The concept of colonization has been the leading factor of worldwide expansion since forever. Through out history there have been many occasions where colonization occurred in uninhabited lands, but the majority of colonization is found on lands already previously developed by native people. In most cases these native people do not wish to be bothered by colonists let alone forced to change their way of life but the colonists who invade their land could care less of what the natives think. This creates an imbalance in favor which often, in human history, leads to violent bloodshed.Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe is set in the 1890s and portrays the clash between Nigeria’s white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people.
Through out my readings so far I have found that this novel crushes the stereotypical European portraits of native Africans. In the bigger picture, these interactions between a dominant Western culture and a vulnerable native culture were only foreshadowing future events of the emerging world in which clashes between major civilizations would define global politics.The problem with using this fictional novel as a historical source is because the author Chinua Achebe used events that occurred in his life to write his novel. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born on November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, a large village in Nigeria. Despite the fact that he was the child of a Protestant missionary and received an education in English at an early age, his childhood was greatly impacted by the inhabitants of Ogidi.
These people influenced Chinua to live a multicultural life through the many aspects of traditional Igbo culture. Later on in Chinua’s life in the 1950’s he became one of the founders of a Nigerian literary movement that drew upon the traditional oral culture of its indigenous peoples. Therefore by being the author of a book that focuses on the lives of an Igbo family one may not be able to tell where the truth is and where the author is embellishing the truth for entertainment purposes.
