"Since I Am a Dog, Beware My Fangs": Violence as a Means to an End in The Wretched of the Earth Anonymous College

Readers of Frantz Fanon’s work The Wretched of the Earth often find themselves conflicted regarding the message he conveys concerning the use of violence as a means of achieving liberation from a colonizer. His inherent requirement of violent methods by the colonized to counteract the foreign trespassers is undeniable. However, the question arises to what ends? After unpacking Frantz Fanon’s position, I argue that he views violence as an instrumentally effective method of decolonization. Furthermore, I postulate that violence acts as an instrumentally valuable means under the crushing Manichean social construction as it rouses individual anti-colonizer sentiment to produce a collective effort in creating a sovereign state. This paper will explore Frantz Fanon’s theories regarding the use of violence, arguing that his beliefs point to an instrumental value rather than mere glorification. Instead it acts as the only way of altering the colonists’ compartmentalized reality. Additionally, it shows that the utilization of violence only produces social movement when it exists in a collective and driven manner.

The social structure within Fanon’s examination of the colonial reality creates an immensely polarized state in which the...