Postcolonialism

The novel Things Fall Apart can be related to a postcolonial lens because in the novel a group of white men try to colonize the Igbo tribe. Throughout the history of postcolonialism the west became the colonizers, and many African and asian peoples became colonized. It is clear that European settlers were basically assumed to be the superior race over every other race due to their dominant power. From the perspective of the white Westerners, any "other" race would be considered insignificant. "How one treats peoples who are so defined does not really matter, they said, because many Westerners subscribed to the colonist ideology that all races other than white were inferior or subuman. These subhumans or "savages" quickly became the inferior and equally "evil" Others, a philisophical concept called alternity whereby "the others" are excluded from postitions of power and viewed as different and inferior. Things fall apart directly relates as white colonizers try to take over the Igbo tribe and convert them to christianity. They do so by their superior power over the tribe and from the common use of violence. The white colonizers try to tell the tribe that there is one god and criticize their beliefs as they enforce that the tribe follow their beliefs. Like Great Britain being the largest colonizer and imperial power in the nineteenth century, the white colonizers in the novel relate as they try to colonize the african tribe. Therefore postcolonialism can be a great lens to relate to Things Fall Apart.