An Ecocritical Perspective of Colonialism and Environmental Degradation in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Abstract

Ecocriticism is the study of literature in relation with environment and nature. Ecocriticism tries to find possible solution to correct contemporary ecological situation by analyzing the ways nature and environment are represented in literature. The bringing together of ecocriticism and postcolonialism has given a new impetus to the whole critical thought where the ideas of race, land, environment, wilderness etc. are given new insight. This paper aims to analyse the dichotomy between colonialism and environmental degradation, which is presented in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The paper maintains that colonialism and modern development destroy the nature and native culture. The main mission of colonizers is to create political, imperial, and economic hegemony over the country. However, it has negative impact on nature, forestry, animal kingdoms, and cultural wilderness. For the theoretical perspective, the paper borrows ideas from Cheryll Glotfelty and Greg Garrard's about ecological consciousness and environmental literature. The paper concludes that colonialism through its infrastructural development caused deforestation and loss of natural and cultural wilderness. Such an examination is intended to establish that, while the pre-colonial African society lived in an inviolate state of nature, it was colonialism that opened the door for exploitation of nature, ignoring or denigrating the deep meanings that nature and environment held for the African people in the pre-colonial period.