Colonialism : Nectar in a Sieve and Things Fall Apart
Literature today has given us an inside view of the trials and tribulations that original inhabitants endure do to European colonization. Colonialism is defined as a practice of ruling nations as colonies; a policy in which a country rules other nations and develops trade for its own benefit. Colonialism also has many indirect effects such as bringing about social and economical change, in most cases under duress. Colonialism has had an immense impact on the world, therefore it being reflected in much of todays literature isn't surprising. I've recently read the books Nectar in a Sieve written by Kamala Markandaya, and Thing Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. Both books have strong accounts of European colonialism entwined with an entrancing account of the trials and tribulations that characters such as Okonkwo and Ruku face during changing times in a once united country. A book that has such accurate and meaningful accounts of important historical events has helped me to better understand the social, economical and political effects of enforced colonialism because the consequences of an unwillingly reformed nation are better understood through personal accounts of historical events. Throughout this paper I
"(Markandaya, p 31) When the villagers lost control of their lives, because of the divisions, they lost everything, land, family, and their own lives, thus simply enabling the British to obtain power and continue to rule India. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe even hints at their use of bribery and blackmail in their activities. The absentee landlord showed little concern for the tenant farmers and their families who had nowhere else to go when he sold the land to the tannery, as proven by this quote, "The tannery owners are buying the land. Nectar in a Sieve also unravels the bonds between family traditions and the desires the children wish to obtain in a growing and changing time in India. " (Markandaya, p 31) The British took advantage of the small-minded peasant farmers by coming into their land and in a sense stole their natural recourses to better the expansion of the industrial ways of the European nations. The villagers in general are caught between resisting and embracing change and they face the dilemma of trying to determine how best to adapt to the reality of change. The Clans members were over powered surprisingly since at the beginning of the novel they were so influential in many of the decisions the natives made. Because the employees at the tannery could spend more than what the villagers could spend, the price of goods increased. Firstly, there were different motives for colonizing each village, and the way both of the main characters dealt with the adversities they faced were as well different. The minor mentions of economics was towards the end of the book when Achebe made it clear that the people of Umuofia found it difficult to arrive at a firm conclusion as to their opinion of the whites. Okonkwo, for example, resists the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not manly and that he will not be manly if he approves to join or even tolerate them. He did not live in the village but came and went, while his men took over the huts that had laid empty, the ones who came last settling beside the river, bringing their wives and children with them, changing the whole of us, we all wished their was more distance between us. In Things Fall Apart the missionaries used several methods to draw villagers to follow the faith of Christianity therefore breaking the tight-netted clan causing the destruction of their society. Another similarity is the strategy the colonizers used to colonize the villages.
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