Exploring Colonial Socio-economic Exploitation in Things Fall Apart

 

ABSTRACT:

 The aim of this paper is to attempt a study on how Chinua Achebe, the prominent writer has explored the colonial, socio-economic exploitation in the Nigerian context. Chinua Achebe converges postcolonial perspectives with Marxist to class differentiating factor. In associating with colonial text, it demonstrates how dominant class ideology resulted in the false assumption between colonizers and colonized.  With the emergence of colonialism, the significance of social class and social discourse became predominant; therefore, colonial discourses were instilled into the social, and cultural construction, and literary text, particularly novels. In this regard, the investigation of the dominant discourses is pursued, and this helps to show how colonialism resulted in discourse inculcation. The resistant perspective against ruling ideology, as the Italian Marxist concept of false consciousness from the viewpoint of Antonio Gramsci’s to Louis Althusser. Things Fall Apart shows, the only way to get ahead in Umuofian society was by working hard and being successful, a physical manifestation of Marx's Labor theory of value.

Keywords:  Colonialism, community, hegemony, Socio-economic, land expropriation

 

 

 

 

The aim of this paper is to explore how a critical reading of the novel Things Fall Apart can provide a valuable perspective for educators.The argument of this paper is the community values placed on strength and masculinity, title and personal achievement,  and the impact of colonialism.

The objectives of this paper are:

 1) To observe how the colonizing force threatens to change almost every aspect of Igbo society; from religion, traditional gender roles and relations, family structure to trade.

2) To examine the clash between the Nigerians white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people.

3) To analyse how Achebe's novel shatters the stereotypical European portraits of native Africans.

 Chinese Achebe’s Things Fall Apart has long been considered a literary classic from Africa describing precolonial and colonial African life and history, which is thought and read widely throughout the world. The novel was written and published in 1958. Chinua Achebe is an acclaimed author fir his portrayal of social issues brought about by the imposition of western customs and values upon Africa. Things Fall Apart reveals and explores issues of socio-economic exploitation in a colonial context and more specifically draws on the concept of primitive accumulation. Achebe’s literary take on the social changes that occur in Igbo society with the introduction of colonial rule. The changes in this context include the Igbo community’s relation to land, new forms of administration and trade from a perspective which considers socio-economic exploitation as a result of the colonial encounter. The discussion and analysis of the novel centre on social injustices due to land expropriation, breakdown of traditional values and economic changes which are aimed at imposing capitalist conditions upon the Igbo community by the Europeans in the context of colonialism.

This paper analysis from a postcolonial perspective, the decolonising power of culture in Chinua Achebe's most prominent novel Things Fall Apart. The study examines the colonised Igbo community as one of the main ethnic groups of Nigeria that possess their own identity, indigenous, religion, distinct traditions, etc. and that community comes under threat due to the strenuous efforts of the British colonialists as soon as they arrive in Nigeria. Moreover, it portrays the clash between the two cultures resulted from the arrival of colonialism. It focuses on the different attempts of the native people of Nigeria to decolonise their culture. This paper also presents the self-consciousness and the resistance of the colonised people against the drastic changes that colonialism has made to their culture and identity and it portrays their readiness to resist the oppressive hegemonic power. Things Fall Apart pre-figures, as it were, the political consequences of colonial intrusion for the future of Nigerian politics. The political instability in Nigeria could be tagged, the direct consequence of the British colonial rule. Along with colonialism, the white people have also brought about some economic changes. A trading store has been much exploration of palm-oil and palm- nut kernel. Money flows freely in Umuofia. This attracts many of the Igbo and quells their resistance to the European influence.

The preliminary survey of literature proceeds with the study of relevant books, articles, research papers, journals and project papers in relation to the area of research for the mentioned chapter. The study’s literature review on the topic “Exploring colonial socio-economic and colonial situation in Things Fall Apart. These works depicts the richness of pre-colonial Igbo culture and the drastic changes colonialism has brought to that culture. Qurrata A’ Yunin’s MA thesis titled, “The effects of cultural colonialism on the Igbo society in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart” is an example that explicitly discusses the cultural impacts of colonialism depicted in the novel.

In one such another project by Azad Sharif and Shaida Mir Khan entitled as “Hegemony and Resistance in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: A postcolonial study” an attempt has been made to critically analyse the hegemony and the decolonising power of culture in Chinua Achebe’s most prominent novel Things Fall Apart. The study literature  review benefited from the work that have explicitly defined some key terms like hegemony. This  expression can be more intelligible by emphasising  Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony by which he describes the socio-political relations of people.

Additionally, other works have been the study’s significant source of inspiration concerning the heritage of the colonised culture and the effects of colonial power. Such works are Uyilawa Usuanlele’s PhD thesis (2010) titled “Poverty and Welfare in colonial Nigeria 1900-1954" Iwuagwu Obichere Chilaka’s PhD  thesis (1998) titled  “A socio-economic History of food crop production in Igboland, 1900-1980: A study of yam and, Cocoyam and cassava”.

 

In the study of the above-mentioned articles, projects and papers, the concept of hegemony and colonialism is highly analyzed. However, this paper titled as “Exploring colonial socio-economic exploitation in Things fall Apart which has been explained with a special reference with Marxism.

The analysis of this study which consists of different sections, is mostly focused on the chapters which highlight the life in the Igbo society after the arrival of the colonialists and the events which unravel afterwards. The timeline of the novel is further extended to a time when colonial occupation becomes the main concern and challenge for the Igbo society. The socio-economic condition in the Igbo society can perhaps be best described by the following question in which the main character, Okonkwo returns from his seven-year exile because of accidentally killing a clan member where he finds his clan radically transformed by the impact of colonial rule, “Okonkwo return to his native land was not as memorable as he had wished. It was... but, beyond that, Umuofia did not appear to have taken any special notice of the warrior’s return. The clan had undergone such profound change during his exile that it was barely recognisable. The new religion and government and the trading stores were very in the people's eyes and minds. There was still many who saw these institutions as evil, but even they talked and thought about little else, and certainly not about Okonkwo's return”. (Achebe 172)

From the above passage, the novel reveals how the socio-economic conditions within the Igbo community have reached a breaking point as society has totally changed due to the arrival of the colonialists as “the return of the village hero, the warrior, goes unnoticed” (Achebe 172). Okonkwo expects a triumphant return but he is left disappoint, bitter and jealous about the changes implemented by the Europeans in the Igbo society. The mental and ideological impact of the changes is made clear when the narrator says that, “the new religion, government and trading stores were very much in the people's eyes and minds”. This passage strikingly captures how the new economic and social relations change the way the individual and the community relate to each other.

The storyline in the novel has it's setting in Umuofia village where the class of a man in the Igbo society has a basis on his success in yam harvesting and the ability to sustain a polygamous family. Under such considerations, Unoka stands out as a failure due to low yam yield, laziness and lack of motivation. A man's social standing in the society is weighed regarding success or failure, and the value of the labor has the most significant effect on the economic security. Communities that appreciate the labor theory of value flourish, but the ever- existing risks of class imposition has the potential of overthrowing the ideals of any given society. Marxism is concerned with the importance of an individual, and the desire to establish a steady organization without the social stratification aspects. The labour value Theory asserts that the value of anything is directly related to the duration it takes to produce or make. In the novel, Okoye was a musician but was not classified as a failure since he had a large barn of yams and three wives. The Egwugu represented mighty men in the society because they were the richest, and had the highest number of wives. Women and children had no authority to go close to them or even stare at them something that shows the extent of their power and the growing distance between people of different social classes as indicated in the Marxist ideologies regarding class polarization.

In the context of Marxism ideological conditioning a process whereby “proletariats are conditioned by the bourgeoisie to accept their deplorable circumstances as normative”. Therefore, such individuals make little efforts to vary their life situations. On the other hand, commodification is an interpretation of the human relationship as that which is predicted from a socio-economic gain; hence people are likely to value things that are useful in acquiring other objects with a higher value thorough exchange. The structure of the system ideologically conditions the characters, more so, the protagonists. Okonkwo exhibits the ideology of ‘rugged individualism' which prevents the class action. Also, most of the females in the novel subscribe to patriarchal authority. The idea is supported by Eagleton who asserts that men are biologically superior to women and that is why they concede leadership roles to males.

One of the central socio-economic issues which indicates the changes that the Igbo go through in the novel is the expropriation of land which leads to tensions between the colonialists and the economy are closely bound with their relationship to land. Land expropriation not only makes it possible for the colonialists to establish their religion and administration, but it underlies the material disempowerment of the Igbo. When the European enter Umuofia, they gradually start to dispossess the natives of their land by building a church and establishing a colonial administration to exploit Igbo resources. The Church reveals itself as a form of exploitation and a play by the Europeans to convert many people within the Igbo society to Christianity and further acquire more land to extend colonial influence. In fact, Achebe writes, “The white man came quietly and peacefully with his religion, we allowed him to stay and now has own our brothers and our clan can no longer act as one. He has put a knife the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”. (Achebe 166). Religion in this context and as discussed by several critics, typically functions as a way of breaking up the community. And the white people also take the position of the leading character Okonkwo, he had lost his power in his clan. As Louis Althusser has explained in his clan “The Ideology and the Ideological state Apparatuses” that the people will be changed but the position remain the same.

For Okonkwo, the loss of land to the colonialists is unbearable as his friend Obierika tells him about the colonialists' influence and new control over land in a neighbouring village. The village functions as a symbol of communal organisation of life. Therefore, Okonkwo's despair over land is understandable because as the story further evolves. We see that land was expropriation creates new capitalistic forms within the Igbo community such as trade characterised by increased prices of palm oil (Achebe 168). Obierika shares the same disappointment but Okonkwo unlike Obierika wants to fight back, to which however, Obierika responds, “it is already too late” (Achebe 272). It is indeed late as land in their neighbouring village is already being economically transformed into trading centres by the colonialists. (Achebe 164). Ultimately land expropriation in Things Fall Apart is presented as an underlying factor that leads to socio-economic tensions between the colonialists and the Igbo society.

This paper has focused on examining colonial socio-economic exploitation and its effects on the Igbo community in Things Fall Apart through a Marxist theoritical Framework. In analysing colonial injustices in the novel, it can be concluded that Things Fall Apart portrays how colonial socio-economic exploitation centres on capitalism. This study seeks to  consider land expropriation amongst the Igbo of Nigeria with in a broader context of capitalism but more specifically drawing on the Marxist concept of primitive accumulation. This study also analysed the decolonising power of Igbo culture in Masterpiece Things fall Apart that depicted the richness of Igbo community before and after British colonialism. Finally,  this paper pointed out the negative effects of colonialism, and it conveys a message to resist is collectively the hegemony of the colonisers that work for the devastation of the native culture and the erasure of national identity.

Submitted by:

1)Latifa Yeasmin

2)Selima Ahmad

3)Sukriya Akhtar

Supervised by:

Aditi Ghosh

HOD
Department of English

Maryam Ajmal Women's College of Science & Technology, Hojai

 

 

WORKS CITED:

·       Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Classic, 1958.

·       Ahluwalia, Pal. Politics and post-colonial theory : African Inflections .Routledge, 2001.

·       Arthur E. Nkaludo. “A marxist reading of Things Fall Apart in the ESL classroom”.

·       Basu, A. “Post colonial adaption and Appropriation in Chinua Achebe” International  Journal of English and  literature, 2014.