CULTURAL AND PSYCHIC ANNIHILATION OF BLACKS IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S TRILOGY: THINGS FALL APART, NO LONGER AT EASE AND ARROW OF GOD: A POSTCOLONIAL LITERARY ANALYSIS

Abstract

The world, already nearly transmogrified by the Covid-19 pandemic, was deeply shocked on 25 May 2020 by the US police brutality shamelessly expressed in the killing of a “mockingbird” (George Floyd) by kneeling on his neck till the last drop of life left him. It is important to understand the background of this horrible scenario in order to avoid seeing it as an isolated case. Postcolonial literature gives us enough windows and doors to see and understand the background of this ignoble barbarity. Chinua Achebe, known today as the father of African postcolonial literature, uses his literary works, especially his trilogy, to portray a systemic cultural and psychic annihilation of blacks. The narrative of destruction of the black “other”, which Achebe delivers to the world in his Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease and Arrow of God has continued today, as seen in the killing of George Floyd and many other harmless black people in the world. In the literary analysis of the novels to explore our theme, we will rest on the foundation of the postcolonial literary criticism of Edward Said in his famous book, Culture and Imperialism.