A Comparison of Things Fall Apart and Our Sister Killjoy

In the novels Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo, and Crick Crack Monkey by Merle Hodge all make strong statements about how each group of people view the European lifestyle. Each novel gives examples of people who are drawn in by the illusion of the European life being a "better" and "happier" one than their own. There are also characters in each of the books who do not wish to conform to this standard and are beginning to question its process.
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the Ibo tribe is being colonized by the Europeans.

The main character Okonkwo has been exiled and returns to find that the Europeans have begun to enforce their customs on the village. The people of the Ibo tribe begin to conform to the European religion, allowing a church to be built. They begin to view the European way of life as a standard to strive towards. Okonkwo wants to rise up and fight the Europeans, but Obierika states "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion.

We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." (Achebe 176). Obierika realizes that the process of colonization has already begun, and he is trying to convince Okonkwo that it is too late to fight against it, that the point where action could have been taken is long gone. Okonkwo does not want to accept this reality so he tries to rebel against it, and in the end he kills himself to escape its grasp.

In the novel Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo the main character Sissie travels to Germany on an academic trip sponsored by the government. On her way back from Germany Sissie stops in London to meet Kunle. While talking to Kunle she realizes that by traveling to Europe Africans were only given the illusion that they are a free people. "She was to come to understand that such migrations are part of the general illusion of how well an unfree population think they can do for themselves. Running very fast just to remain where they are" (Aidoo 89).

This quote displays how by traveling to Europe Sissie got a first hand view at how the Europeans were truly oppressing them. They give the Africans the illusion that they are free to travel and learn, but they are really just using it as a weapon against them. They are able to "spy" on them better if they are placed in a situation where they begin to accept conforming to the European standards. Sissie learns that she is isolated due to the fact that she will not accept this oppression, so she is ostracized from Africans who buy in to this image and believe that colonization is a good thing.

In Crick Crack Monkey by Merle Hodge Tee's aunt Beatrice is a firm believer in European lifestyle. She only allows proper speaking in her house, and even denounces her culture by calling much of it "trash." Beatrice's children also accepted the European way of life as being superior to their Trinidadian culture. "Soon I discovered that there was muffled giggling at each garment I drew out of the suitcase." (Hodge 70). In this quote it is displayed to the reader how Carol and Jessica viewed Tee's wardrobe as exemplary of a lower class, and that it was inferior to their European-style clothing.

This is an important aspect thematically for this novel because it displays how there is a double-consciousness that many Black people feel when there is colonization occurring. Tee is torn between her heritage and culture at Tantie's house and the European lifestyle that she is being fed at Aunt Beatrice's house.

These three novels each display different, but equally important, aspects to how African or Caribbean people feel about the colonization and European influence on their societies. The idea that colonization is an unstoppable force which threatens the very thread of African cultures was a reality for the tribes. Also, the idea that the Europeans could fool the Africans in to believing that they wanted to be part of this culture was another way that they continued to oppress them once they were colonized.

And lastly, the idea of a double-consciousness is another way that the European colonization oppresses people. It makes them feel torn between the culture that they are being "fed" as superior and the culture of their people. People become lost between the two cultures and lose their identities. All of these aspects of colonization are prominent in these three novels and are major thematic concepts of African sentiment.