Social Fragmentation in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Head’s Maru: A Comparative Study

Abstract

This qualitative research sought to do a comparative analysis of social fragmentation in Things Fall Apart and Maru. Textual analysis was employed to analyse, interpret and evaluate the two novels in the light of postcolonial criticism, focusing on otherness. The researchers engaged the texts in multiple readings to gain a descriptive understanding of them and take descriptive notes at every stage of reading. Excerpts were purposefully sampled from the novels and analysed thematically. The study revealed that in pre-colonial Africa, social fragmentation resulted from classism, patriarchy and bad tradition; hence, the society operates in a binary relationship. In colonial Africa, social fragmentation resulted from religion and racism. However, post-colonial Africa experienced the deepest form of social fragmentation; spiced by tribalism and other pre-colonial factors. The study concluded that both novels confirm the concept of ‘otherness’. So, future research can focus on emotional and structural fragmentations.