A Postcolonial Study of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children "

Abstract

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children are two landmark works of postcolonial literature that deal with the issues of colonialism and identity. The present study, dipping into colonial and post-colonial theories as viewed by Edward Said, Homi Bhabha et al., will try to examine these two novels. In Things Fall Apart Achebe shows Igbo society on the coming of British colonialism with its cultural and social impacts. The novel deals with questions of identity, culture, and resistance to imposed change. Midnight's Children examines recent Indian history through the narratives held by multiple tales and that use of magical realism from the period of colonization to after independence. Here Rushdie mines very complex matters relating to idśntity and postcolonialism. Comparison of the two works shows the difference and similarity in their approach to colonialism and postcolonialism, more particularly cultural identity and historical narrative. Thus, this research proves that though approaching the subject matter differently, both novels aim to critique colonialism and its resultant impact on dominant societies, emphasizing the need to readdress cultural and historical identity.