OKONKWO TO ODILI: READING CHINUA ACHEBE’S HEROES POSTCOLONIALLY

Setu  Das; Hossain  Al Mamun

doi:10.53808/KUS.2021.18.02.2110-ah

Authors

Setu Das Dept. of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh
Hossain Al Mamun Dept. of English, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2021.18.02.2110-ah

Keywords:

Achebe’s heroes, otherness, ambivalence, decolonization, neocolonialism

Abstract

The paper examines the situations and actions of Chinua Achebe’s four heroes, who stand as the epitomes of struggle in their society: Okonkwo, Ezeulu, Obi, and Odili from the first four novels of the author— Things Fall Apart (1958), Arrow of God (1964), No Longer at Ease (1960), and A Man of the People (1966). These heroes foreground the struggles of their clan people that are brought by the colonizer and the Nigerian ‘corrupt’ rulers in postcolonial time. This paper aims at applying six postcolonial theoretical approaches: Otherness, Ambivalence, Mimicry, Hybridity, Decolonization and Neocolonialism to analyse the time and tasks of the four heroes comparatively. Through the lens of ‘Otherness’, this study throws light on Okonkwo, who becomes an ‘Other’ in his clan because of colonial interventions. The paper examines Ezeulu’s role as an ambivalent protagonist along with his tragic ending. This study analyses critically the Mimicry and Hybridity exhibited by the third hero, Obi. Moreover, this paper shows the action of Odili as a decolonized intellectual who struggles against corruption in postcolonial African society. This study endeavours to explore how Achebe represents the perspectives of colonized people as well as the people of the neocolonial age by portraying the story of the four heroes.

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