Things Fall ApartAn African novel by Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe (1930-2013)

Chinua Achebe – “the father of modern African literature”• Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, the fifth of six children, was born to converts to

Christianity on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, an Igbo villiage in southeastern Nigeria, which had been one of the first centers of missionary work in Nigeria.

• Studied History and theology at the University of Ibadan. While in college he developed his interest in indigenous Nigerian cultures. He also rejected his Christian name and took his indigenous African name.

• After graduation Achebe began teaching but left after a few months to take a job with the Nigerian Broadcasting Service where he wrote scripts. He also began working on his own novel, in English, Things Fall Apart.

• 1956 he was selected to go to London for training at the BBC – his first trip outside Nigeria. He brought manuscript with him, received feedback and offer for publishing, which he declined, saying manuscript needed more work. Things Fall Apart was published in 1958, two years before Nigerian independence. He is considered one of the founders of a Nigerian literary movement of the 1950s

Chinua Achebe – since “Things Fall Apart”

• He became involved in politics and actively crusaded for help for those in his country suffering. He left his career in radio in 1966 as a result of the political conflicts which would lead to Nigerian civil war, Biafran War, in 1967. The predominantly Igbo people of the area called Biafra felt discriminated by the Yoruba majority and seceded. The war ended in 1970 when Biafra surrendered.

• A paraplegic from the waist down after a 1990 automobile accident, Achebe has lived in the United States since, teaching first at Bard College and, from 2009 until his death, at Brown University

• He wrote five novels, of which Things Fall Apart is the most famous . He received the Nigerian National merit in 1987 and has been awarded over 25 honorary doctorates from Universities throughout the world. In addition, has written extensively, including articles, short stories, essays, and children’s books

• By 1995 over 8 million copies of Things Fall Apart had been sold and the book had been translated into more than 45 languages

Achebe’s writing• Achebe sees his role as a writer as one of social responsibility,

since he believes that all good stories should have a purpose.• His novels were written in English, but he incorporates Igbo

vocabulary and narratives.• He draws on oral traditions of indigenous tribes,such as folk tales

and songs, and verbal descriptions of life and life lessons• His goal is to mold the English language to the rhythm and lyrical

quality of the Nigerian language: This style, and the incorporation of the proverbs and idioms of African culture, combine to mark his stories as uniquely African. • Is recognized for his ability to write simply yet eloquently about

life’s universal qualities

Chinua Achebe’s concerns• Achebe was unhappy with books written about Africa by the British

(like Heart of Darkness and Mister Johnson) because they were inaccurate, insulting and often racist.

• He wrote Things Fall Apart in an attempt to show that what Europeans thought was strange, actually had meaning and importance.

• Most of his novels and short stories are based in Nigeria, Africa. Many of his characters are members of the Igbo (Ibo) tribe.

• Achebe looked at the African experience under white Christian colonialism as a “systematic emasculation of the entire African culture” (Nigerian professor Ernest N. Emenyonu). His writing concerns clash of cultures and the breakdown of traditional African Culture in the face of European Colonization in the 1800s.

The settingNigeria under British colonization in the late 1880s

Berlin Conference 1884 divides Africa• Nations claiming

ownership: Portugal, Spain, Dutch, France, Netherlands, England and others soon followed…• Main commodities:

slaves, gold, ivory, rubber plants, diamonds and spices

Over 100 million people live in Nigeria Today

Nigeria is 3 times the size of Germany in area

The Igbo are the third largest ethnic group. They live in the southeast

Background on Nigeria• Area been occupied since at least 9000

BCE• History dates to Nok culture of 1000 B.C.• Portuguese established port: Lagos –

used to trade slaves• After Napoleonic Wars, British began

trade, took over as colonial power in 1885

• Christianity took its strongest hold in Nigeria when the majority of the missionaries arrived in the late 1800’s. Today 58% is Christian, 40% Muslim and 2% still practice native religions

Historical Context- British colonization and the spread of Christianity

• Missionaries provided education and attempted to convert tribes from their “heathanistic” beliefs

• Africans were distrustful of European Christians at first, but many eventually converted

• As more members adopted European values, the clans divided and conflicts arose

• After the arrival of the British, conflicts between villages were resolved by white governmental rules

• When violence involved missionaries or bureaucrats, British soldiers would often slaughter entire villages instead of punishing guilty individuals

• Africa changed from a society determined by common language and cultures to a land divided by political borders that divided it into at least 50 nation states

European Views of Africa• During this time, most Europeans thought that Africa

was a dangerous country, full of cannibals. Explorers brought back stories of strange traditions, people and customs.• Africa was known as the “dark continent”• The skin color of the people • Dark in jungle areas• Dark because customs seemed barbaric.• Dark because lack of Christianity

(Showing them the “light of God”)

The Igbo culture • Story takes place in the Igbo village of Umoufia in the

late 1880’s, prior to English colonization• Third most populous ethnic group in Nigeria (16% of

population)• Live in southeastern part of country in tropical rain

forests (deal with rainy season and dry winds)• Subsistence farmers – raise their own crops:• Yam, cassava, taro, corn, etc.• Palm trees for oil and fiber• Crafts and manual labor also provide income

Religious Beliefs• The Igbo worship many gods who are represented by

priests and priestesses within the tribe. The will of gods was revealed through oracles.

• Chukwu – supreme god, creator of world is everywhere at the same time--therefore there are no shrines or altars for worship.

• Each individual has a personal god, or Chi, that follows you throughout life and can be either malevolent or benevolent…but chi does not control destiny. It can be influenced through individual actions and rituals.

• Egwugwu –ancestral spirits of the clan. They are represented by masked men at social gatherings. Highly respected and worshipped, provides interaction between the worlds of living and dead

Villager performingrole of egwugwu

Igbo SocietyMarriage Customs• Organized in patrilineages. Live in villages a few km from each

other based on male lineage – male heads of household all related on father’s side (approximately 5,000 people per clan)• Marriages were discussed in depth as they brought families &

entire villages together• Most husbands practiced polygamy• Women go to live with husbands; prosperous men have 2 or 3

wives• Igbo women lived in separate houses, cooked for themselves,

and raised their own children• Unhappy women could leave a marriage

Igbo Culture• It is a patriarchal society. Decision making

involves males only• Lack of centralized political structures. No

single leader, elders lead – typically, oldest male member of family• Lived in autonomous villages & towns, ruled

by their elders in tribal councils• Democracy was obtained through a council

of elders, age groups, councils of chiefs, women’s associations, and secret societies

Men grew yams. Women grew other crops

Igbo Society• Social mobility: Titles earned (not inherited). High

value placed on individual achievement. System encouraged hard work and the spread of wealth• Hospitality very important• Some Igbo owned slaves captured in war or as

payment for debt.• Large emphasis on tribal traditions and rituals

Some specific items

Bride PriceCommon in many African cultures; the bridegroom’s family pays in cash or goods for the privilege of marring a young woman. (dowry – opposite – woman’s family pays for man to marry her).

ObiLarge living quarters for the head of the family.

Kola A bean, a stimulant like tea or coffee. Served on most

social occasions.

Cowrie shells A sea shell, used as a form of money. The village’s

distance from the sea makes them rare enough to use as money.

Palm oil Rich yellow oil pressed from fruit of palm trees. Used for

fuel & cooking.

Palm oil comes from palm nuts which are harvested by climbing high up in palm trees.   Palm wine is also tapped in the same area on the tree.  Palm wine tappers make holes in the tree at the base of the male flower.   Using funnels made of palm leaves the tappers collect the palm wine as it drips from the tree into gourds that they hang from the palm fronds.

Yamsweet potato-- In some African cultures it was used as currency

Storage of yams

harmattanDust-laden winds originating in the desert. Usually last 3-5 days. Dusty haze usually blocks out the sun, reduces temperatures and visibility.

ekwe• Ekwe - Two-pitch Ibo log drum.

Available in two types of hardwood (yellow or red). Played with either a plain straight wood stick or a rubber-tipped short beater similar to a large balafon or Alo (long gong-bell) mallet. These log drums are found in the eastern part of Nigeria. Larger Ekwes are usually played with two sticks, while smaller ones are usually played with only one stick.

Igbo Customs in Things Fall Apart• Week of Peace: In Umuofia, a sacred week in which

violence is prohibited.• Ikenga-- a carved wooden figure kept by every man in

his shrine to symbolize the strength of a man’s right hand.• Polygamy: a man can marry more than one wife.• The Igbo week has four days: Eke, Oye, Afo, and Nkwo.• Eating habits: The man of the house eats separately in

his central hut; Yam is Igbo’s staple food. • Osu: a class of people in Igbo culture considered

outcasts, not fit to associate with free-born members of the clan.

“The white man has put a knife in the things that held us together and we have fallen

apart.”

The book

“The reason African Literature came into existence because these things that were supposed to represent [Africans] were inaccurate. There was a vacuum, a gap to be filled”

~Chinua Achebe

Achebe on African Literature

“Let me first make one general point that is fundamental and essential to the appreciation of African issues by Americans.

Africans are people in the same way that Americans, Europeans, Asians, and others are people.

Africans are not some strange beings with unpronounceable names and impenetrable minds.

Although the action of Things Fall Apart takes place in a setting with which most Americans are unfamiliar, the characters are normal people and their events are real human events.”

~Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart• Published as a response to novels that treat Africa as a

cultureless foil for Europe.• Set in the 1890s• Portrays the conflicts between Nigeria’s white colonial

government and traditions of indigenous Igbo people• Portrays complex social institutions and traditions of

the Igbo culture prior to European contact

The titleTurning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.

-- W.B. Yeats: “The Second Coming”

Change is a part of life

But when your world suddenly changes, how do you cope?

Development of theNew York skyline1870-2015

WTC Sept. 11, 2001

The story“Achebe’s Things Fall apart, written with an insider’s understanding of the African world and its history, depicts the destruction of an individual, a family, and a culture at the moment of colonial incursion.”

Themes• “Theme” is the completion of the sentence “the author thinks that …”• Different cultures are not necessarily unequal; this superior/inferior belief will

lead to eventual tension and destruction of both cultures. • Cultures are dynamic; they must be flexible and evolve with changing outside

forces. • Masculinity and femininity should not be viewed in very strict terms. Such cut

and dry perspective does not allow a person to adapt to their surroundings. • Success and failure are self-determined. We as human beings define them, in

our own individual terms, as suited to our needs, values, and cultural experiences.

• What does Achebe think (what is his message) about:• Choices and consequences• Justice

Style• Things Fall Apart mixes Western linguistic forms and literary

traditions with Igbo words and phrases, proverbs, fables, tales, and other elements of African oral and communal storytelling traditions.• Simple sentences: simplicity of life • Imagery: metaphors and similes• Proverbs: used to comment on human behavior, importance

of oral communication and the complexity of Igbo culture• Folk Tales: show values of society• Igbo words and expressions: richness of the Igbo language

The plot• The plot recounts the story of Okonkwo, a respected man of the

fictional Igbo village of Umuofia, in the late 1800s.• Okonkwo is a champion wrestler, a wealthy farmer and a “title-holder”

in his clan. • He has three wives, a son and a daughter, and he is ward to a boy,

Ikemefuna, who is a hostage for the village.• He is a firm believer in tradition. He is driven by the fear of being like

his father, who he considered weak and who died poor and in disgrace. • He is a proud and prone to violence. One day, he goes too far and is

banned from his village for seven years.• While he is away, white Christian missionaries arrive in Umuofia,

causing many changes to the way of life he has known.

The Characters

Okonkwo- (Oh-kawn-kwoh)His name means “the roaring flame”. He is the central character of Things Fall Apart. A young and influential leader of the African Igbo community of Umuofia (Oo-moo-oh-fee-ah); he is known as a fierce warrior as well as a successful farmer. Since early childhood, his embarrassment about his lazy father, Unoka, has driven him to succeed. His hard work and talent in war have earned him a position of high status. He is strong, proud and driven, despises anything he regards as weakness and is terrified of looking weak like his father. Sometimes he behaves rashly, bringing trouble and sorrow upon himself and his family.

Nwoye (Nuh-woh-yeh) Okonkwo’s oldest son, age twelve at the book’s beginning. He is innately a sensitive young man. Nwoye disappoints Okonkwo by showing signs of his grandfather’s sensitivity, weakness and laziness. He is constantly beaten by Okonkwo in hopes of correcting the faults that Okonkwo sees in him. He is later influenced by Ikemefuna and begins to show more masculine behavior. He eventually converts to Christianity which displeases Okonkwo.

Ikemefuna (Ee-keh-meh-foo-nah). A boy of fourteen who is given to Umuofia by a neighboring village, to avoid war. He is a clever, resourceful young man. He develops a close relationship with Nwoye, becoming somewhat of a big brother to him. Okonkwo becomes very fond of Ikemefuna but does not demonstrate his affection because of his fear of looking weak. Ikemefuna fills the void in Okonkwo’s life that his own son cannot

Ezinma (Eh-zeen-mah) Daughter of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi and Okonkwo. She is the only one of Ekwifi’s children to survive past infancy. She is the center of Ekwifi’s world. She is favored by Okonkwo because she understand him better than any of his other children. Okonkwo wishes that Ezinma were a boy because she would have been a perfect son.

The wives• Okonkwo’s first wife is never

mentioned by name; she is wise, compassionate, peaceful, and adheres to tribal traditions• Ekwefe- Okonkwo’s second

wife; courageous and strong willed• Ojiugo- Okonkwo’s third and

youngest wife; makes her husband angry and prompts him to break the sacred Week of Peace

Other Igbo• Unoka- Okonkwo’s father

and the root of all his fears and problems; represents all the characteristics the Igbo abhor (gentleness, lack of ambition, sensitivity to people and nature)• Obierika (Oh-bee-air-ee-

kah)    Okonkwo’s best friend, who often represents the voice of reason.

The British• Mr. Brown -  The first white Christian missionary in Umuofia and Mbanta.

An understanding and accommodating man, he is inclined to listen to the Igbos. He institutes a policy of compromise and non-agression between his people and the clan. He befriends prominent clansmen and builds a school and hospital in Umofia. He attempts to appeal respectfully to the tribe’s values.

• Reverend James Smith -  A strict, stereotypical white Christian missionary, who takes over the church after Mr. Brown’s departure. He is uncompromising and strict. He demands that his converts reject all of their indigenous beliefs. His behavior epitiomizes the problems of colonialism.

• The District Comissioner- An authority figure in the colonial government in Nigeria. He is the Prototypical racist colonialist. He thinks he understands everything about the indigeionous African customs and has no respect for them.

Conflicts to Watch• The cultural conflict: "The conflict of the novel, shown in

Okonkwo, derives from the series of crushing blows which are leveled at traditional values by an alien and more powerful culture causing, in the end, the traditional society to fall apart," (G.D. Killam).Cultural: Ibo vs. Western

Tradition vs. ChristianityAssimilation vs. purit

• Generational: Okonkwo vs. UnokaOkonkwo vs. Nwoye

• Gender: Okonkwo vs. his wives• Inner: Okonkwo vs. himself

Things Fall Apart as Greek TragedyA Greek tragedy is a dramatic narrative in which serious and important actions turn out disastrously for the protagonist, who is also known as the tragic hero.

The Tragic Hero• The classical tragic hero is a person of great importance to his/her state or culture.• He or she is conventionally noble and of a high member/leader, the ruler or an

important standing in his/her society.• Adheres to and exemplifies a code of conduct including reverence toward the laws

of God and the universe, loyalty to the family, and respect for government• The moral health of the state (in this case, the tribe) is dependent on that of its

hero, and so the tragic story of the hero and the tragic story of the state are connected.

• Tragic heroes are mixed characters, neither completely good nor bad, yet “better” and “greater” than everyone else in the sense that they are of higher than ordinary moral worth and social significance. They often demonstrate wisdom, moral or philosophical greatness -- sometimes physical prowess

• They always possess a flaw in personality or psyche that ultimately brings about total destruction.

The Plot of a Greek tragedy• The plot of tragedy traces the rising of the hero, when a disastrous

event, also known as reversal of fortune, or peripeteia sends him or her from the heights of happiness to the depths of misery. This fall usually comes as a consequence of a tragic flaw, or hamartia, in the hero’s character and /or a moral weakness. Okonkwo’s flaws:

• Hubris (pride)• Ate (rashness)

• The fall may also be a product of the hero’s pre-determined destiny or fate. The gods may have prophesized this fall. The hero’s tragic flaw, sometimes in the form of a strong passion (classically, hubris or excessive pride or self-confidence), may cause the hero to disregard divine law and/or try in vain to escape his/her fate.

Catharsis• The tragic hero may experience a supreme moment of recognition of the truth of his situation or identity. The tragic hero is supposed to move us to pity because, since he is not an evil man, his misfortune is greater than he deserves. However, his story may also move us to fear or terror because we recognize similar possibilities in ourselves.• Greek theorist Aristotle also asserts that these feelings of pity

and fear are purged through catharsis, which is the moment when an audience is left feeling, not depressed by our hero’s actions but relieved and often left feeling better about ourselves.• (Catharsis is the purging of  emotions or relieving of emotional

tensions.)

The structure of Things Fall Apart• The first part sets the scene:• Okonkwo’s humble beginnings and his rise to power through

hard work. • the ways of the Ibo people. • Each chapter reflects some part of Ibo life and either supports

or questions it. • The second part: • Okonkwo’s exile from his tribe• the influence of the missionaries and the intrusion of the

European government into the African culture.• The final part: Okonkwo’s return

Point of viewAchebe uses third-person narration to mimic the oral nature of African stories. He creates a tale that seems to have been passed from generation to generation, much like many of the tales that are told within the narrative. There is little dialogue between the characters; the reader can imagine an elder member of the tribe passing the story to the younger clansmen.

Chapter 1The first chapter serves several purposes. First, it establishes Okonkwo as the protagonist of the novel. Through stories of Okonkwo’s father, the reader understands the basis for Okonkwo’s personality. Achebe also uses the first chapter to establish traditions and customs in the Ibo culture. Until the point this novel was written, European literature mostly characterized Africa as a barren land devoid of culture and language. Achebe manages to illustrate the complexities of the African society, as well as the complexities of the African language and oral tradition.

Opening sentence

The first sentence of the novel serves two purposes. First, the sentence establishes the narrator as within the community about which he is speaking. The sentence also introduces Okonkwo, situating him within a community of nine villages

Repetition and imagery

One rhetorical strategy is the repetition of the animal imagery of the cat. Achebe immediately thrusts the reader into a culture where nature and the wild play vital roles in the village. Achebe also introduces the reader to the number seven in the mention of the man who fought a spirit for “seven days and seven nights.” In Ibo religion, the number seven is symbolic of God’s seal. Achebe references this number in order to create a connection between the Christian religion that is introduced later in the novel and the Ibo culture’s reliance on the spiritual world. Before Things Fall Apart, much of the literature written about Africa focused on the differences between African and the Western culture. Achebe is trying to establish that there are some similarities between the two cultures.

Metaphor

• Metaphors can be recognized by finding the two ideas that are being compared. Achebe compares Okonkwo to a powerful cat. Okonkwo moves in the way of a cat in the way that he pounces on people. The image of pouncing, which is a verb normally reserved for animals, suggests that Okonkwo is as quick and powerful as a tiger or leopard or lion.

Simile

The line is an example of a simile. Comparing Okonkwo to a fish illustrates how tactical he was when fighting Amalinze. Through the simile, Achebe creates a vivid image in the reader’s mind of the “cat” trying in vain to snare a slippery fish in water. See also:

Watch for “like” or “as” when reading the descriptions. The image shows how little rain the tribe received and how damaging the heat was to the crops.

Here is another simile. Again, Achebe creates an image—this time of a roaring bush-fire to illustrate Okonkwo’s rapid rise to fame.

The line is an example of polysyndeton, which is a repetition of conjunctions in a series of words, phrases, or clauses. It creates a rhythm in the language, almost like the beat of drums.

Unoka is Okonkwo’s father. Even before the reader is introduced to Unoka, we learn that Okonkwo had “no patience with unsuccessful men.” He is a lazy man, who owed money to everyone. “ When he was alive, he spent much of his money on alcohol and did a poor job providing for his family. It is later emphasized that Okonkwo had no respect for the memory of his weak and effeminate father. Achebe is establishing the background for Okonkwo’s character. One of a writer’s techniques in characterization is to use other characters to illustrate aspects of a particular character’s personality. In order to establish part of Okonkwo’s hardworking, impulsive, personality, the reader needs to see why he feels so strongly about hard work. Achebe uses Okonkwo’s father to help illustrate this quality. Okonkwo’s attitude toward his father will also eventually inform his attitude toward his own son

Proverbs

The metaphor comparing proverbs to palm oil emphasizes that proverbs are common in their speech and add flavor to their conversation the way palm oil adds flavor to food.

The use of proverbs is an example of the rich language the Igbo people possess. They have a rich, storytelling tradition, and the proverbs allow people to include storytelling in their everyday conversations. This proverb, a favorite of Okonkwo’s father Unoka, means that a person should not waste what he or she is given, but instead should eat and act as if there were no tomorrow.

Foreshadowing

The various occasions of foreshadowing in Things Fall Apart are not subtle. Instead, they directly lead the reader to the ultimate conclusion. See the above example. These references foreshadow that something unfortunate is going to happen to Ikemefuna.

Gender Roles in Things Fall Apart

Gender• Being of woman; or of man.• Masculine vs. feminine• Other than biological differences• Language can be gendered

The Role of Man in Igbo cultureA man in Igbo culture is expected to:• Provide food and shelter• Rule over his “clan”• Take several wives• Gain “titles”• Many of the main characters in the book beat their

wives regularly

Role of Woman in Igbo cultureWomen in Igbo culture are expected to:• Take care of the children• Cook for their husband• Clean and take care of the grounds and buildings.• Some of the female characters in the book represent

balance, and go against the regular male character that shuns femininity as a bad thing.

Matriarchy/Patriarchy• Matriarchy: a form of social organization in which the

mother is head of the family, and in which descent is reckoned in the female line, the children belonging to the mother's clan; matriarchal system• Patriarchy: a form of social organization in which the

father is the supreme authority in the family, clan, or tribe and descent is reckoned in the male line, with the children belonging to the father's clan or tribe.

Important passages relating to gender in the book

How does this quote show Okonkwo’s attitude toward gender?

Nowye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children….That was the kind of story Nowye loved. But he now knew that they were for foolish women and children, and he knew that his father wanted him to be a man. And so he feigned that he no longer cared for women’s stories…”

What does this passage tell us about the conflict between father and son? How does it foreshadow Nwoye’s later conversion?

Women never saw the inside of the [Egwugwu house]. No woman ever did. They scrubbed and painted the outside walls under the supervision of men. If they imagined what was inside, they kept their imagination to themselves. No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful and the most secret cult in the clan”. How does this show the different social roles in Igbo society?

How does this show the different social roles in Igbo society?

Chapters 13-19: Okonkwo in the “motherland”

Read and consider the attitudes towards gender

Things Fall Apart: Discussion StartersOkonkwo believes that strength and toughness are more important than compassion and gentleness.• In what circumstances might this attitude help a

person succeed?• When could it cause problems?• Does everyone have a tragic flaw? • What is Okonkwo’s? • What is yours?

Things Fall Apart: Discussion StartersThe European missionaries want the Ibo to change their way of life. • Why do some people want to impose their culture on

another?• Can one culture judge another by its own standards?• When do you think it’s acceptable to encourage a

group of people to change their way of life? When is it not acceptable?

Bibliography• http://www.bookrags.com/biography/chinua-achebe/• http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chinua-achebe/• http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/achebe.htm• http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/themes.html

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