Colonialism in “Thing
fall apart” and “Mahabhrata”
Name of the paper: New
literature
Roll no: 07
Prepared by: Dipti
Vaghela
Dedicated to:
Department of English M.K.B. University
Index
-
Introduction
-
Define
the word ‘Colonialism’
-
Some
points regarding the novel ‘Things fall apart’
-
Some
points regarding ‘Mahabharata’
-
Colonialism
in ‘Things fall apart’ and ‘Mahabharata’
-
Conclusion
Introduction:
African people
are marginalizing with comparing white people. Whites are superior rather than
African; they are marginalizing because of color. They are white and these are
black. And we can see it in their literature also so here I want to write my
assignment on that topic as under,
Define the word
‘Colonialism’
Colonialism is a
practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to
another. It is also involves political and economic control over a dependant
territory. It means power of one people on another. We are applying our power
on to another that we call colonialism. Everywhere power played a vital role.
In this one race or people suppressed by another so be careful. According to
dictionary as under,
The policy or practice of a wealthy or powerful nation's maintaining or extending its control over other countries,especially in establishing settlements or exploiting resources.
Colonialism is a system in which one country creates an
empire by taking over other lands and making them into colonies. Colonies don't
have power over themselves, and the mother country takes resources and money
from the colony. It's not a very fair system, but it's also how the United
States got its start: England was really into colonialism and had built a huge
empire, until some feisty American patriots decided to rebel.
Things Fall Apart
It is written by
Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in 1958. It shows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo
leader and local wrestling champion in the fictional Nigerian village of
Umuofia . We can see it in three parts like family and personal history, the
customs and society of the Igbo and influence of British colonialism and
Christian missionaries on the Igbo community. Okonkwo is the main protagonist
who is famous in that area. He is strong, hardworking showing like without
weaknesses. And he is good person and everybody show him as good leader. Then
he kills the boy and after killing that boy he feels guilty for his self. Then gradually things go wrong with him. He
and his family are sent into exile for seven years. During that time he sees
the religion of Christianity increased. And when he comes back to his village
so many changes he sees. And in the end he hangs his self. And no one goes to
touch his body because to do suicide is sin in Christianity. So, it ends with
this tragic.
Mahabharata:
This is an epic
and for Indian people it is religious and pious book. There are so many
characters in the epic. Five ‘pandvas’ are heroes of the epic. And life of two
family and war between them we can see in it. And there are some characters
like Eklavya, Hidimba, etc. They are living in the forest and they not allow
getting education. So, there are some rules and regulations in epic which are
decided by people they are on power. There are various types of characters like
Arjuna, Bhim, Drona, Eklavya, etc. So these are some basic information’s about
it.
Colonialism in
Things fall apart and Mahabharata
In this work we
can see that White people try to overpower on African people. They change even
religion also. They are marginalized people and white people are on super
position. When Okonkwo come back to his village at that time there are so many
changes he sees but he is unable to control on that. And those changes they
can’t see and that’s why he committed suicide. White people try to convert as
possible as human being into Christianity. White people think that they are
doing something good and they are reforming those people but it is not so.
White people are destroying the culture of African people. One colony
established the power on other for example white people on African people. In our
India also we can say that America is on super power and they are ruling in the
world. Somewhere direct and somewhere indirect but they are on power. Now let’s
know that how Colonialism is in Mahabharata.
In Mahabharata
when Pandvas come into Hastinapur at that time also tribal people were living
there and Kshatriya destroy the culture of tribal people. Generally what
happened, that history written by those people who are on power position? And
because of this reasons they marginalize those people who are not on power
position. And perhaps that’s why they people become ‘Danava’ and writer draws
them as a Danava. But in real sense they are not like Rakshasha , they are also
humans as we are. We make the difference between them and us but it is not like
that. There are some narratives that when Rishies doing their Sadhana at that
time Rakshas come and distureb them. But if we question that why they are
disturbing them? So answer is that those tribal people are owner of that land
while these new Kshtriyas are not. This is the reason of that fighting going on
between them. But point is that narratives of this book people from Kshatriya
and that’s why they describe tribal people as bad people.
Another point is
that regarding ‘Hidimba and her son Gturgas’. Hidimba is a wife of Bhima who
belongs to kshatriya family while Hidimba from tribal. Otherwise Gaturgas is
the biggest son among all sons of Pandvas. And so he will be the King of
Hastinapur but it is not so. Because we know that everywhere power played a vital
role whether in education or politics. There are many places where owner of the
land suffers because of some authority people. If we give the example from our
body so let see. Generally we think that mind is more powerful than the body
but it is according to mind. But in real it is there or not that we never know.
Because in this case, mind is on power position. And that’s why it is one of
the powerful parts in our body. So, if we minutely observe the things then we
must have to find this type of issue everywhere whether in Africa or America. It
doesn’t make any difference because humans are same. We can read Mahabharata in
various points of view but if we have vision. Some authority established their
power on people of another community and that is colonialism. In this type of
theory we must have to think from both the sides. And that thing we can see in
this two different works.
Conclusion:
So, after all I
want to say that colonies of another people are not bad thing but main point is
that it not be force fully. If that person wants to change their religion
willingly then it’s ok. But freedom of any individual is very much important
rather than any other things. If the people from any race or class destitutions
and they try to force him/her to change their identities from one to another
religion and that is the problematic. If we think about in our society so we
can say that in our village lower caste people like Harijan, vankar, etc living
out of the village and then if area of village broader than they have to left
that area so that we also called colonialism.
Works Cited
n.d.
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/colonialism>.
n.d.
<http://www.thefreedictionary.com/colonialism>.
n.d. <Wikipedia contributors.
"Colonialism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia, 25 Mar. 2016. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.>.
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