In many ways, colonization is a tragedy in itself. The culture of many peoples being stripped away from them as they are forced to assimilate into another culture that may differ widely from theirs. Okonkwo being painted as a tragic hero isn’t too far from the truth in my opinion, as humans are always reluctant to change especially when something foreign is introduced, such as the British missionaries. Okonkwo rose to the top from despair but then fell back due to his actions and struggle with colonization.
Chinua Achebe himself is part of the igbo culture, though he described his christianity compared to his igbo culture as being on a fence. As a biracial person, being half Arab and Latino, I have some sort of understanding about what Achebe says about being on a fence. It could be because he lives in Nigeria and wanted to represent that part of his culture, which again is understandable for me. Arabs are never portrayed in media correctly, so when I write I always have Arab characters.
This is similar to Achebe, he took his cultural identity and applied it to stories he wrote. Being able to write a tragedy about your own culture can have lasting impacts, especially when there's nothing on your culture before it was colonized. The author is able to shift the perspective and allows people to have another understanding about the colonization of Igboland, a deeper understanding of the culture and the tragedy of colonization. This way, he is able to express his feelings on his own culture and how it's portrayed and provide insight to non-igbo or non-african audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment