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Albert Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, born November 16, 1930 and died March 21, 2013, was an author, poet, professor and critic best known for his novel Things Fall Apart. Considered by many teachers and critics to be the most influential African American writer of his time, Chinua Achebe lead an academically acclaimed life, winning multiple scholarly awards, until his death at the age of 82. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, more commonly known as Chinua Achebe, was born in Ogidi, Nigeria and died in Boston, Massachusetts. Though he endured many difficult struggles throughout his lifetime, Achebe went on to affect many people’s lives, young and old, with his writings and teachings. Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born into the Igbo tribe in Ogidi, Nigeria …show more content…

Chinua Achebe attended the University of Ibadan for college in Nigeria. Achebe published his first novel, Things Fall Apart, which is considered to be his magnum opus, in 1958. Some of the books written by Achebe include Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, and, Anthills of the Savannah. Achebe’s most famous novel being Things Fall Apart. Things Fall Apart is a novel set in pre-colonial Nigeria. The protagonist, Okonkwo, is a famous wrestling champion. He is wealthy, masculine and has obtained a high social ranking. He strives to maintain his reputation and fights anyone who opposes him. Okonkwo accidentally kills a man defending his reputation and is forced to leave his tribe. When he returns society is totally different. This novel is just one of Achebe’s allegories to the Nigerian government’s and society’s problems. Achebe became the Director of Broadcasting for NBS and helped create the Voice of Nigeria network. Chinua Achebe also founded a publishing company called Citadel Press to benefit children’s literature in Nigeria. Achebe then became a professor of English at the University of Nigeria for five years. After this he traveled attending conferences and giving speeches. In 2009 Chinua Achebe became a professor of Africana studies at Brown University. Many critics throughout Achebe’s lifetime considered him the finest Nigerian novelist of his generation. …show more content…

As a child social degradation of the Igbo tribe initiated Achebe’s struggles. In 1990 Chinua Achebe was involved in a car accident in Nigeria. Achebe was going out to celebrate his sixtieth birthday with friends when his car was hit. This accident left Chinua Achebe paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. Nigerian hospitals were unable to care for Achebe and he was sent to a hospital in England. It was there that Achebe received the news that he would not walk again. Three years of recuperation and physical therapy finally brought back the old Chinua Achebe said family and

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The reader sees Achebe’s personal life

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The novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, defines an important literary example of the historical conflict of European colonialism in Nigeria during the

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We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” In which achebe’s purpose was to condemn the white colonists for altering the Igbo culture, religion, "Igbo." - Introduction, Location,

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The reason being is because Achebe is trying to divert from a Westernized perspective and instead go for an Africanized perspective to show more authenticity and reality. Also, by doing this, Achebe shows his opposition on the way the West views Africans, in particular in the novel “Things Fall Apart” where European colonialist used derogatory terms to describe the Igbo and glorify their actions of conquest and conversion of

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The tripartite novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, published in 1958 focuses on the changes taking place in Nigeria, as a result of colonization during the 20th century. Chinua Achebe’s pragmatics when writing the novel focused on changing the perspective of Western readers with regard to African society. He mainly wanted to falsify the assertions in books such as “Heart of Darkness” which he claimed gave people of African descent a dull personality. Social status is one of the novels’ main themes. Chinua Achebe successfully incorporates the importance of social status, giving readers the impression that for the Ibo society, social structure consists mainly of a hierarchy of both skill and strength.

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In Chinua Achebe novel, Things Fall Apart Nwoye a young man under Okonkwo’s responsibility is affected positively by the introduction of western ideas into the Ibo culture. This being said Nwoye has found a passion for being apart of a religion not known by any local in Igbo called Christianity, to some it was a blessing and to others a disgrace. To Okonkwo he feels that anybody who converts to Christianity is a disgrace to their village. And how surprising is it that his own son converts to a Christian. And in his conversion he tries to escape his strict culture and find out who he is as a person.

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Things Fall Apart, a book written by the author Chinua Achebe is a story filled with amazing culture. It is about the rise and downfall of the main character, Okonkwo. The book had many different aspects of the African culture and the different time period. For example, characters and their importance throughout the story, and how women were treated in this culture and time period. Topics from religion, family, and the social complexity were very much involved throughout the entire book and portrayed by many of the characters.

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Literature is never written – or read – for entertainment alone. There is always another purpose. Discuss in relation to two books Reading a book can be entertaining; that does not mean however, that the book is written for entertainment alone. At least one alternative purpose always exists.

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Not only did Okonkwo face the new idea of Christianity, but so did Chinua Achebe. During Achebe’s interview with The Paris Review, Achebe says “My parents were early converts to Christianity in my part of Nigeria” (Brooks). He saw the effects of the Christian religion moving through his village, something that Okonkwo couldn’t bear to live through. Religion is a major topic in the novel. Chinua Achebe uses religion to show the reader the God in the Igbo culture, their belief in reincarnation, and the colonization of Christianity.

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This affects and can also be seen as a reflection of Okonkwo’s other relationships between male characters, namely Unoka, Nwoye, and Ikemefuna. This essay will discuss how Achebe portrays masculinity in Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), how the hyper-masculinized character, Okonkwo, receives and interacts with certain characters. I will also discuss how Okonkwo’s ridged patriarchal ideals of virility are counterintuitive with his actions and intentions of ensuring a masculine household. Okonkwo is a titled and successful warrior in his village, Umuofia. A great amount of respect is received by Okonkwo because his youth did not promise such a prosperous life, he had to work hard for his wealth and success.

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Achebe has written the novel in the hope of providing the reader a deeper understanding of Igbo customs and removing the stereotyped view of African tribes shaped by Europeans. Even though Igbo cultures and traditions are civilized, Westerners in the novel view the Igbo as savages who are violent and kill people for no particular reasons. However, practically, when there is a conflict between Mbaino and Umuofia in Chapter 2, the villagers in the novel “would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement. (Achebe, 12)” This clearly suggests that the Igbo do negotiate first when there is a conflict between two groups and start a war only if the former does not work.

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Everyone as a human being has experienced some form of change in our life, big or small, and it has a lasting effect on who they are and how they act. In Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’, change is a forward facing theme of the whole story, we see change in all forms occur throughout the book; the arrival of the white men and their changing of the igbo culture, the tearing apart of Okonkwo’s family by religion and traditions, and the change that occurs within Okonkwo himself when he realizes he cannot prevent change from happening in the community and culture he loved. Change is destructive in ‘Things Fall Apart’, especially to such a magnitude as we see in the story, it is destructive to communities, to families, and especially to individuals.

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Discourse on colonialism generally results in the different opinions of the colonizer and the colonized. The upshot of such discourse shows that colonialism has divergent interpretations. For the colonizer, it is ‘a civilizing mission’; to the colonized, it is exploitation. Such concept is better understood when both the views are studied with an objective approach. Things Fall Apart is a perfect novel to study colonialism as it deals with the perspectives of the colonizer and the colonized.

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S. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee these Post-colonial writers have all dealt with Africa in their own individual and unique ways. Achebe does not treat the African culture and ways of life as something hybrid, complex, dependant for its significance on the Western style of perceiving things or neither has he shown Africa to be existing only in relation to its difference from or consonance with the Western form of religion, culture, identity, and discourse. The major theme of the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ centers around the destruction of Africa’s intricate, almost incomprehensible but unique way of life and culture in the wake of British colonization and forced or maneuvered conversion to Christianity. The administrative as well as religious changes that the British tries to impose upon the native Africans has the disastrous effects of uprooting the indigenous people from their original root and tradition and can be seen as some instruments of subjugation, subordination and subservience which starts with creating distrust, doubts and insecurity in the minds of people for their Igbo tradition, and its cultural and religious practices and ends with making them internalize the Christian way of life and British administrative apparatuses. Another theme that is explored in this novel is the inherent fault of the central character Okonkwo, who is ambitious, industrious, honest, masculine but is rash, and unthinking and his sense of self and identity is wholly dependent on the approval of others in his community and he thinks of anything that intrudes into it as a threat and he tries hard to be a man though in a flawed manner.

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Feminist Theory In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, they recognize the life of the Igbos which are a tribe in the village of Umuofia during European colonization. There are many topics brought up in this book like the effects of colonization, culture and tradition, religion, race, etc. It is relatively easy to read “Things Fall Apart” as an anti-feminist text due to the face that the Igbo clan’s customs and traditions seem to side towards masculine features, such as power and strength. The novel is told through a male protagonist’s point of view in nineteenth century Nigeria, while women there do not have much rights, they do wield heavy influence over the leaders of the clan.

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