Things Fall Apart As A Postcolonial Novel

's
novel  is a great example of a literary work that intentionally situates a
colonized people as the cultural norm while depicting the colonizing people as outsiders - or as
"the other."

A key to understanding many of the 20th century
critical and literary movements like postcolonialism is found in the notion of "the
other." Essentially this term refers to groups that are perceived or portrayed as being
outside of a cultural norm in a given discourse (that discourse might be exemplified in
literature or political speech). 

The concept of "the other" is
central to the critique presented by critical schools that sought to counter-balance a
widespread cultural perspective in the arts that was seen to favor Western white males over
other demographics. Simply put, postcolonialism suggests that there are a number of negative
effects that stem from an unchallenged bias in favor of a single (economically dominant)
group.

"As more and...