Theme Of Colonization In Things Fall Apart

One of the big things that Great Britain has been known for is colonization the world

around. This nation has colonized in one way or another in many of the large continents, not

omitting this nation, the United States. In many situations the groups of people that the British or

other great nations such as Spain or France, are degraded and called savage. Their savagery is

established through the fact that they do not wear traditional clothing or they did not worship

through Christianity. Even though Things Fall Apart is a fictional novel, it reflects major themes

in this historical period of colonization. In a negative sense, the coming of the British did

represent the coming of civilization. But what it also meant was the stripping

The white men, mainly the district commissioner tricked the villagers into

coming to his headquarters and ends up imprisoning them all. He demands a hearty ransom and

after a while hands the prisoners over to his court messengers. The messengers were corrupt as it

were and ended up inflicting violence upon the prisoners as well as starving them among other

actions.

The final straw occurs in the last paragraph. Colonization by the British leaves everyone

in such overwhelming circumstances, especially in the main character Okonkwo.

In the last chapter, the twenty-fifth, Okonkwo takes his own life. He decides that the oppression

brought on the tribe by the white man was to much to handle. Okonkwo, as the leader saw this as

his fault, he allowed this group of people to come in to the tribe and “civilize” the tribe, that

certainly did not occur. The fact that they did not speak the same language or practice the same

customs further complicated things. In stead of standing up for his tribe and reject colonization,

Okonkwo commits the fatal act of suicide.

In conclusion, this novel, although its fictional, this novel, Things Fall apart reflects

a huge cross section of European colonization and the consequences that took place on