Chinua Achebe and the Language of the Colonizer Essay -- Essays Papers

Chinua Achebe and the dustup of the ColonizerA powerful instrument of control used by the colonizing powers is the instrument of language. speech communication forms a huge part of the culture of a people - it is through their language that they express their folk tales, myths, proverbs, history. For this reason, the imperial powers perpetu every(prenominal)y attempted to stamp out native languages and replace them with their own. As Ashcroft, Griffiths and dejeuner point out, there are two possible responses to this control - rejection or subversion. (The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, London Routledge, 1995. 284) While Ngugi Wa Thiongo is famous for advocating outright rejection of the colonialist language, believe that this rejection is central to the anti-imperialist struggle, Chinua Achebe has chosen the idea of subversion rather than rejection. According to Ashcroft, Griffiths and tiffin, his makeup displays a process by which the language is made to bear the free weigh t unit and texture of a different experience. In doing so it becomes another language. In The African Trilogy, Achebe uses the language of the colonizer to convey the Igbo experience of that colonization. The idioms, proverbs and imagery of these books all invoke his Eastern Nigerian culture, forcing the reader to accept on Achebes (linguistic) terms, the story he has to tell.Any reader of The African Trilogy comes away with at least a limited knowledge of Igbo linguistic process and phrases. Some manner of speaking such as obi, chi, osu, and egwugwu be... Chinua Achebe and the Language of the Colonizer Essay -- Essays PapersChinua Achebe and the Language of the ColonizerA powerful instrument of control used by the colonizing powers is the instrument of language. Language forms a huge part of the culture of a people - it is through their language that they express their folk tales, myths, proverbs, history. For this reason, the imperial powers constantly attempted to stamp out native languages and replace them with their own. As Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin point out, there are two possible responses to this control - rejection or subversion. (The Post-Colonial Studies Reader, London Routledge, 1995. 284) While Ngugi Wa Thiongo is famous for advocating outright rejection of the colonialist language, believe that this rejection is central to the anti-imperialist struggle, Chinua Achebe has chosen the idea of subversion rather than rejection. According to Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin, his written material displays a process by which the language is made to bear the weight and texture of a different experience. In doing so it becomes another language. In The African Trilogy, Achebe uses the language of the colonizer to convey the Igbo experience of that colonization. The idioms, proverbs and imagery of these books all invoke his Eastern Nigerian culture, forcing the reader to accept on Achebes (linguistic) terms, the story he has to tell.An y reader of The African Trilogy comes away with at least a limited knowledge of Igbo words and phrases. Some words such as obi, chi, osu, and egwugwu be...