The Role Of Colonialism In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In the book All Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which tells the story of African tribes being colonized by white settlers and missionaries. Showing the point of view from the African perspective instead of the white settler perspective. The movie Lagaan directed by Ashutosh Gowariker telling a story about an Indian tribe fighting against the British for what is right, no Lagaan. Also the movie Rabbit Proof Fence directed by Phillip Noyce where 3 sisters are taken from their mother and home and put into a new school/society which their sole purpose was to raise girls to be a proper and helpful use to society. are all stories describing the depiction of native people in their own land by colonizers. Although doing many positive things for …show more content…
This is shown when Okonkwo while celebrating with the people of his tribe after all of the tribe elders being released, shoots one of the white settlers who was coming to talk. “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniform body” (Achebe 204). After being released by the white commissioner and being told that they must do what the commissioner says in order for them to remain in peace with the white men and keep their traditional customs. The elders ordered a tribe meeting in which all of the members of the tribe attended in the marketplace. Okonkwo after being tortured and starved throughout his time being imprisoned, showed the courage to act out against the white people and fight back by cutting the white man’s head off. This is compared to the time in Lagaan when the British sent messages to all of the surrounding villages that the Lagaan was going to be doubled this year. Knowing that it had been a bad harvest for the Indians, they were scared. This fear turned into courage though, when the messenger came. They wanted to lash out at the messenger but were held back by the rest of their community members because they know the messengers had nothing to do with it. Instead of using the courage through physical harm, they channeled it and used the courage as motivation against the British in the game of cricket to …show more content…
The native people will not give away their homeland without a courageous fight. The people of India knew that they wouldn’t survive a double Lagaan with such a bad harvest from that year. So they actually instead of backing down and struggling through it. Major leaders in the society showed courage and offered to play the British for a chance to make it no Lagaan for a year. This shows the courage that the native Indians must’ve had to fight back against the powerful, world conquering, masterful, British empire. To know what they were getting themselves into and still do it. Facing such a strong opponent where they knew that the odds would be heavily stacked against them. They did it anyway, and throughout the game of cricket showed courage and real fight. Both Things Fall Apart and Lagaan, can be compared to the rabbit proof fence. The girls are taken from their homes and put into a whole new child development community attempting to access the usefulness that they knew the girls had. When they arrived at the compound, they say a girl being taken to the dark shed as punishment and found out about the tracker. The tracker hunts girls that run away down and brings them back. Even knowing how good the tracker was. Knowing that he had never lost a girl before. The girls weren’t willing to fight directly against the colonizing forces. Instead they ran away. Using a more indirect way of fighting back.