issues of representation

The first thing that came to my mind when I read Achebe’s essay was that he was over-reacting, and I found myself thinking about Things Fall Apart. In that novel, the African characters are of course much more nuanced than in HOD, but the English characters are also in comparison not as developed. Which is of course acceptable, because “on the grounds of actuality,” TFA is about helping the world understand and “learn about the customs and superstitions of an African Tribe.” This made me wonder which was the lesser of the two evils, trying to give a more ‘nuanced’ representation of both sides, and in doing so inevitability? having to represent the consciousness of someone else as well and then risk being accused of misrepresenting and doing injustice and violence to it, or not intentionally representing the consciousness of “the other,” and then be accused of generalizing, dehumanizing, and being a “bloody racist”?
ha. Actually I’m a bit confused, I hope I’m making sense here.