The essay Colonialist Criticism, written by Chinua Achebe brings out the idea of an attack on the lingering colonialism of non-African communities criticizing the African literature. As brought out in the essay, most of the African writers do produce their works or written texts. After they have written and produced their works, the work has to go through the western community for more analysis. The colonialism, in this case, shows how every African written work has to go through the European community for more analysis yet their own written works do not need to go through the African community for more analysis.
African writers to be understood have made something in writing; their work must meet the setfup standard that is judgmentally made by the western community. African writers must meet the standard said by the profound European writer (Chrisman & Williams, 2015). The African writer writes text to be read and present a message to the African community but European people analyze the text. This means that they are more of a jury bench or they just judge the written work.
While the European community is analyzing and judging the work done by the African community, they always keep the concept in mind of being the “big brother” consciousness. They analyze the African works while still making the binaries. These binaries made by the European community are like the black and white or just the African and Europeans. Their analysis focuses more on giving out and stating that the Europeans are more superior to the Africans. They bring out the idea that the Europeans are more superior than the Africans communities with them being the big brothers while the Africans are more inferior and the small brothers too (Dabashi, 2017). With this, the European community thinks them that they too know almost everything on the African community literature, culture, art and the Africans ways of life themselves.
Chinua Achebe sees the Colonialist Criticism faults in the whole assumption that the African text writers are somewhat unfinished of the European and that some outsiders from the African culture know the Africans community writing better than they know the native African writers in the continent do. The writer of the text disapproves the European colonial prejudice. This refers to the habit of ruling while still discriminating others, comparing the African art, culture and literature with the European community. Achebe argues that the writer African literature by the African community should not by any means be judged or even being compared with the acknowledged literature since it, more has its own individuality and particularity. The mask brought out in the European civilization does not even understand or know the critical history of the African community and that they should leave them live on their own (Dabashi, 2017).
So in these Chinua Achebe claims that the African community is well colonized and that they should write their real and own history objecting to what a ready has been universalized. Chinua argues that “if by any means a text written by an African is judged by the European community and on their perspective, the text doesn’t get the right and quality evaluation hence the essence of the text is killed”.Reading this text written by Chinua raises very critical issues that are brought out on the colonialism done to the African writer by the European community hence they should cease from analyzing the African writer’s texts and leave them to live on their own. Reading this Colonialist Criticism makes any reader reconsider reading Orientalism. Orientalism, a book written by Edward Said, fundamentally discusses orientalism, as well defined to be the west more demeaning the representation of the east community (Dabashi, 2017).
This includes the people and the societies, which do inhabit the places of North America, Asia and the Middle East. Said, discusses orientalism which refers to the western scholarships in the Eastern world, it is inseparably tied to the imperialist nations and societies who produce it. This makes much the orientalism work more innately server to power and politics. According to him, in the Middle East community, the economic, the social and the cultural practices of the ruling Arab communities indicate that they are more imperial straps who have internalized all the romanticized Arab culture that was created by the British, French and the American orientalists. Good examples of this are the critical analysis of the colonial literature written by Joseph Conrad that does integrate people, place, and time into a more narrative of adventure and incident in an exotic land.
Reading the text by Chinua makes a reader reconsider reading the other text written by Edward. The two texts have a profound relationship in explaining the concepts of the European nations sitting on other communities writings (Chrisman & Williams, 2015). The two works bring out the more understood superiority, which is thought to exist with the European community with the other communities especially the African community being inferior and said to be the small brothers. Hence reading the work done by Chinua makes a reader reconsiders reading the other work done by Edward.
The short story of Sabine starts with the Justine antagonist with the narrative voice of Shabine. At this point, it is not well known as to why she carries such kind of tone, nor is it not even known to whom she directs the kind of tone too. It is at the end of the story seen that she is addressing a certain character in the story that throughout the whole story remains nameless. The character has watched her for a quite long time from a mango tree. This brings the case to be more interesting to mention.
This refers to Julie mango tree whose fruit names bears the names of a female being (Chrisman & Williams, 2015). The story opens up with the narrator critically explaining that she has a bad temper, which she does unleash when she is teasers when she is more provoked. This story is more giving the early years of Justine before her two sons are born and bring into the light. The narrative voice brought out by Shabine give the readers a concept to reconsider going back and reading the concepts, which are put forward by orientalism. The most interesting things in the ideals are that they explore the different aspects of the cultural diversities. He talks about beauty in the text.
But beauty in this context does not mean the personal beauty in the person himself, but talks about the beauty in the actual sense of having a more perfect figure and the features of personal beauty but it talks about the sense and the form of a person being too proud of himself and the continent from where he comes from. These ideals have the connection with the colonialism conflict, which suggests that the European should leave the Africans to be proud of their continent (Chrisman & Williams, 2015).
References
- Chrisman, L., & Williams, P. (2015). Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory: A reader.
- Routledge. Dabashi, H. (2017). Post-Orientalism: Knowledge and power in a time of terror. Routledge.
