Achebe, Conrad, and the Postcolonial Strain

In his article Achebe, Conrad, and the Postcolonial Strain Eric Sipyinyu Njeng presents an analysis of Chinua Achebe\u27s Things Fall Apart in a context of postcolonial thought and argues that while Achebe\u27s text is often placed against Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness as a counter discourse -- thus interrogating Conrad\u27s portraiture of Africans as savages -- Achebe\u27s text in fact represents anti-Africanism and subservience to Occidental values. Examining Achebe\u27s authorial intention in Things Fall Apart, especially as epitomized in the character of Okonkwo, the protagonist, Njeng argues that Achebe corroborates Conrad\u27s portrait of the African. In writing Things Fall Apart, Achebe falls under the postcolonial writer\u27s strain resisting and at the same time seduced by Occidental ideology. In his novel, Achebe tries to veil his desire for the Occident by presenting Okonkwo initially as a prominent character only to fulfill this desire in the course of the narrative by decentering the protagonist. Achebe\u27s characterization is centrifugal, that is, he constructs the events of the story to unfold such that Okonkwo is systematically removed from the centre. This decentering of the protagonist diminishes him as well as the African values he is supposed to represent. This centrifugal aesthetics of constructing events resulting in the protagonist removed from the centre, satisfied Achebe\u27s intention of supplanting African values with Western values. Removing the protagonist from the centre of events creates space for the antagonist to take root, supplanting African religion and culture with Western ideology and hegemony. Njeng postulates that Things Fall Apart appeals to Occidental audiences because Achebe concedes them the place they have always thrived for and thus the novel continues to reverberate in Western discourse