The legacies of Prospero: A critique of the colonial and the neo-colonial experiences in selected writings of Richard Wright, Chinua Achebe, and George Lamming

Wright, Achebe, and Lamming, as foremost novelists from the United States, Nigeria, and the Caribbean, articulate the impact of colonial domination on the psychology, culture and history of their people. Wright observes how racism affects the African-American; Achebe demonstrates both the breaking up of traditional Igbo society under colonial rule and the anarchic conflicts between social forces in Nigeria when colonial rule ends officially; Lamming, on the other hand, is more concerned about the allegorical and metaphorical treatment of the psychology of colonialism. These writers deal at length with the detrimental effect of colonialism on their people and vaguely envision an exploitation-free society. But, as they do not have a definite ideological stance, they do not create an ideal society in which their people determine their own destinies. Nevertheless, by recurrently bringing forth the issues of racism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism and by portraying the true picture of their societies, they contribute to evolving a new consciousness among their people and destroying the stereotypical images created out of the colonial contact between the peoples of African and European descent.