Orientalism in "Things Fall Apart" Novel

“Mr. Brown's successor was the Reverend James Smith, and he was a different kind of man. He condemned openly Mr. Brown's polic of compromise an accommodation. He saw things as black and white. And black was evil. He saw the world as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal conflict with the sons of darkness. He spoke in his sermons about sheep and goats and about wheat and tares. He believed in slaying the prophets of Baal.” (page 144)


That quotation state that there is different view between black and white people. The black people are evil, savage and inferior. We can see how Reverend James Smith who is a white man of England views the black people as evil. His view to this world, it is must be conflict between black and white. The world is a battlefield between black and white, children of light and sons of darkness. He contemns the black people. Edward Said Orientalism was ultimately a political vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe, the West, "us") and the strange (the Orient, the East, "them"). the Orient has helped to define Europe (or the West) as its contrasting image, idea, personality, experience. Yet none of this Orient is merely imaginative. The Orient is an integral part of European material civilization and culture. In this novel there is political view of white people viewing the black native of Nigeria. The white man of England is different from native of Nigerian. The white man is "we”, civilized, superior. The native of Nigerian is "others”, uncivilized, inferior and savages. This novel contains orientalism. We can see from the statement of Reverend James Smith which saw the native of Nigeria as evil.




"What has happened to that piece of land in dispute?" asked Okonkwo. "The white man's court has decided that it should belong to Nnama's family, who had given much money to the white man's messengers and interpreter." "Does the white man understand our custom about land?" "How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad, ….” (page 139)


The missionaries who are a white men spread the Christian religion to the native of Nigeria. They build church in the land. The white men take the rights of the land authority from the natives. The white man’s court gives the land to someone who gives much money to them. The white men say that the native customs are bad. They ignore the native customs. They don’t care about it. According to Edward Said, the understanding of Western people about the orient is uncivilized, savage and bad. The orientalism exists in this novel. We can see from the white men calling the custom of orient/native of Nigeria is bad.

“They had built their church there, won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan, but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. None of his converts was a man whose word was heeded in ihe assembly of the people. None of them was a man of title. They were mostly the kind of people that were called efulefu, worthless, empty men. The imagery of an efulefu in the language of the clan was a man who sold his machete and wore the sheath to battle. Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, called the converts the excrement of the clan, and the new faith was a mad dog that had come to eat it up.” (Page 115)


The missionaries build the church, send evangelist to convert the natives clan who are efulefu, worthless, empty men. They spread the Christian religion to convert the excrement of the clan. The white missionaries who are white men want to purify the clan who are still primitive, believing mystic, and myth. They come there to convert the clan to be Christian. Based on Edward Said orientalism, it divides the world between “us” (the civilized) and “them” (the other or savages). The savage is considered evil as well as inferior. Sometimes the savage is perceived as possessing a primitive life. There is orientalism in this novel. It’s showed that the white men want to convert or purify the clan who are regarded as efulefu, worthless and empty men.


“Within a few weeks of his arrival in Umuofia Mr. Smith suspended a young woman from the church for pouring new wine into old bottles. This woman had allowed her heathen husband to mutilate her dead child. The child had been declared an ogbanje, plaguing its mother by dying and entering her womb to be born again. Four times this child had run its evil round. And so it was mutilated to discourage it from returning. Mr. Smith was filled with wrath when he heard of this. He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars. He replied that such stories were spread in the world by the Devil to lead men astray. Those who believed such stories were unworthy of the Lord's table.

One member in particular was very difficult to restrain. His name was Enoch and his father was the priest of the snake cult. The story went around that Enoch had killed and eaten the sacred python, and that his father had cursed him.” (page 140)

From this quotation, we can see that the story which tells woman who has the heart to let his child mutilated by his husband. The native is believing the story, but Mr. Smith disbelieves it. The natives still believe in myth and mystic.. This shows that they are primitive. They don't use logic or knowledge if they face a problem. Edward Said displays the Orient as a production of Western understanding. The west has his own perception of the east. Applying to this novel, Nigerian are imagined as primitive.

“It was late afternoon before Nwoye returned. He went into the obi and saluted his father, but he did not answer. Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck. "Where have you been?" he stammered. Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. "Answer me," roared Okonkwo, "before I kill you!" He seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf wall and hit him two or three savage blows.” (Page 122)

We can see from that quotation stated that Okonkwo wants to kill Nwoye if he doesn't answer. Okonkwo hit him two or three blows. We can see here how Okonkwo solve the problem. They prefer to use the harshness, hits and wants to kill. According to Edward Said east people is other. They are described as savages by west people view. From that quotation we can see that Okonkwo is imagined as the savage.


“Even when the men were left alone they found no words to speak to one another. It was only on the third day, when they could no longer bear the hunger and the insults, that they began to talk about giving in. "We should have killed the white man if you had listened to me," Okonkwo snarled.” (Page 153)

Okonkwo has plan to kill the white man. He thinks that the problem will be solved by killing the white man. Okonkwo represents Nigerian who are brave, reckless, strong and stubborn. His will to kill the white man shows that he is brave to oppose something strong. The white man has an authority in Nigeria at that time based on this novel. And if there is Nigerian killing the white man, it will be a very trouble for the murder. Okonkwo behavior, attitude shows that he is savage.