Unit 12

English 203: Literature of the NonWestern World

Review:
 
You read a classic "3rd world" account of the process of colonialism.  Joseph Conrad's great novella, "The Heart of Darkness," charged that the pit of moral darkness was London.  The witches who caused so much misery in Africa are little old ladies in London, widows who have inherited their husband's stock investments & care only for their dividends, which support their modest, geriatric  lifestyle.  As powerful as Conrad's novel was, Achebe's novel was equally powerful, because Achebe lived the experience himself.  

V.S. Naipaul, who is as famous as Achebe for his studies of colonialism, says, "The missionary must first teach self-contempt.  It is the basis of the faith of the heathen convert" (Middle Passage 156).  Achebe illustrates this process in the heartbreaking speeches about the futility of tribal resistance & the loss of everything that created pride in tribal life.  How responsible are Europeans for the tragedies of colonialism?  We expect the Germans to be apologetic for the Holocaust, but baulk at African slavery, Native American slaughter & centuries of theft.  Part of the Western excuse is that the process went on for 5 centuries & everybody was doing it (Spanish, French, British, even tiny Holland that exploited the 5th most populous country in the world, Indonesia).  Consequently, the excuse continues, there was never a clear moment of moral decision.  So no one is responsible.

Achebe broke new ground by identifying how disingenuous European colonists were.  Conrads' colonists were confused, short sighted, & struggling for day to day survival.  They had little opportunity to see the big picture.  Perhaps Achebe cheats by suggesting that colonialism was a well developed & consciously chosen policy of European rapacity & domination.  

Achebe's  missionaries are hardly more educated than their students & are clearly pawns & cheap propagandists used by political authorities to emasculate opposition.  Morally they are unctuous & repellant compared to manly & forthright characters like Okonkwo.  The political & military classes, knowing more of how the colonial program works, are simply opportunists who don't mind the blood.  The District Commissioner is both ignorant & condescending.  He smiles at extortion & torture, because after all, they are the only methods that "primitives" understand.  

Postcolonial literature is very popular, although didactic moral diatribes like Achebe's novels are growing passé. 

You have read great literature from China, India, Japan, & the midEast.  In our last lesson next week we will consider native American Indian writing.  See you next week.