Resistance and reconstruction of the image of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’: a passage to India and Things Fall Apart

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the process of resistance and reconstruction of colonial relations and identities under imperial rule. I will look at the continuous efforts of the West to bring the East within its cultural and religious terrain, in order to understand the process of resistance and its consequences on colonial relations. Post- Colonial theories used terms such as ‘Other’ and ‘Self’, which help us to identify the cost of resistance and thus the need to reconstruct these binary identities within colonial boundaries. The role of imperial power and imposed knowledge to suppress colonized identities as the ‘Other’ is also a focal point in the dissertation. The thesis looks at two novels to demonstrate this process. These novels highlight both the colonized and colonizers’ perspectives of each other. With the help of the examples from the novels, the dissertation also focuses on the events that result in the light of the cultural exchanges. The reason I chose these two novels is because of the subtle representation of colonial relations to demonstrate the process of resistance and reconstruction within colonial discourse.