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

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.