Chinua Achebe is truly a unique author; he gives a perspective of Nigeria and its native culture like no other. Achebe grew up in Nigeria himself, so he is familiar with its customs and language – the “discourse” of the native Ibo. His novel, Things Fall Apart, tells the story of the British colonization of Nigeria from the often neglected viewpoint of the native. In postcolonialist literary theory, Achebe is an other, and an impressive one. He is a
gold-mine of insight on a history long forgotten by the Westernized, post-colonial world.
When things begin to “fall apart” in Achebe's novel (which, by the way, refers to the dissolving of the Ibo culture), the colonizers reveal “their unconscious desires for power, wealth, and domination.” This is especially evident after the replacement of Mr. Brown with the more reactionary Reverand James Smith. Reverand James sees things as “black and white,” a play on words regarding both the difference in race between the white colonizers and the Ibo, and the following of the Ibo culture. Reverand James views the Ibo as inferior individuals; he wants to convert them from their “savage” ways. The District Commissioner, introduced towards the end of the novel, is the ultimate embodiment of this agenda.
Things Fall Apart should also be considered from the important perspective of language and linguistic interpretation. This relates to Frantz Fanon's postcolonialist theory, which argues that “as soon as the colonized [are] forced to speak the language of the colonizer, the colonized [accept] or [are] coerced into accepting the collective consciousness of the [colonizer].” Achebe's familiarity with two cultures provides him the ability to communicate the feelings of the “other” culture through a medium readers of the “dominant” culture can interpret and understand. Often throughout the book, Achebe does articulate the complex culture and dialogue of the Ibo. He effectively translates the complicated expressions of the Ibo into English, brushing off the established assumption that African culture is barbaric or useless.
