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Topic: Comparison between ‘Things Fall Apart’ and ‘Kanthapura’
Course No. 14: The
African Literature
Roll No. : 28
Enrollment no.:
PG14101019
Prepared by: Vaishali Hareshbhai
Jasoliya
Submitted to: MAHARAJA
KRISHNAKUMARSINHJI BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
Comparison between
‘Things Fall Apart’ and ‘Kanthapura’
‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe:
Things
Fall Apart is a post-colonial novel written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in
1958. It is one of the masterpieces of 20th century African fiction.
It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied
in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel follows the life of
Okonkwo, an Igbo leader and local wrestling champion in the fictional Nigerian
Village of Umuofia. Here we can also found the Struggle and inferiority that
black people faces.
Kanthapura by Raja Rao:
Raja
Rao’s first novel Kanthapura (1938) is the story of a village in south India
named Kanthapura. The novel is narrated in the form of a ‘sthalapurana’ by an
old woman of the village, Achakka. Kanthapura is a traditional caste ridden
Indian village which is away from all modern ways of living. Dominant castes
like Brahmins are privileged to get the best region of the village whereas
Sudras, Pariahs are marginalized.
Representation of African Culture in Things Fall Apart:
In
Things Fall Apart, African culture portrays in a structured and civilized
society and they feels marginalized and always struggle to become an
independent. Achebe depicts the Igbo as a people with great social
institutions. In Things Fall Apart, there is Igbo culture where they have their
own individual rules, regulations and their living style totally different from
others. We can say that here theme of the clash of cultures and also Igbo
Society Complexity. Their culture is rich and impressively civilized, with traditions
and laws that place great emphasis on justice and fairness.
Representation of Indian Culture in Kanthapura:
In
the novel we can found that, Village’s Contemporary situation as like;
·
Social Background
·
Religion Background
·
Political Background
Here village
stands as a unity and sometimes used as a symbolic way. Villagers have also
different tradition in their village like Hari-Kathas, a traditional form of
storytelling, was practiced in the village. While this reading nationalism in
conflict with Brahmanism, something more interesting is available if we push
our reading a little further. So, we can say that the inferiority and
superiority.
In the
Kanthapura novel we can found the final clash between the freedom fighters and
the soldiers many people died many where injured. After this clash, the whole
village was set on fire and destroyed and many people were arrested.
Similarities in both Things Fall Apart and Kanthapura:
ü
Kenchamma! protect
us always like this through famine and
disease, death and despair, through the harvest night shall we dance before
you, the fire in the middle and the hornes about us, we shall sing and sing and
clap our sing
-
Kanthapura
When a man says, yes his chi also says yes also
-
Things Fall Apart
Things
Fall Apart Ezeulu row of God rely on traditional wisdom in their assertion of
their personal point of view which impart to them a representative quality. The
voice of Achakka in Kanthapura is the voice of mythic India elevating, the
narration to the vast mythic parlorama in the Indian villages. Achebe who
employs Igbo proverbs in Things Fall Apart and Arrow Rao uses the Kannada
idioms and expressions. As like,
“I have seen your
elders.” You cannot be a traitor to your salt givers”
And the
respectful addresses in the names like Bhattare, Ramannore and Moorthappa are
used to denote praise flattery or decomn. The Kannada speech is an adopted way.
Same in the novel Kanthapura makes use of the native Kanrlada ingredients in
the language. In the language of both Rao and Achebe, one could trace the
confident mythic age springing from the cultural ethos of the two nations,
placing the works in a domain of creative freedom which is shared by many other
Third World writers.
Comparison between Okonkwo and Moorthy
Okonkwo in ‘Things
Fall Apart’:
Okonkwo
is the novel’s protagonist. He is a brave and rash Umuofia (Nigerian), warrior
and clan leader. He strives to make his way in a culture that traditionally
values manliness. As a young man he defeated the village’s best wrestler,
earning him lasting prestige. He is also the hardest – working member of his
clan. Okonkwo’s life is dominated by fear and failure and of weaknesses – the
fear that he will resemble his father. He commits suicide.
Okonkwo’s
suicide represents not only his culture’s rejection of him, but his rejection
of the changes in his people’s culture, as he realizes that the Igbo society
that he so valued has been forever altered by the Christian missionaries.
Moorthy in Kanthapura:
Moorthy is a character in Raja Rao's novel Kanthapura, which
records the influence of Gandhian ideals on a remote South Indian village during the years of the Indian
independence movement.
Moorthy, the protagonist is an educated, respected young
man of Kanthapura. He is one of thousands of young men inspired by Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi to become fighters for the cause of their motherland.
Throughout the novel Moorthy inspires love and respect
and wins the confidence of the villagers. The impact of Gandhi's personality
transforms him from a common village lad into able and committed, even though
he never personally spoke with Gandhi. In those days many young men gave up
their studies and courted arrest; Moorthy is one of these. Inspired by the
vision of the Gandhi addressing a public meeting, he went out alone and later
returned to college. Afterwards, he became the life and spirit of the freedom
movement in Kanthapura.
At last, we can say that language of
Moorthy and language of Okonkwo both has different. Okonkwo’s language suffused
with proverbs and stories like Moorthy’s speech resonating the legendary lore
of Kanthapura fits the purpose of placing individual thoughts in the larger
mythological domain of the respective cultural context.
Effect of colonialism in both Things Fall Apart and Kanthapura:
Effect of colonialism
in Things Fall Apart:
In
the novel, Things Fall Apart, the effects of colonialism were extremely evident
in the Igbo society. As the white Englanders moved into the native’s land,
their cultural values changed.
Examples
of these changes were evident in all aspects of the Igbo People’s lives, in
their religion, family life, children, and the dead. Many of the Igboians were
upset by the colonialism of their society, but in the end they were completely
incapable of doing anything to reverse the changes that had already taken place
in their society.
Thus,
we can say that, the colonialism of the Igbo society affected them in many
different ways. Each aspect of their lives and culture were consumed by
English’s belief systems. Whether it was their religion, family life, children
or their dead the white’s beliefs and systematic way of life took over the
traditional systems and beliefs.
Effect of colonialism
in Things Fall Apart:
Raja
Rao’s Kanthapura enacts some of the motif of post colonialism. This whole
reading of the novel harps back upon the exchange between the colonizers and
colonized. The interesting insights offered by the novel are about the immense
complications and violence that attend the arrival of colonial modernity in
India.
Conclusion:
Thus,
we can say that, Kanthapura novel ends with “Pralaya” And Things Fall Apart
novel ends with surrender to colonizers.
Works Cited
Wikipedia contributors. "Moorthy." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 17 Dec. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2016
Wikipedia contributors. "Things Fall
Apart." Wikipedia, The
Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 11 Mar. 2016. Web. 26
Mar. 2016
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