Examples Of Imperialism In Things Fall Apart

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe has strong anti-imperialistic views. The epigraph and the title of the novel come from the opening stanza of William Butler Yeats’s poem The Second Coming. Things Fall Apart blissfully reflects the rise of imperialism as Britain and France take control of African territories. With the end of the Second World War, the German Empire collapses and the League of Nations takes it upon itself to take control of the former German colonies. Due to the implementation of British and French monarchies within these newly distributed territories, an anti-imperialistic stronghold arises within the colonies and cause for a civil unrest within the African territories.

This quote, in Chapter 1, from the narrator’s

Even the language of the commissioner’s given title reveals how misled he is. He thinks of himself as someone who knows a great deal about appeasing and cooperating the locals is ironic, since, he is a main cause of their suffering instead of their peace. Furthermore, the impression of “pacification” or appeasement in the first place is naturally offensive as it gives a condescending misconception of the natives as no more than helpless infants. Similarly, the label “primitive” comes across as a belittling insult that replicates the commissioner’s obliviousness about the Igbo and their highly formalized and complexly ritualized way of life. Just the assertion that the commissioner has come up with a title for the book “after much thought” emphasizes the fact that the level of attention he has paid to his own thoughts and insights well surpasses the amount paid to the actual field of study. This is due to his imperialistic views towards the African tribes and clans. The story, as you can see, has many deep quotations about imperialism and Chinua Achebe’s anti imperialistic stance on those