The Study of Narrator’s Function in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart in the Light of Postcolonial Narratology

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Abstract

Western Imperialism always depicted a biased image of the colonized nations . Therefore , portraying th e reality of Africa to restore the lost dignity of the natives is one of the aims of postcolonial literature . Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is an attempt in this regard . Employing postcolonial narratology , the present study examines the relation of the novel ’ s point of view and the concept of decolonization . Dwelling on Gerard Genette ’ s narratology in which point of view is divided into two different concepts of focalization and narration , this study investigates how the potentialities of extradiegetic narrator such as high degree of reliability are at the service of decolonization in the novel . I n other words, the choice o f t his sort of narrator provides Achebe with options to fulfill his very aim which would not be accomplished with a different choice.

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