Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart is a novel by Chinua Achebe that revolves around Okonkwo, the protagonist, who is a respected and influential leader Igbo community. It also examines the Igbo Culture and how it is influenced by colonialism. The Wretch of the Earth is an analysis by Frantz Fanon of the thinking of the people colonized and their struggle for independence. It cast a light on anger and frustration of the colonized and the impact of violence in effecting change (Boulbra 9). The book delves on the dangers of post-independence colonial politics. Black Girl (1966) is a feature film by Sembene Ousmane. The film examines the effects and form of cultural domination by the French colonialist and is a tool for the struggle of liberation of African culture.

In things fall apart, colonialism comes in the form of missionaries who little by little etch away the custom, beliefs and rituals of the Igbo. It cannot be disputed that they wanted to bring religion to the community, but they also saw the clan as uncivilized. Honour is replaced by material wealth and collectivity with individualism. Colonialism is shown to change the stuff of indigenous and is not necessarily a good thing (Achebe, 33).

Fanon, in Wretched of the Earth, sees colonialism as one that separates the world into black and white in a process he calls Manicheanism (Fanon, 16). This serves as the reason for racism that is as a result of colonialism. From Fanon’s point of view, the person being colonized is seen as evil and without any ethics or morals. The whites are seen as light representing good while the blacks are dark representing evil, and to him, colonialism is a form of racism.

Ousmane Sembene’s Black girl shows how the people from the African continent, “third world countries’ are seen to be somehow exotic by the European communities. In the movie, a scene is shown where a guest kisses Diouna in her check and says “I have never kissed a Negree before!” (Ousmane) This shows the objectification of black girls as exotic objects than people just like one would a painting or a type of food.

Of the three narratives, Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl stands out as the most expressive of the colonial experience. It shows the subtlety of colonialism that could sometime be overlooked perhaps by naivety and steers away from stereotypes that colonialism was outrightly cruel for those who experienced it. This, however, is not to say that it wasn’t in some cases. The medium is especially suitable as it is a film and thereby portrays the emotions brought about by the interaction these people had with colonialism, something that might be missed when reading a bool especially for young generations that never experienced this.

In conclusion, the three art-works take us deeper into how the people that are colonized fall into helplessness and how their voices continue to be stifled in the present neo-colonial societies. In all three, there are personal losses suffered and wounds of colonialism that is shared amongst the members of the communities who endure this. Western ideals that were imposed have taken root and continue to be propagated in today’s African setting, while African traditions are being eroded or forgotten by the new generation. New form so oppression continue to take place, and there is need for unity to defeat this.

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1st ed., Heinemann, 1958.

Boulbina, Seloua Luste. “Frantz Fanon: Knowing in the First Person.” A Companion to World Literature (2020): 1-9.

Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. François Maspero, 1961.

Ousmane Sembene. “Black Girl.” YouTube, uploaded by William Atkinson, 3 Mar. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=sptKbtXIn4o.