Culture and Identity: A Resilient Character Portrayal

Abstract

One man took it to himself to tell the story of Nigeria through the eyes of its own people. Considered by many as the father of modern African literature, Chinua Achebe was awarded the Intellectual Man Booker Prize in 2007. His first novel Things Fall Apart, is often considered his best, and the second work, No Longer at Ease, is part of the African Trilogy, along with Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God.  My paper attempts an analysis of the clash of culture as depicted in the novel. A psychological study of the main character is done with reference to Homi J. Bhabha’s theory of hybridity. One of Bhabha’s central idea is that of “hybridization” which describes the emergence of new cultural forms because of multiculturalism. Instead of considering colonialism as something of the past, Bhabha shows how its histories and culture constantly intrude in the present, demanding that we transform our understanding of cross-cultural relations.