Setting In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

It is evident that Chinua Achebe’s Thins Fall Apart is a reflection of his context. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart uses setting and characters to reflect the author’s own context. This is shown through the characterization of Okonkwo, the setting of pre colonialist Ibo society and the effects of colonialism on Umofia. Through the use of description, pre colonist and post colonist setting it is clear that setting influences characters in the novel as well as Chinua Achebe himself.

In the novel Things Fall Apart it is clear that Okonkwo’s character is greatly affected by the setting of the novel. Okonkwo is the clan leader of his village called Umuofia. He is considered the protagonist of the novel; he is described to be an aggressive, hard

Society had different beliefs in Umuofia before it was colonized. For example, in chapter 9 Achebe mentions Ekwefi and her suffering with the death of 9 out of 10 children. This was due to the belief of “Ogbanje”, which Achebe mentions are wicked children that die at an early age and then go back to their mother’s womb and are eventually born again. This belief affected society and the way they perceive birth. Also there is the week of peace mentioned in Chapter 4 of the book. This is considered the week before people start planting their “yams” which symbolize crops. When yams grew this meant the gods were happy, they were considered a sign of prosperity. It is in the Umuofian belief that during this week everybody has to be “peaceful” and nice to everyone in order to bring good luck for the cropping season. It was within their belief that if anyone does something harmful in this week, this would cause them bad luck when it comes to their crops. Also within the Umuofian society it is clear that there is a difference between the roles of females and males. Females in the novel are responsible for making food, taking care of the kids, scrubbing the hut and are generally inferior characters in comparison to males. However, on page 133, Unoka makes it clear that a woman is worthy of worship by reminding Okonkwo that “You are a great man in your clan, but you are still a child”. By

Chinua Achebe; the author of Things Fall Apart was raised by Christian parents who were missionary teachers. His life as a Christian and member of the Ibo tribe at the same time influenced him to write a book depicting pre and post colonization in Africa specifically his hometown, Nigeria. Chinua Achebe wrote things fall apart for the purpose of educating readers about their past and reminding them of their cultures and traditions before being colonized by the western. Throughout the novel Achebe uses Ibo words such as “Ndichie, Kotma, and Nza” in order to keep his book authentic and meaningful, he wants to stay true to the Nigerian culture. Through his writing he aims to empower Africans as he feels that they have lost their identity. Achebe chose a character like Okonkwo as he felt that such a character would portray Nigerians as they really were. Throughout the book Okonkwo was characterized deeply which is a reflection of the authors purpose for writing the book. In the book the use of characters like Mr Brown and Mr Smith also reflect Achebe’s context. Since Achebe is a Christian whose parents were missionaries he spoke about the good side and bad side of the western colonization through the use of characters like Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown. Missionaries were the white men who were colonizing African tribes. Achebe chose to show that there were two sides of the missionaries a good and a bad