Theme Of Colonization In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, the process of colonization is clearly demonstrated. One can easily relate Fanon’s, Césaire’s, and Young’s ideas regarding the physical, psychological, violence, and cultural hardships which comes with colonization. As a reader, one can make obvious correlations between the novel and these other men’s viewpoints. When thinking about the process of colonization, many think of a nation coming in with weapons and guns forcing their rule on another nation. However, in Things Fall Apart, the arriving missionaries take a different approach. The white missionaries use religion as their method of colonizing the clan. When the white missionaries arrive, the Igbo people offer them land within the Evil Forest. Doing

This quote by Fanon is clearly depicted in Things Fall Apart. The clan becomes infuriated by the church’s presence. However, they do not revolt against the colonizers. They become angered by the church’s actions, especially when the six men from Umuofia were imprisoned by the District Commissioner. Although, the colonizers use violence as a way to instill fear within the Igbo people. These indigenous people who once valued violence, fighting, and war lose sight of their old core values. Due to fear, they become unwilling to challenge the foreign white man. Okonkwo is the only one who maintains these values and his warrior spirit shows when he kills the main messenger, but no one else in the clan was willing to revolt. None of the other clan members gathered were willing to kill the other messengers, scared of the consequences. Although, it is quite ironic at the end of the novel that Okonkwo kills himself. All throughout the book, Okonkwo emphasizes the importance of not presenting himself as weak, fearful he may mimic his father. However, the colonization process completely destroys him representing the psychological effects colonization has on the