Reclaiming the Past in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Abstract

This paper examines Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart through the lens of postcolonial theory, focusing on the novel's engagement with historical reclamation and the politics of representation. Positioned as a seminal work in the postcolonial African societies as primitive and chaotic. Achebe reclaims the Igbo past by reconstructing a richly detailed indigenous world that foregrounds its own systems of knowledge, governance, spirituality, and cultural coherence. Drawing on the theoretical insights of thinkers such Edward Said and Homi Bhabha, the paper explores how Achebe subverts colonial discourse and re-centres African subjectivity. Okonkwo's tragic arc is read not only as a personal downfall but also as a metaphor for the cultural dislocation wrought by the colonial incursion. Through its strategic use of language, narrative form, and cultural specificity, the novel asserts the legitimacy of African epistemologies and resists the erasures of imperial historiography. Ultimately,this article concludes that Things Fall Apart functions as a postcolonial intervention that reclaims historical agency and affirms the vitality of African identity in the face of colonial domination.