IndexAbstract1. Introduction2. Materials and methods3. Orientalism, stereotype and image of colonized Africa 4. Binary relationship between characters5. Diffusion of European culture6. The role of LanguageWorks CitedAbstractThe following article based on Chinua Achebe's work No Longer at Ease (1960) highlights the ways in which the Nigerian community is organized and how the binary opposition between black and white is perceived everywhere. Obi Okonkwo, the male protagonist born and raised in Nigeria, struggles with cultural identity and loyalty as he goes to Europe to continue his higher education but returns to his homeland, torn between the practices and values ​​of two different nations and their cultures. The West is repeatedly shown in a better light than the East, and the way Western life and culture are deemed superior to the indigenous belief system also catches our attention. Religion also plays an important role in the protagonist's life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay1. IntroductionNo Longer at Ease is the story of a public servant who is finally caught in the claws of corruption, prevalent in Lagos society since time immemorial. Several attempts were previously made to tempt him, but he did not fall victim. The protagonist of the novel is Obi Okonkwo, nephew of Achebe's first protagonist in Things Fall Apart, Obi is struggling with many obstacles. He is trying to live a decent life and make ends meet while trying to please his family, his home village, his girlfriend and society in general. Unable to find a balance between his values ​​and society's expectations, Obi experiences a total breakdown. If there had not been the constraints of religion, culture and nationality, his life would have taken a completely different direction. Being a postcolonial text, every situation is scrutinized through the filter of colonialism and orientalism. He experiences the culture, values ​​and belief systems of two completely different nations and finds himself caught between the two, unable to choose one. The novel is in some ways symptomatic of Achebe's own life. The author's parents also converted to Christianity and he too was accepted on a scholarship to University College in Nigeria. He initially studied medicine, but then changed his mind and opted for English, like the protagonist of the novel.2. Materials and methods Through the theories of critics such as Edward Said and Franz Fanon, the article shows how colonizers indirectly and many times directly influence the identity and culture of colonized nations. Fanon's concept of “inferiority complex” could rightly be seen in situations where the people of Umofia mercilessly taxed themselves to send one of their children to Europe. The idea behind the action was that people residing in the West are well educated and no doubt the use of the English language makes them seem "civilized". They wanted to demonstrate their superiority even against the other villages, among "their" men. To quote the text: They wanted him to read the law so that when he returned he would deal with all their land cases against the neighbors. Even though he wouldn't be a lawyer, he would get a "European post" in the civil service. The excitement that gripped the people was full of curiosity and imagination for the foreign land. Even when Obi returned from London, the natives were all ready to hear the stories of the land they could only imagine in their dreams. Obi's departure to England caused a great stir in Umuofia. These critics seek to examine colonized peoples as victims ofculture and Western hegemony and to investigate the ways in which colonial discourse acted as an instrument of power to govern natives. Western writing on the East has always represented them (the East) as weak, irrational and feminine in contrast to the strong, rational and masculine West. The east has always been on the periphery and the west has been the center of everything as the master who directs and guides. Tired of being represented by the "other", Achebe took on his shoulders the responsibility of representing the "self". Another important factor that pushes blacks to accept superiority over white culture are the models perceived by the colonizers and the already constructed stereotypical images of Africans. Fanon argues: “I begin to suffer from not being a white man to the extent that the white man imposes discrimination on me, makes me a colonized native, robs me of all value, all individuality, tells me that I am a parasite of the environment . world, that I must catch up with the white world as quickly as possible, that I am a brute beast, that I and my people are like a walking dung heap disgustingly fertilizing the sweet sugarcane and silky cotton, that I have useless to the world." 3. Orientalism, stereotype and image of colonized Africa During the colonization process, the colonizers had already created in different ways the image of the Orient or non-Europeans. They always perceive them as inferior to themselves. Said, in Orientalism, says: “the East (the third world countries) has contributed to defining Europe (or the West) as its image, idea, personality, contrasting experience… The East is an integral part of civilization and European material culture”. It states that the history and culture of Eastern countries depend on their connection with the West; consequently, this dependence creates their self-image. Colonizers place the colonized in their own way and according to their needs. Therefore, the colonized never identifies with the colonizers, which allows them to expand their culture and attitude. First of all they define the West, what the West represents, and on the contrary they define the East. Simply put, the West is what is good and the East is exactly its opposite because we have never had the chance to write our own history, to represent ourselves, because the West has always done it for us . A significant aspect of Achebe's novel is the description of the attitude of the British colonialists towards Nigeria and Nigerians. To quote the lyrics: "I can't understand why he did it," said the British Council man thoughtfully... "I can," said Mr Green simply. “What I can't understand is why people like you refuse to face the facts.” Mr. Green was famous for speaking his mind. He wiped his red face with the white towel around his neck. “The African is corrupt in every way.” They are very proud of its past, when there was terror of their neighbors before the white man came and leveled everyone. “But he is weakened mentally and physically. We brought him a Western education. But what does he need it for? Achebe juxtaposes Mr. Green, Obi's leader, as the emblem of British colonialists in Nigeria. As Obi, the novel's main man takes on Mr. Green like the British character in Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. By reminding Obi of his debts, Mr. Green here tries to play the role of protector or guide for his adopted son. According to Said, the incidents imagined Orientals as lazy, incompetent and unable to fulfill their duty in the order. to justify their role as colonizers. As Said argues in many cases, "irrationality" and "laziness" are among the attributes given to himorientalists usually attribute to orientals. Consequently, by trying to manage Obi's financial affairs or in Achebe's words "For a brief moment a year ago Mr. Green had taken an interest in Obi's personal affairs" - Mr. Green is fulfilling his role as a benefactor. In this way he justifies his stay in Nigeria. In other words, he thinks Nigerians need him and other colonizers for their well-being because they cannot do it alone. Corruption and guilt are the colonized characteristics, in contrast, the colonizers are right and just in whatever they do or pursue, and “the native is always presumed guilty”. Achebe skillfully describes the guilt of the Ibo people. Obi, accused of corruption, feels no mercy at all in court. The courtroom is filled with people who left work to attend the hearing and listen to the vote; some of them pay money to doctors to get sick papers for that special day. Such corruption, such as bribery, certificate paying, and abortion are intertwined in a colonized nation, justifying their deserved punishment. In the eyes of Christopher, Obi's friend, bribing money is not the same as sleeping with someone for a night. He encourages and supports the act of sleeping with girls for profit, but strongly opposes the idea of ​​marrying into a different tribe or community. Hypocrisy was at its peak.4. Binary relationship between charactersProtagonist of the novel, Obi is a typical representative of a collaboration between his native country and the foreign land where his native being part of the African continent is assumed as a 'dark continent', there instead Europe is considered a land of knowledge and power. According to Hegel, for every group of slaves there should be one master. Since the existence of one is nothing without the other. As Obi tells readers, Green's times are different from the early colonial days, when a British official was free to treat Africans as and however he pleased. However, Green is blind to the changes in present-day Nigeria and continues to use the lens of typical colonialist attitude to view the colonized world. For example, when he orders a beer in the club, he tells one of the men next to him to bring “a beer for this master”. The profound master-slave expressions implicitly encoded in his character highlight his colonial mentality and his assumed false image of the Nigerian community. This way of expression corresponds to Edward Said's definition of orientalism as a type of knowledge, which remains blind to historical changes over the years. The division of a nucleus is also described in terms of binary oppositions. To quote: “Sometimes one grain was shiny black and alive, the other dusty white and dead.” 'other' where you automatically reach a higher position. Reverend Samuel Ikedi of St. Mark's Anglican Church, Umofia, says in his prophecy: The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, the light dawned. Green is condescending and takes pride in his background. The way he treats the Nigerian people reminds Obi of a certain British man, a school inspector, Mr Jones, who Obi had met. Obi recalls a day at school when the British school inspector slapped a Nigerian principal in front of students and teachers as punishment for the principal's failure in an official matter. For Obi, Nigeria has changed and white men can no longer act as boldly as they once did. in those old days. «It happened twenty years ago. Today, few white men would dream of slapping a principal in his school, and none would actually do it. Which is the tragedy of men like WilliamGreen, Obi's boss." In those days, “old Africans” were submissive and easy to mold because they worshiped white men as Gods. The new generation of Nigerians have a greater self-respect and sense of dignity and no longer accept English men as masters. Quote from the text: The second generation of educated Nigerians had returned to eating sweet potatoes or garri pounded with their fingers for the good reason that they tasted better that way. For an even better reason, too: They weren't as afraid as the first generation of being called uncivilized. The above example is responsible for the fact that the second generation, unlike the first, did not worry about being judged and was self-sufficient.5. Diffusion of European culture Each nation has a set of beliefs and customs that bind its citizens and represent their nationality. European culture not only in the text but in all nations has been kept on a higher pedestal. To this day, after several years of independence, we have failed to fully decolonize our hearts and minds. Their mannerisms and mentality have been so deeply ingrained and ingrained in us that we unconsciously fall for it. Obi is a typical educated young man. In several cases, the inhabitants of Umofia, in their broken English, call him "the man of books". He believes in the European education system and finds it enriching. He has no tolerance for “old Africans” whom he considers the root of corruption and all of Nigeria's problems in general. The term old Africans from his point of view refers to those Africans who still occupy some positions for years and years and lack adequate education and skills to cope with the circumstances of modern Nigeria: Obi's theory was that service Nigeria's public would remain corrupt until the old Africans at the top have been replaced by young people from universities, as first formulated in a paper read to the Nigerian Students' Union in London. But unlike most theories formulated by London students, this one survived the first impact of returning home. In some ways, Obi resemble Europeans more than Ibos, in beliefs and mentality. He does not allow the Umuofia Progressive Union, his father or his tradition to express an opinion on his decisions. He decides on her education and marriage. His European upbringing distances him from his own people. He shuns the idea of ​​sending thunder at his enemies unlike the Umofians, he likes exchanging the ring with Clara, a European wedding tradition and he also finds no problem in marrying an outcast's girl. He continues to have a relationship that was considered strictly forbidden in the Ibo community and later, towards the end of the novel, we learn that he continues to have sexual relations with girls to get them scholarships. This is due to their westernized education and European lifestyle. The novel shows a series of cases of conflict between Ibo society and colonial domination that attacks the personality, psyche and identity of an African mentality. The Role of Language Ngugi wa Thiong'o states that to keep African culture alive and prevalent in future generations, African writers must write in their native language. He also criticizes Achebe for his writings in English, but Achebe prefers English as the language for No Longer at Ease and for most of his other novels as well. For Achebe, language is a tool that has immense power in describing the cultural attitude of colonial Nigeria. In No Longer at Ease, language is one of the themes of the novel and Achebe uses three languages ​​in this novel; Igbo, Pidgin and English. The novel contains many proverbs in their language. 4, 2016.