Deconstructing English Narrative Discourse

A Study of the Appropriation of English in the Selected Works of Achebe and Rao

Abstract

English played, like some other European languages, a major role in the colonial process. In every colonial experience throughout history, the occupation of land was accompanied by imposing the colonizer's language on the colonized; Britain did this in India and Nigeria, for instance; and France did it in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. Therefore, the imposition of the colonizer's language has marginalized the language of the colonized, and eventually lead to the natives' resistance against the colonial powers. Gauri Viswanathan describes how Britain was able to impose English in India through teaching English literature in Indian colleges and universities.