Things fall apart: A liminal identity: Thematic approach of identity crisis

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the novel, Things Fall Apart as a liminal Identity: Thematic approach of Identity Crisis from the perspective of Postcolonial Literature. The study analyzes the plot development and the thematic aspects of the novel on one level. On the other level the paper analyzes how the facts related to the colonial aspects of Africa and the impact of colonialism are embedded in this fiction. Therefore, it is a comparative study of Post-colonialism and Post-Colonial Literature. A brief introduction to Postcolonial literature is given at the outset. The indication of the word ‘post-colonialism’ along with the origin and development of the postcolonial theories and studies are critically examined. The research evaluates the thematic aspect of postcolonial literature, identity crisis with special reference to liminal identity. It also critically analyses the various representative authors like Rushdie, Achebe, Ondantje, Fanon, Derek Walcott, and J. M. Coetzee in addition to some female writers like Jamaica Kancaid, Isabelle Illende and Eavan Bolland. Furthermore, it also briefly examines the political history of colonization and the impact of colonialism on the literature produced during post-colonial period. The research introduces Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, from the point of his personal and historical background in order to compare the content and the context of his writing. Thus, the study reveals that the novel, Things Fall Apart, is a revelation of Identity Crisis.