NEGRITUDE AND COMMITMENT IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S 'THINGS FALL APART' (Pages 127-136) by Mr. Babu. M. I in THE ENGLISH RESEARCH EXPRESS / ISSN:2321-1164 (Online); 2347-2642 (Print)

Chinua Achebe is a contemporary Nigerian novelist writing in English with a sense of commitment. His first novel Things Fall Apart appeared in 1958 and made an instant impression throughout Africa. The pristine glory of Africa and its civilization as well as culture was shattered by the advent of white man’s administration and his religion. Africa had one choice, either to beat it or be at it. Unfortunately black Africa could not resist the mighty white administration which made inroads into Africa with gun powder and The Bible. Slowly Africa surrendered losing its rich culture, religion and civilization embracing the foreign religion. In post colonial period many African born English writers tried their hand in writing to eulogize their rich past, therefore the younger generation that had forgotten its roots could know its cultural history. Negritude, the literary movement, was born out of the Paris intellectual environment of 1930s and 1940s. It is a product of black writers joining together through the French language to assert their cultural identity. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart highlights both positive and negative of African culture and religion. This paper is an attempt to anlayse Negritude and commitment of Chinua Achebe as a novelist in his magnum opus novel Things Fall Apart. Keywords: Negritude, Commitment, Black Africa, White Man, Foreign Religion, Cultural Identity.