Overview
At the end of the nineteenth century, the Igbo people of West Africa faced a formidable enemy. Queen Victoria of England had claimed their land as part of the British Empire, and soon the British imperial forces would conquer them and -- with European law, religion, and material goods -- change Igbo life forever. Okonkwo is a clan leader of the Igbo village of Umuofia. Known as the "Roaring Flame" for his prowess in war, he has built his own fortune and is considered one of the greatest men of his time. Okonkwo attributes his success to his own inflexible will. But in this new fight, that blind determination will bring about Okonkwo's downfall. This complete study edition of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart includes information about the history of Nigeria and the culture of the Igbo, as well as questions, writing ideas, and projects. Related readings are included to give you new perspectives.A classic of modern African writing, this is the tale of what happens to tribal customs and old ways when white man comes.
Editorials
Readers Catalog
Achebe's most famous novel brilliantly portrays the impact of colonialism on a traditional Nigerian village at the turn of the century. Its hero, Obi Okonkwo, epitomizes both the nobility and the rigidity of the traditional culture.Sacred Fire
Things Fall Apart is one of the most widely read African novels ever published. It is written by one of Nigeria’s leading novelists, Chinua Achebe. Set in the Ibo village of Umuofia, Things Fall Apart recounts a stunning moment in African history—its colonization by Britain. The novel, first published in 1958, has by today sold over 8 million copies, been translated into at least forty-five languages, and earned Achebe the somewhat misleading and patronizing title of "the man who invented African literature." It carefully re-creates tribal life before the arrival of Europeans in Africa, and then details the jarring changes brought on by the advent of colonialism and Christianity.
The book is a parable that examines the colonial experience from an African perspective, through Okonkwo, who was "a strong individual and an Igbo hero struggling to maintain the cultural integrity of his people against the overwhelming power of colonial rule." Okonkwo is banished from the community for accidentally killing a clansman and is forced to live seven years in exile. He returns to his home village, only to witness its disintegration as it abandons tradition for European ways. The book describes the simultaneous disintegration of Okonkwo and his village, as his pleas to his people not to exchange their culture for that of the English fall on deaf ears.
The brilliance of Things Fall Apart is that it addresses the imposition of colonization and the crisis in African culture caused by the collapse of colonial rule. Achebe prophetically argued that colonial domination and the culture it left in Africa had such a stranglehold on African peoples that its consequences would haunt African society long after colonizers had left the continent.