The European colonists dominated over the Africans by disempowering them by introducing religious ideas that openly challenged their beliefs from an outside perspective. These white settlers managed to cause conflicts between those who are learned and then plant in those new Christian ideas. They also established a government that harassed the native population into total submission. This paper explores the Igbo people’s encounter with civilization mission of Christianity religion, the native population’s representation in Things Fall Apart in the context of British colonialist imposed rule. A discussion on the methods used by the Christian missionaries to gain access to Toundi’s world, in Houseboy, is complemented by an analysis of the main character’s diverse ideologies.
The focus of the novels, Houseboy and Things Fall Apart, is on the early 1900s colonialism, when the majority of European nations set up colonies in Africa. Both works display the impacts and influence that the colonizers had on Africa and the natives, respectively. The theme of colonialism is highlighted when white colonists set up a District Commissioner’s Office to serve as an administrative headquarter in Achebe’s book (17). They forced their rule on the native population, thereby wholly changing their previous way of life. On the other hand, the novel Houseboy addresses colonization and its impact on the native community through the life of Toundi, who shrugs off the African way of life and embraces the world of western ideas.
Additionally, both novels reveal the negative views of European colonists towards the native population in Africa. In the book Things Fall Apart, the Colonial District Commissioner viewed the locals as inferior and stated that aboriginal people should be quieted (Achebe 21). Most scenes of actions in the text, Things Fall Apart, happen from the native population’s point of view, thereby portraying the attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of the white colonists (Ogungbile 129). Both French colonists in the book Houseboy and British colonialists in the novel Things Fall Apart look down on the Africans way of life, terming it inferior. In Houseboy, Toundi is positioned as a French Commandant’s Houseboy, a position he embraces because of his perceived inferiority.
Both novels account for events that took place between the early 1800s and the middle 1900s when European nations scrambled and partitioned Africa according to colonies. Things Fall Apart provides the details of missionaries that settled in Niger, while the novel, Houseboy, portrays major conflicts in French-west African colonial life (Oyono 11).
Toundi in Houseboy originally became acquainted with Christianity from touring catholic priests, then the French Commandant, who would then apply the forced rule on the natives. In both novels, the missionaries were seen to be laying the right foundation for European colonists.
In both novels, missionaries took control over churches for the entire colonial period. The priests had the duty of imparting responsible education to the natives, and doing so necessitated massive backing from their respective colonial governments. The missionaries were the link between colonial governments and the native populations in both novels. In both books, religion was employed in undermining the culture, beliefs, and traditions of the natives. In Houseboy, Father Gilbert influenced several boys, including Toundi, against circumcision, which was his community’s rite of passage.
The method of education used in the French colonies in the Novel Houseboy was different from the British colonial policy of knowledge in Things Fall Apart. Colonies associated with France were fluent in the French language, while the British colonialists emphasized the use of indigenous languages in schools. The use of the French language in schools, as shown in Houseboy, led to the creation of a power dynamic whereby a sizable number of the native people who could speak French were seen as civilized and were therefore rendered closer to the French population in the colony (Oyono 14). Whereas education in British colonies was used as a tool to civilize the Africans, education in French colonies would enable people of color to be regarded as Frenchmen.
Toundi and Okonkwo both held flawed ideals, which led to their demise. Both Toundi and Okonkwo’s inability to act on this gap between reality and model resulted in death. Toundi held a European ideal, believing that the ways of French missionaries and colonial governments were impeccable, particularly within nuclear families (Ogungbile 125). Toundi learned of his misconception after he became aware of the relationship between prison director, Moreau, and Susan Decazy. Okonkwo held the ideal African ideal, believing that he was a model of what alpha males are, particularly by delivering the death blow to Ikemefuna. After the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo regretted his actions, and for some time, he was not at peace with himself.
Ferdinand Oyono’s Houseboy addresses themes of Christianity, education, and colonialism while Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, recounts the final collapse of Umofia, of present-day Nigeria, because of the arrival of the British colonist and Christian missionaries. Both French and British colonists discouraged the African’s way of beliefs and religious practices. Both novels depict the religion of Christianity as a tool to achieve the goals of colonialism as well as negative views that the European colonialists held against the natives.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. William Heinemann, 1959.
Ogungbile, David O. African Indigenous Religious Traditions in Local and Global Contexts. Perspectives on Nigeria. Malthouse Press, 2015.
Oyono, Ferdinand. Houseboy. Heinemann, 1956.