Analysis Study Of Colonial Discourse In Literature

Analysis Study Of Colonial Discourse In literary whole shebangColonial treat has been defined by umpteen writers such(prenominal) as Diniz (1996126) who consigns out hat Colonial discourse usu totallyy refers to the writing which runs from quin hundred years, through the days of atomic number 63an mer cleartile expansion, to our give birth cadence (1996126).This definition suggests that the era of Colonialism in publications began in the 17th C. with the number of Shakespe atomic number 18s The Tempest (1611-12). In this paper, however, the term is substance ab wontd to refer to the literary productions write in slope, solely when confined to the century of British Colonialism and the decades of anti- or attitude colonial activity which followed. says small-armoeuv heartyism (1978) substance ab ingestions the fantasy of colonial discourse to re-order the study of colonialism. So it dissolve be said to inaugurate a in the altogether reliable-hearted of stud y of colonialism. Saids aimalism examines how the eastern, including the Middle East, is represented in the explalocal ara networkded estate and the literature indite by the wolfram. The West al way of conducts looks at the East as outclassed peck without piety or morals.Saids projecttries to show how knowledge about the non-Europeans was rive of the process of maintaining effect over them. In short, Orientalism is primarily concerned with how the Orient was constructed by westbound Literature and non with how such bend was genuine by colonial playing fields. It examines the Western attitudes toward the East. Said concludes that the Western writers depict the Orient as irrational, week and feminised other. This depiction can be strained with the depiction of the West as rational, strong and masculine.Saids Culture and Imperialism (1994)Colonial discourse is a concept popularized by Edward Said. In this paper, it refers in any case to the knowledge of Africa c onstructed by the West (colonial writers as Defoe and Conrad) to bolster its colonizing interests, and the reaction of the East ( colonised writers as Achebe). Colonial discourse has non been the product of a certain sequence and it has attracted the attention of several writers and critics. Those famed authors as Conrad and Defoe created remarkable works out of the subject of Colonialism. Nowadays, Colonial discourse is matchless of the most current issues in literary criticism.1.2. Life and whole caboodle of Defoe, Conrad and Achebe1.2.1. Life and work of DefoeDanial Defoe was born about 1660 in London. His bugger off, James Foe, was pitiful alone hard working moreovercher. Defoe was not able to attend conventional institutions like Oxford and Cambridge because of his fathers opposition. Defoe is often consumeed the father of English refreshed. He is a subjugate of simple prose and unchewable narrative with a love of realistic detail. He is a great imaginative writ er who creates one of the most long-familiar resonant myths of modern literature. He is influenced by the writings of Addison, Steel and Swift. Defoes crucial works are Robinson Crusoe (1719), Moll Flocal area networkders (1722), Capitan Singleton (1720) and The Hi fig manpowert of Peter the Great and Colonel bozo (1722). Defoe died in London on April 24, 1731.1.2.2. Life and Works of ConradJoseph Conrad was born in December 3, 1857. His childhood was affected by his homelands struggle for independence. He is a Polish newfangledist and short in utterance writer. Conrad is one of the English languages greatest stylists. He be have intercourses one of the greatest writers in the world. His major works include tenderheartedness of shadow (1902), Lord Jim (1900), The Secret Agent (1907), Under the Western look (1911) and Nostrome (1904). He died of heart failure on August 3, 1924.1.2.3. Life and Works of AchebeChinua Achebe was born in Ogidi in eastern Nigeria on November 16, 1930. His parents instill in him legion(predicate) of the values of their traditional agri burnish. He is one of most well-known(a) post colonial writers. He has become re bracinged as a father of modern African literature. After publishing Things Fall by, he became one of the founders of the new Nigerian literature.Achebes chief(prenominal) storys are Things snuff it asunder (1959), No Longer at Ease (1960), Arrow of God (1964) and A Man of sight (1966). His novels are primarily addressed to an African audience, but their psychological insights have gained them universal acceptance. His education in English allows him to scram both the European and the African perspectives on colonial expansion, race, religion and culture.1.3. The relevancy of the StudyThere are soldieryy writers who have tackled the concept of colonialism in their works. It is customary to read Shakespeares The Tempest as the origin outstanding major work to present colonial discourse the way the co loniser and the colonised portrayed in the characters of Prospero and Caliban. In The Tempest, Shakespeares major addition to the narrative is to strike the island inhabited before Prosperos arrived. That single addition turns the adventure story into an fiction of the colonial encounter.There are two ways of representing colonialism in literature. The prime(prenominal) one is represented by the colonisers point of view the European writers. Those colonial writers are Shakespeare, Defoe, Conard and J.M. Cotezee. Those writers have compose plays and novels which deal with the theme of colonialism as Defoes with the them of colonialism as Defoes Robinson Crusoe (1719), Corads Heart of Darkness (1902), Carys Mister Johnson ( ) and Cotezees Foe (1986).Those writers give a negative become grapple of Africa in situationicular and the East in general. Africans are depicted as primitrue, savages, uncivilized, inferior and ignorant. As a resultant role of this negative representa tion of Africa in particular and the East, including the Middle East, which is determinen as sub-human in general several critics criticized this subject. Among the critics who criticized this subject are Edward Said, Achebe and other African critics like Ngugiwa, Chinwerza and Nkruma. Those African critics provide a theoritcal frame work to examine the representation of the colonized in the literature produced by the writers belonging to the countries of the colonizer. They have re-written the representation of the colonized from non-Euro. centric perspective.So their writing is a mean of re-writing the history, the culture from their cultural perspective which is called Afro-centric point of view.Saids Orientalism(1978) one of the first works which examines how the East, including the Middle East, is represented in the history and the literature written by the West. The West always looks at the East as an inferior race without religion or morals. Saids projects tries to show how knowledge about the non-European was part of the process of maintaining power over them. It also examines the Western attitudes toward the East.In short, Orientalism is primarily concerned with how the Orient was constructed by Western literature and not how such construction was received by colonial subjects. Said concludes that the Western writers depict the Orient as irrational, weak and feminized other. This depiction can be contrasted with the depiction of the West as rational, strong and masculine.Saids Culture and Imperialism (1994) is some other work to explain the complex and the ongoing bloods betwixt the East and the West, the colonizer and the colonized, the snow-white and the moody. Said specifically addresses the way in which subjugated people are represented within literature and how it has affected not only these people but also the cultures in which they live.Achebes Things Fall asunder (1959) is one of the first books to represent the African image from an A fro-centric perspective. This novel is always seen as a response to the image created by Conrad and Cary.In this novel, Achebe writes the story of small town of the Ibo cabaret from an African point of view. In his essay An Image of Africa racialism in Heart of Darkness, Achebe views that Conrads discourse of native Africans in Heart of Darkness as racist. Achebe focuses on Conrads treatment of Africa as an other world, an antithesis at Europe and therefore at civilization (9th. In Achebe, 3).Achebe specifically criticizes Conrads racism which is convey through the choice of words, ignorance, fiction, comparison and imagery of the writer. Achebe argues that the choice of words Conrad uses is really limited. He repeats words like inscrutable and frenzy overly many another(prenominal) times and at several occasions. Conrad changes these for their synonyms. (Ibid).According to him, the image of darkness pointed in the book is well(p) the stereotyped view of Europeans towards African as whole. Achebe believes that Conrad is just pleasing the readers by telling them what they want to hear. In his conclusion, Achebe calls Conrad a bloody racist who mock both African land and African people.1.4. The regularity of the StudyThis term paper is based on an analytical method. The analysis includes the themes, the characters and the techniques of each novel.Chapter II2.1. The Purpose of the StudyThe principle aims of this research are as followsTo examine the them of colonialism and how its consequences are reflected through Defoes Robinson Crusoe, Conrads Heart of Darkness and Achebes Things fall asunder.To examine how three different writers of two different cultures, races, countries and religions represent the colonizer and the colonized in these three novels.To compare and contrast literary pieces written from the point of view of European imperialists and the African/colonized perspectives.To compare and contrast these two negative and positive represen tations of the colonized (Africa) both as land and people as it was presented in these three novels.2.2. The Significance/ Importance of the StudyChapter III component 1(Defoes Robinson Crusoe)3.1.1. Plot Summary of Defoes Robinson Crusoe from the perspective of Colonial DiscourseDefoes Robinson Crusoe (1719) takes vest in the indorse half of the 17thC. when European companies vied for control and exploitation of colonized lands around the world. Crusoe, the central character, appears to represent his imperialist spirit first when he goes to Guniea, next when he travels to Brazil and opens plantation, and terminally when he becomes king of an island.Crusoe colonizes the island by building houses, taking Friday as his servant after meeting him and officiation to the mountaineers as his subjects.3.1.2. Understanding Colonialism in Defoes Robinson Crusoe Analysis of the Theme and the CharactersDefoes Robinson Crusoe (1719) was written when the people of the 18thC. were traveling abroad, discovering new lands and dish outing Christianity. They were colonizing lands and imposing their culture and language there. The powerful tribe controls the economy, and the territory of a week country. Africa was one of the main colonies of the British Empire and the British were at the centre of power whereas the Other were at the margin of power. In other words, the colonizer suppressed the Other, his language and his culture too.Robinson Crusoe is the second important work to present colonial discourse the way the colonizer and the colonized are portrayed in the figures/ characters of Crusoe, Friday, non whiteman, and Xury, a servant of Crusoe. The roles of Crusoe, Friday, Xury and the mountaineers have been discussed in terms of rules and subjects in close connection to the treatment of those people by Crusoe. Defoes Robinson Crusoe is often read in modern times as an allegory of colonialism, and there is a great deal in the last chapters to reserve this view.Frida ys subjection, servitude and submission to Crusoe reflects colonial race relations (Defoe 185). This is clear when Crusoe thinks that he is assist Friday by making him his servant. Moreover, Colonial terms appear when dealing with the array he mountaineers. Crusoe and the Captain terrify them by referring to a fictional regulator of the island who willing punish Hem severely. This fiction of regulator for shadows the very governor who will no doubt be installed on the island eventually. Because Crusoe has claimed the territory for England.Indeed, Crusoe refers to this union as my colony in the island, which depicts us, the readers, wander whether he really consider it his own or it is officially a colony or figuratively so.As the novel sheds light upon the theme of colonialism, the reader observes the way the colonizer and the colonized are portrayed in it. In the novel, Crusoe, the central character, is the lesson of colonialism whereas Friday is the symbol of the subjects ra ces. Friday is instructed, wedded language and converted to Christianity, Crusoes religion.Crusoes instructions on Friday are examples of his attitudes towards human beings who he trained to do his work. As a colonizer, Crusoe wants to spread his religion. He refers to Christianity and to the Bible in order to convert Friday to Christianity. Crusoe teaches Friday the word outgo even before teaching him yes or no and lets him know that was to be Crusoes name (Defoe185).Crusoe refers to him egotism as king over the natives and Europeans, who are his subjects. Moreover, Friday is an example of the self and the other. Crusoe instructs him, gives him language, in order to help him to run his Empire on the island. He is an example of the Other because he is only servant.Pennycook suggest that Colonialism is probably the setting without equal of contractions of self-importance and Other (200210). We can observe the process of this construction in the dialogues between Crusoe and FridayM aster Well, Friday, and what does your nation do with the men they take? Do they carry them a way and eat them, as these did?Friday yes, my nation eat mans up too eat all up.(Defoe P.192).In such dialogues, we can see the relation institutionalize not only between Self and Other as constructed by colonialism but also between these and English. Friday has been effrontery a very particular, colonizing English words to expenses his cultural background, besides his utter in Crusoes own language.Phillispsons discussion (1992) of Crusoes lessons to Friday is one of the earliest instances of English lingual imperialism which he calls as the locus-classical of the start of English linguistic imperialism to Crusoe, and he has no right to disobey him.Phillipson states that Crusoes-Fridays relationship reflects the racial bodily structure of Western society at the hey day of slavery (P.109). Phillipson sees Crusoe as the epitome of imperialist slavery, i.e. a key figure in the European att empt to gain political and economic mastery over the large areas of the world. According to Brantlinger, what Crusoe cants master- or nark to call him master- he sees only as savagery and desert island. (1990P.2).Crusoes relationship with Friday comes in several layers. At one point in the novel, Crusoe refers to Fridays people as blinded, ignorant pagans (Defoe170). The relationship between them is like that between Crusoe and Xury. Earlier, Crusoe has told Xury that if he will be assentful to him, he will illuminate him a great man. As soon as the Captain offers 60 pieces of lucky for Exury, Crusoe accepts it and sells him for the sake of economic gain. Crusoe stands for the colonizer who occupies the other countries under the pretext that he educates and develops the nation.Crusoe, as a colonizer, changes Fridays language, religion, habits, culture and even his name. This is how the colonizer imposes his own language, religion, culture and identity on the occupied nations. Th e banishment of Fridays religions beliefs emphasizes the colonization theme.Crusoes attitude towards Friday is reflected in his description. His attitude is that of a master-servant. He requires a complete subservience and faith fullness from Friday. Crusoe looks upon Friday as a creature when he will care for, giving him water, food and clothing. Crusoe does not even try to learn Friday veritable name which shows the European supremacy theme in the novel. Crusoe gives Friday his name as he has done with his parrot, Poll.Regarding the Euro-centric attitude of the time, Defoe ensures that Friday is not Crusoes equal in the novel. Friday is clear a servant and inferior in rank, power and respect. Crusoes vocabulary reveals much about how he imagines his role on the island. He starts to describe himself as generalissimo of an army with Friday as his lieutenant-general.At the very opening of the novel, he is a mere castaway but towards the end, he openly refers to himself as a nationa l leader of military forces. We sense how deeply essential Crusoes imagined national role as a king of this island when he refers to his new guests as his subjects.Friday is probably the first non white character to be given a realistic, individualized and human portrayal in the English novel. Friday has a huge literary and cultural importance. If Crusoe represents the first colonial mind in fiction, then Friday represents not only a Caribbean commonwealths man but also all the natives of Asia, Africa, and America who would later be oppressed in the age of European colonialism.When Crusoe teaches Friday to call him master, Friday becomes an enduring political symbol of racial injury in modern world and critical of imperialist expansion. Recent rewritings of the story of Crusoe, like Cotezees Foe and Tourniers Friday, emphasize the consequences of Crusoes failure to scan Friday and suggest how the tales office be told very different from the natives perspective. In any case, Cru soe has turned his story of one mans survival into a political tale replete with its own ideas about imperialism.In short, it is not surprising that contemporary readers regard Defoes novel as the prototypical colonial novel of the 18thC. if not in all of English literature. To conclude, this novel is not only a reflection of colonialist practices, but part of large discourse concerned with the colonial customs of the British Empire.3.1.3. Analysis of the floor Techniques in Defoes Robinson CrusoeDefoe combines many narrative methods in Robinson Crusoe to make the novel authentic and realistic. These techniques are narration (point of view), the use of irony, attention to details, symbols and the use of dates and names of places. Robinson Crusoe is both the teller and the main character of the novel. He narrates the story in both the first and the one-third person, presenting only what he himself observes. He describes his feelings occasionally but only when they are over whelmi ng. He normally favors a more factual narrative style focused on actions and events.Another important narrative device is the use of symbols and irony. As for the symbols, the author uses three symbols like the can print, the cross and the bower. The foot print stands for Crusoes scraped feelings about human companionship in whole he interprets it negatively as the print of all the devil. The cross symbolizes Crusoes new existence on the island and the power stands for the radical improvement in Crusoes attitude toward his time on the island.As for the irony, it is a literary device for Defoe. There are several examples of its use in the novel, but the best example are the discovery of the foot print and the warning of Crusoes father. First, Crusoe ignores his fathers adviceif he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable wretch that was ever born, (Defoe. P.4)Second, Crusoe wishes for human beings to come because he was alone, but when he sees the foot print of a naked man, he is afraid. Crusoe comments on this ironyHow strange a checker work of providence is the career of a man. Today we love what tomorrow we hate immediately we seek what tomorrow we shun today we desire what tomorrow we fear. (Defoe P140).The third narrative technique is the use of a circumstantial method which tells us not only what Crusoe did but how he did it. There are many examples of the uses of details such as Crusoes project in raising of the crops of barley and rice on the island, killing the gouts and making a sieve, and the description of the ship wrecks and Crusoes adventures. Such details produce the effect of realism. The last method is the use of dates and geographical place-names. All of these devices add to the realistic effect of the novel.Chapter Three character Three Achebes Things Fall Apart3.3.1. Plot Summary of Things Fall Apart from the perspective of Colonial Discourse.Achebes Things Fall Apart (1959) traces the brio in the Ibo colony of Umuofia just before and after its initial tangency with European colonialists and their Christian religion. The novel is divided into three parts the first part deals with the life of the Ibo people before the arrival of the dapple man, illustrating various panoramas of Ibos way of life.The second part deals with Okonkwos exile and the arrival of the missionaries and the effect of their arrival, including the conversation of Nwoye to Christianity. The third part deals with the effects of the white mans religion, education, power, laws and economics on the tribes culture.The first signs of colonization come to Abame when the first white man appears. He is killed by the people of Abame on the order of the Oracle who tells them that the white man would be soon followed by others and he would destroy their way of life. As a result, the village has been undone by other white men. During Okonkwos exile, the white man comes to both Umuofia and Mbanta and wins many converts. When Okonkwo affords to Umuof ia, he finds that life begins to change. Therefore, he stands up to the colonizers in an attempt to entertain his culture. When he kills a British messenger, Okonkwo realizes that he stands alone, and he hangs himself.3.3.2. Understanding Colonialism in Things Fall Apart Analysis of the Theme and the CharactersAchebes Things Fall Apart relates the story of disintegration falling apart of an African society that came in contact with Western values as a result of the colonization. The novel explores the sexual climax of the white man and its effects on the culture of the people of Umuofia.The attack of the white man brought about culture conflict which affects the people of Umuofias religion, their agriculture, their legal system and their social life. The collapse of a society that was strongly join is told through the story of Okonkwo and the village Umuofia. The novel shows the general disintegration of this culture when it is attacked by other culture.The incursion of the co lonizer is changing every aspect of the Ibo society such as religion, family structure, gender roles, relations and trade. The colonizers bring language, religion, education, commerce, regime and law to Umuofia which are unquestionably disruptive. Okonkwo, the representative of the Ibo culture, realizes that the white man has been too successful in his ways to change the tribes ways. He grieves the loss of his tribe and the life he once knew.Okonkwo feels betrayed by his son who joins the white missionaries and his lan who have not stood up once against the white intruders. The arrival of the white man and his culture heralds the death of the Ibo culture. The while man does not honor the tribes customs and strives to convince the tribes men that their ways are better. As a result of colonialism, the tribe is split, pitting brother against brother and father against son. Many of the tribes leading have joined the missionaries and the tribal beliefs and customs are being ignored. O konkwos final act of resistance exemplifies how Africans and other colonized people have courageously resisted colonialism instead of passively accepting it.In Things Fall Apart, the representatives of the colonizer are Mr. embrown, Mr. metalworker and the zone commissioner and the colonized are Okonkwo and the entire Ibo society.Achebe gives the reader a dramatic contrast between the first white missionary Mr. brownish and Mr. Smith who replaces him. As his name suggests, Mr. Brown is able to navigate successfully the racial division between the colonizer and the colonized. Mr. Brown appears reasonable, respectful, kind, patient and an open-minded man who is willing to make effort to respect and understand the Ibo beliefs. Mr. Brown succeeds in winning a large number of converts because he listens to the villagers stories, beliefs, and opinions. He be friends many great men of the lan and discusses religious beliefs with them. He accepts the converts unconditionally. Mr. Brown i s the most influential character in the novel who does not encourage the conflict between the old and the new faith.Mr. Brown realizes that the direct attack with Ibo is useless. Therefore, he adapts a very clever policy by building a school, hospital and finally a perform. Achebe statesIn this way Mr. Brown learnt a good deal about the religion of the lan and he came to the conclusion that a fro natal attack on it would not success. (Achebe 163).Then he asks the people to send their children to the school and argues that the leaders of Umuofia will be men and women who can read and write. It is Mr. Brown who warns them that strangers like the District commissioner will come from other places to rule them.Actually, Mr. Brown is a man who loves peace and respects the traditional culture. So there was no conflict between the Ibo culture and the Western culture during his period. He has a real interest in the welfare of the Ibo people. As an individual, he is a good representative of his society. Mr. Brown stands for the bright side of the colonizer.Another representative of the colonizer is Reverend Smith who replaces Mr. Brown as the new head of the Christian Church. Mr. Smith is strict and uncompromising, the opposite of Mr. Brown who was kind and compassionate. Unlike Mr. brown, Mr. Smith encourages people to hate the traditional people and their religion. Mr. Smith is the stereotypical white colonist. He has no respect for the culture or the traditions of the Ibo.Mr. Smith stiff ignorant of all the traditions and therefore has no hope of being consider enough. Mr. Smith thinks he is superior and others are inferior. Mr. Smith sees things as black and white and black is evil. (Achebe 166).Smiths black and white thinking leads to the destruction of the church and the clash between both cultures. As a result of this new missionary, the Christians attack the Ibo belief and culture and insult the tribes traditional customs. One of their victims Okonkwo, whose return co-insides with the arrival of Mr. Smith, the new faith divide father from son. Smiths policy and treatment of the Ibo people show that the colonialist system is more primitive than the Ibo system.The District Commissioner is another figure of the colonizer. He seems more inhuman because he takes interest in Okonkwos suicide only because it will give him a new tangible for his book. He decides to title his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.This purpose demonstrates his knowledge about African as primitive and his inability to make out how he has brought violence instead of peace to the Lower Niger. By reason out his novel with the District Commissioners misinterpretation and misinterpretation writing of the scene of colonial encounter, Achebe suggests that his novel is not simply about the colonial encounter between two different cultures. By drawing the attention to the District Commissioners monstrous sense of history. Achebe reminds the realer that the Western descriptions of Africa have largely been written by men like the District Commissioner. Consequently, Things Fall Apart seek to correct such erroneous historical records by retelling African history from an African perspective.In brief, Achebes Things Fall Apart illustrates what happened to the Ibo society at the time of its colonization by the British and how the colonialism affects the Ibo in many different ways their religion, family, children and their dead. Achebe describes what happens when different cultures works against each other. Now he the white man has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us tpgether and we have Fallen apart. (Achebe 160).In this lines Oberika seems to voice Achebes own thought on colonialism. Okonkwos suicide at the end of the novel represents the end of the Clans ancient way of life because he represents the clansman.3.3.3. Analysis of the Narrative Techniques in Achebes Things Fall ApartAchebe uses a number of techniques un Things Fall Apart such as the mixture between English language and Ibo vocabularies, use of proverbs and kinfolk tales, symbolism, use of similes and metaphors, comparisons and contrasts and the shift from present tense to past and again to present.The first method that Achebe uses is to develop a hybrid language that mixes Ibo and English words by introducing numerous African terms thought the novel like Chie (personal God-Fate), Obi (hut), Agbala (a man without title) and Osu (outcast). Achebe uses English language as a model of communication between people and to convince the Europeans that Nigeria is a nation with great potential. Achebe uses his language to draw the readers attention to his own language. Another important method is the use if Ibo proverbs as well as traditional folk tales which bring to life the oral culture of Ibo and indicate their intelligence, knowledge, morals, the strong religion and the cult ure of the country.Early in the novel, Achebe says if a child washed his hands, he could eat with the kings. Referring to Okonkwo (Achebe8). This implies that if Nigerians washed their hands, the country could be just as important as Britian.The third method is Achebes use of similes and metaphors to bring the narrative to life and his use of different kinds of comparisons that are related to the Ibo experience as proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten. (Achebe 6). The novel is developed in terms of comparison and contrast between the characters like the comparisons between father and son Unoka and Okonkwo and between friends like Nwoye and Ikemefuna, Unoka and Okoye Oberika and Okonkwo.Fourth, Achebe provides considerable detail about many aspects of traditional African life like family and clan relation, ceremonies and rituals, social structure (gender relations), political and religions practices and the role of nature in their world.This digression helps the reader to understand the daily activities and religious beliefs of the Ibo people. Achebe shifts from present to past then to present while describing the events and the characters.The best method is the narrative voice. May critics see Things fall Apart as a book with two narrative voices the traditional which dominates the first two/third of the book, and the modern which takes over the last third. Other critics see the book as narrated by a single narrator, whose tone changes and adopts overtime. The narrator mediates between the individual and the community, between the present and the past. All the previous devices make the novel authentic and realistic.3.3.4. Comparisons and Contrasts between these three textsConrads Heart of Darkness, Defoes Robinson Crusoe and Acheb