This thesis studies Chinua Achebe’s novel No Longer at Ease from a postcolonial perspective, specifically concentrating on its protagonist, the colonized Obi Okonkwo, and his antagonist, the colonizer Mr Green, using the theories of the literary critic Homi Bhabha. It argues that these two characters are hybrids in their ambivalent contact zone by demonstrating firstly, the coinciding presence of reciprocal feelings of sympathy/admiration and contempt, and secondly, that they are culturally cross-bred individuals. Additionally, this thesis examines the mimicry of Obi and reveals that it can be either strategic or subconscious in nature. It concludes that both mimicry and mockery have the potential to destabilize the structural power-imbalance between colonizer and colonized, thereby challenging colonial authority.

In 1898, H G Wells published The War of the Worlds, a scathing indictment of colonialism from the perspective of the colonized. The following year, Rudyard Kipling penned The White Man’s Burden, describing colonial conquest as driven by duty, for the sake of the subjugated. They shared a vantage point from the literary pedestal of fin-de-siècle London, but what they saw was very different.            The War of the Worlds can be read as an allegory of colonialism where the tables are turned and the colonial masters are suddenly exposed to a ruthless and technologically superior power. What can be inferred about the Martians’ motives? Can they be perceived as driven by duty, by wishing to take care of or serve their captives’ needs? With the information provided in the The War of the Worlds, could a Martian Kipling write “The Green Man’s Burden” to motivate the invasion of the Earth?           Using postcolonial tools of analysis, this essay digs into the britishness of Wells’ colonizers and colonized, as well as into the britishness of Wells’ own perspective. Some postcolonial theorists argue that representatives of the colonial powers cannot represent the subjugated. Does his background and nationality disqualify Wells to describe the effects of colonialism? I argue that it does not. Staying in the social space of the West helped Wells erode the ideology of colonialism by tailoring it to be received and understood by his target audience, his contemporary countrymen.