the description of Africa and its people, the Nigerian writer laid serious charges against it for its racist stereotypes and highlighted the colonizer’s oppression on the natives. In truth, even after thirty-four years of his first delivered public lecture “An image of Africa”, excoriating the book, he spoke again against it in an interview with Robert Siegel where it seems that, for him, the novella is the product of “a seductive writer and who could pull his reader into the fray.” Thus, he wanted to disclose the truth about its hidden intentions so that the reader would not be fooled by its tricky writing style.
Yet, the interpretation of the novella was at odds with the changing mentality because of the decolonization movement in West Africa. Consequently, by that time, Achebe realized that Conrad’s work is an example of the hypocrisy of Europeans’ civilized mission and his need to write his own fiction to destroy the mistaken portrayal of Africa and its
Abstract: Chinua Achebe, the recipient of Man Booker International Prize,2007, has one interest which is to be responsible to the fate or destiny of his people and society. Achebe as an African writer, his writing especially novels portray the various colors and texture of the post-colonial African reality. Observations such as socio-psychological impacts influence the author and so the literature. Hence, the post-colonial literature is described in The Empire Writes Back, as "what each of these literatures has in common beyond their special and distinctive regional characteristics is that they emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power and by emphasizing their difference from the assumptions of the imperial center. It is this which makes them distinctively post-colonial".
Kareem Mansour IB1 HL English Mr. Key Blindness and Lack of Morality Joseph Conrad’s s novel “Heart of Darkness” portrays an abominable image of Africa that is outlined with darkness, gloominess and inhumanity. At Conrad’s time, the idea of exploration and colonization was flourishing. The phenomenon of exploration and expedition of the unknown has influenced Joseph Conrad’s views as he wrote the “Heart of Darkness”. Colonialism was known to be the norm, and not many people saw anything amiss. From a European point of view, the natural next step of any powerful European nation’s political agenda is embarking on voyages of exploration and colonialism.
What is particularly interesting is that Conrad transformed a personal experience into a fiction of general historical and cultural significance. With little sense of strain, he moved from self to society; it was one of his eccentricities to mythologize an historical self, to place his own life at the heart of historical conflicts. (Ross) The ‘Heart of Darkness’ is representative of the African continent which is perceived to be at the centre of the Earth and that which was believed to be lagging in terms of progression and development. But by the end of the novella, readers question this notion: is it really Africa that is hidden away in darkness or the hearts of the brutal colonizers under whom the natives have suffered in their own land? The plot of the novella revolves around Charles Marlow the protagonist, who is along with his fellow sailors aboard his ship Nellie anchored in the river Thames, narrating the story of his journey into the African continent, or as the Whites would put it “the heart of darkness.” This was the place that kept him wondering from childhood as depicted in
Amitabh Ghosh, Arundhati Roy, Manju Kapur and Arun Joshi use in their novels code mixing as a way to express their themes authentically and realistically. As a multi-cultural personality, the author has incorporated code switching or code mixing as a leading measure of his stylistic experiments. Vassanji’s works have been translated into various languages like Spanish, Turkish, French, Dutch, Hindi, Japanese, Italian, Swahili etc. According to Paul Bandia, “the most common form of code switching and code mixing used by the African writers is changing between vernacular languages and the European language. When African writers cannot adequately express African socio-cultural reality in a European language, they resort to the use of indigenous words and expressions.”(1996) Chinua Achebe expresses his concern about his failure in expressing his African experience through the use of pure English.
It describes as obscure language and literatures in South Africa. It argues that the White English literature of South Africa can compare with settlers colonies like Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. These countries and their writings present to the literature. While the Black English literature in South Africa can compare to the literature of other African countries. It reveals nostalgia for the apartheid system.