Things Fall Apart An introduction to a most celebrated African novel
Setting Novel is set in the 1890s Africa is being colonized by the British and other European countries It’s a mad scramble for land, resources and labor
Nigeria is made up of different clans, tribes Fictional group of Igbo villages
Characters Okonkwo: Main character Member of the Umuofia clan Traditional Greek tragic hero (think Oedipus, Creon) Deeply flawed, yet sympathetic Story follows several years of his life Harvest seasons Religious festivals Domestic disputes Clash with missionaries and British military
Characters Unoka: Okonkwo’s lazy father (died 10 years ago) Ikemefuna: a boy who comes to live with Okonkwo Nwoye: Okonkwo’s son (looks up to Ikemefuna) Agbala: the Oracle consulted by the people Chika: the priestess who speaks for the Oracle Three wives Many children (he is most fond of daughter Ezinma)
Author: Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe Born in 1930 First name was Albert, but he dropped it in college Parents were converts to Christianity Other relatives practiced the traditional Igbo faith Polytheistic (many gods) Personal spirit called a chi
Author Achebe went to college in Africa Encountered traditional Anglo novels usually depicting African natives during the time of Colonialism as: “jealous savages” “inhuman” having “faces which seemed entirely dislocated, senseless The Heart of Darkness
An excerpt from The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad: Notice the descriptions that depict these native Africans as less than human. “The whites, of course greatly discomposed, had besides a curious look of being painfully shocked by such an outrageous row. The others had an alert, naturally interested expression; but their faces were essentially quiet, even those of the one or two who grinned as they hauled at the chain. Several exchanged short, grunting phrases, which seemed to settle the matter to their satisfaction…
The Heart of Darkness “Their headman, a young, broad-chested black, severely draped in dark-blue fringed cloths, with fierce nostrils and his hair all done up artfully in oily ringlets, stood near me. 'Aha!' I said, just for good fellowship's sake. 'Catch 'im,' he snapped, with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp teeth -- 'catch 'im. Give 'im to us.' 'To you, eh?' I asked; 'what would you do with them?' 'Eat 'im!' he said curtly, and, leaning his elbow on the rail, looked out into the fog in a dignified and profoundly pensive attitude…”
The Heart of Darkness “I would no doubt have been properly horrified, had it not occurred to me that he and his chaps must be very hungry: that they must have been growing increasingly hungry for at least this month past. They had been engaged for six months (I don't think a single one of them had any clear idea of time, as we at the end of countless ages have. They still belonged to the beginnings of time -- had no inherited experience to teach them as it were).”
Author Achebe recognized the danger of these kinds of limited and misleading portrayals They dehumanized, stereotyped and belittled real people who had rich lives and their own stories to tell Racist Achebe wanted to present the Igbo as being more than their stereotypes
Achebe In 1958, he wrote Things Fall Apart No one in the publishing world knew what to make of it. There were no precedents for African literature by an African.
Achebe Novel has sold more than 8 million copies Translated into more than 50 languages Today Achebe teaches at Bard College in New York Advocates a socially and politically motivated literature “Literature is not a luxury for us. It is a life and death affair because we are fashioning a new man.” The New Yorker, May 26, 2008
Style of Achebe’s Novel Draws heavily on the oral tradition of the Igbo people Weaves folk tales into the fabric of his stories Illustrates community values. Uses proverbs to illustrate the values of the rural Igbo tradition.
Themes of novel The destruction of an individual The collapse of a community
And yet: Achebe believes change is constant “I never will take a stand that the Old must win or the New must win. The point is that no single truth satisfied me… no single man can be correct all the time, no single idea can be totally correct.” Conversations with Chinua Achebe By Chinua Achebe, Bernth Lindfors A typical Igbo family in Nigeria today
In the end We are allowed to decide what the novel means.