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Bridge-building between Literature and Environmental Values of Africa:

Lessons from Things Fall Apart

Chapter · October 2009

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 Bridge-building between Literature and Environmental Values of Africa - Lessons from
Things Fall Apart

Abstract
This paper explores an added value of the master piece – Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.
The super story is cast in typical pre-colonial African villages where there was much dependence
on the nature. The setting of the book varies from one rural community to another.
Contemporary theories such as ecocriticism, environmental determinism and neo-
environmentalism are used to explain the feat achieved by the book in fostering balance between
environment and development. From the contextual analysis of the Things Fall Apart, nature is
revered, adored, and in some instances abused by people. The communities in Things Fall Apart
have their environmental concepts, natural resources, environment friendly livelihoods, and
range of natural and human induced environmental problems. From the aforementioned, the
principle of environmental sustainability is well entreched in Things Fall Apart. The
contemporary societies of the Igboland and other parts of Africa are ravaged by wide range of
ecological disturbances which destabilize several population groups. The paper suggests that by
observing some of the inherent lessons in Things Fall Apart a complementary role of
reawakening the public interest toward the environmental stability could be achieved in Africa.

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Introduction
As we mark the golden jubilee of the publication of Things Fall Apart, it is the most suitable
period to reflect on the relevance of African literature to challenges of the new millennium.
Luckily, this paper outlines the potency and resourcefulness of the grand novel, Things Fall
Apart to be used in sensitizing the African community on one of the most critical issues on the
neck of humanity i.e. environmental challenges. No continent and no point on this earth is
without one form of ecological problem or the other. This paper highlights and dissects the
inherent ecological values embedded in the Things Fall Apart and how they add value to the
ongoing debate on contemporary global environmental issues. In essence, the paper explores
albeit comparatively the concept of sustainable development, concepts of environment,
environmental hazards, and environmental law and policy associated with the people and
environment of Umuofia. The timeless environmentalism might have been wittingly or
unwittingly imported into the work by the author. It is rather pleasing that it depicts the core
values of socio-cultural milieu of the Africans who assign and recognize the sacredness of the
nature. And thus live by its dictates until the coming of the colonial powers who introduce new
lifestyles that have in the long run destabilized the pristine setting and did away with the original
tradition of human-nature harmony. This paper is not interested in the characters of the story but
rather the physical environment and the way it influences the life of the people, the way people
perceived the environment and subscribe to its dictates as well as the lessons that other parts of
the world could emulate especially at the height of the quest for ecological stability.

The Concept of Literature and Environment

The role of literature in the boiling issue of global environmental challenges is gently gaining a
firm ground through the concept of ecocriticism. Adamu and Barau (2008) maintain that
ecocriticism is an emerging field of study in the literary cycle though it comes at the time when it
is most needed when the earth is on the verge of extinction or decay as a result of persistent
environmental abuse perpetrated by people. The authors also cited Tucker (2004) who insists that
nature writing which is subset of ecocriticism is among paths to a reinvigorated vision towards
environmental sustainability. Tucker maintains that nature writers in the United states such as
Gary Snyder, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, Scott Sanders, Richard Nelson, Pattiann
Rogers and their predecessors such as Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and Ralph Waldo
Emerson gave the reader a fresh and unmediated sense of the power and mystery of the natural
world and evoke wonder, awe, mystery, fear and gratitude in observing nature’s many faces.
These words: wonder, awe, mystery, fear and gratitude are of crucial significance in the Things

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Fall Apart, whose author triumphantly exhibited their presence at Umuofia, the principal setting
of the story.

Nature writing and the art of greening literature has been a long standing and inherent tradition in
many parts of the world. For instance, Yoon (undated) notes that in East Asia, the people of
Korea through their folklore perceive environment as functioning system that is vulnerable and
powerful. Snyder (2004) points that Japanese founding anthology of poetry called Monyoshu
demonstrated the landscapes of Heian era including their reed marshes, wild grassy fields that
did not encounter farming activity. He also draws our attention to a Japanese explorer,
mountaineer and writer namely Setsu Reiun (385-433 AD) whose prose-poem described the
Chinese landscapes very well. He adds that right form T’ang dynasty onward Chinese poets like
Wang Wei (Oi), Tu Fu (Toho), Li Po (Rihaku), Po Chu-i, Su Shih (Soshi) were writing nature
lyrics. It is also noted that Korean poets and other East Asians are very much influenced by the
principle of Ahimsa, a sub sect of Hinduism which teaches non violence to creatures. The
Islamic provisions on nature protection are quite visible in the Qur'an, the Muslims divine
literature. Barau (2004) identifies eleven principles that govern the human earth relations, in
addition to the Quranic concepts of environmental components, natural resources and
livelihoods, resource development and consumption, environmental degradation, management of
environmental hazards and sustainable development.

In the secular West, Adalemo (1990) traces ecological view to western scholars especially
philosophers like Francis Bacon, Rousseau, Charles Darwin, and Ellen Churchill Semple.
Geographers refer to this view as environmental determinism since it emphasises on the
influence of the physical environment on human life. Such a view must have influenced writers
like Rachel Carson who had succeeded in importing the ecological view into literature and
applied it in reawakening human sense towards nature through works like A Sense of Wonder
quoted in Tucker (2004). It is also remarked that the work of Charles Darwin namely Origin of
Species is an ‘originary force’ that introduced mode of thinking for nature writing in the United
States and other motivating works include The Grapes of Wrath and Sea of Cortez by John
Steinbic as mentioned in Browne (2004). It is only quite recent that modern literature in the
Third World is stuffed by works that exclusively centre on greening literary works there. For
instance, in Latin America we have works like La loca de Gandoca (1992) by Anacristina Rossi
and Waswala (1996) by Gioconda Belli (Rhodes 2005). Here in Nigeria the most recent book
that is being celebrated for tackling ecological degradation and its social impacts in the Niger
Delta region is Kaine Agary’s Yellow-Yellow (2006).

Things Fall Apart and the Environment

It is important to highlight how the core values of the people of Umuofia perceive the
environment, their code of conduct as well as attitude towards nature. This will help us to truly
understand and expose the harmony achieved between humans and the environment. This is done
by considering the following rubrics.
i) The Locale or Setting
One can comfortably assert that Umuofia is the principal setting or locale where the story of the
Things Fall Apart is cast. Umuofia is typical pre-colonial African rural settlement whose primary
means of livelihood include farming, hunting and forest resources gathering. Invariably, this
indicates that the population of that rural area is bolstered by what nature offers it. In other

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words, the village life is determined by the physical environment. If we read some passages from
the story we could understand even the demographic dynamics of the village i.e. its crude birth
and death rates as well as the size of the population of the village. Therefore, the theory of
environmental determinism is very relevant here and we can understand this from the following
passages:

There was a wealthy man in Okonkwo’s village who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty
children. (Chapter three, p.13)

In the morning the market place was full. There must have been about ten thousand men there,
all talking in low voices. (Chapter two, p.8)

Ekwefi had suffered a great deal in her life. She had borne ten children and nine of them had
died in infancy usually before the age of three. (Chapter nine, p.54)

ii) Nature Appreciation – its beauty and wonders

There is no reason why a curious reader could not credit Things Fall Apart for the way it
exquisitely appreciate and praise nature. In fact, one can safely categorise the work as nature
writing. Some passages of the great work are replete with such elegant descriptions of the realm
of nature. The explanatory prowess demonstrated by Professor Chinua Achebe matches that of
any proficient geographer or natural resource surveyor.

… [A]nd he loved this season of the year, when the rains had stopped and the sun rose every
morning with dazzling beauty. And it was not too hot either, because the cold and dry harmattan
wind was blowing down from the north. Some years the harmattan was very severe and a dense
haze hung in the atmosphere. All men and children would then sit round log fires, warming their
bodies. Unoka loved it all, and he loved the first kites that returned with the dry season, and the
children who sang songs of welcome to them. He would remember his own childhood, how he
had often wandered around looking for a kite sailing leisurely against the blue sky. (Chapter
one, p.4)
The earth quickly came to light and the birds in the forest fluttered around and chirped merrily.
A vague scent of life and green vegetation was diffused in air. As the rain began to fall more
soberly on and in smaller liquid drops, children sought for shelter, and all were happy, refreshed
and thankful. (Chapter fourteen, p.92)

The rainbow began to appear, and sometimes two rainbows, like a mother and her daughter, the
one young and beautiful, and the other an old and faint shadow. The rainbow was called the
python of the sky. (Chapter nineteen, p.115-116)

The footway had now become a narrow line in the heart of the forest. The short trees and sparse
undergrowth which surrounded the men’s village began to give way to giant trees and climbers
which perhaps had stood from the beginning of things, untouched by the axe and the bush-fire.
The sun breaking through their leaves and branches threw a pattern of light and shade on the
sandy footway. (Chapter seven, p.41)

As the smoke rose into the sky kites appeared from different directions and hovered over the

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burning field in silent valediction. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away
until the dry season returned. (Chapter four, p. 23)

The locust had not come for many, many years, and only the old people had seen them
before…Soon it covered half the sky, and the solid mass was now broken by tiny eyes of light like
shining star-dust. It was a tremendous sight, full of power and beauty (Chapter seven, p.39).

The above passages graphically describe the beauty and wonders of the nature in an environment
where there is balance between humans and the natural environment.

iii) Mystery and fear of the Nature

The values of the people of the Umuofia are embedded in their religious beliefs, customs and
traditions which were to sufficient extent drawn from the physical and metaphysical
environment. Since the level of literacy and the general impacts of extra-tropical cultures were
absent in Umuofia, the citizens lived with a dreaded and much undisclosed natural environment
which they interchangeably fear, revere and uphold. Some passages in Things Fall Apart testify
to that.

Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even bravest among them. Children were warned
not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals become even more sinister and
uncanny in the dark. A snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear. It was
called string. And so on this particular night as the crier’s voice was gradually swallowed up in
the distance, silence returned to the world, a vibrant silence made more intense by the universal
thrill of a million million forest insects (Chapter two, p.7)

Behind them was the big and ancient silk-cotton tree which was sacred. Spirits of good children
lived in that tree waiting to be born. On ordinary days young women who desired children came
to sit under its shade. (Chapter six, p.33)

The royal python was the most revered animal in Mbanta and all the surrounding clans. It was
addressed as “Our Father”, and was allowed to go wherever it chose, even into people’s beds. It
ate rats in the house and sometimes swallowed hen’s eggs. (Chapter eighteen, p.112)

What you have done will not please the Earth. (Chapter eight, p.46)

Environmental Resources
Omara-Ojungu (1992) hints that a resource is a neutral stuff in the ecosystem that earns value
when people’s aspirations, needs and technology demand it. The people of Umuofia are people
of the nature. The following is a checklist of some of the resources that the people utilized in
their day to day activities. The list covers food items and edibles, sources of water and energy.
Interestingly, the mode of exploitation of the natural resources in Things Fall Apart is not
harmful and does not till the balance of the ecosystem. The resources available to the inhabitants
of Umuofia include:

Gourds of palm wine (p.3); alligator pepper, kola nut, white chalk, palm oil, cowries (p.5);
bamboo, palm oil, moonlight (p.7); cock crow, chicken (p.10); virgin forests, seven rivers (p.13)

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beans (p.30); locust (39); firewood…(39) etc.

Okonkwo had returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and
leaves, roots and the barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. (Chapter nine, p.60)

The contemporary human society is over consuming the natural resources and consequently the
life of more than two-thirds of the human race is on the verge of collapse. The situation is born
by pollution of sources of water and other problems relating to industrialization and urbanization,
inordinate deforestation, induced soil erosion and desertification.

Environmental Hazards
Olofin (2000) defines environmental hazards as occurrences, presences and processes that
constitute some risk or danger to the quality of the environment. Environmental hazards could
either be natural, human assisted or human induced. Industrialization, urbanization, modern
agriculture, and even warfare constitute some of the environmental hazards plaguing our
continent. For instance, Ofomata (2002) mourns the increasing threat of gullies to lands for
agriculture, urban development, industrialization and other human needs. Things Fall Apart has
sufficiently grasped the duality of ecological hazards in the way that it talked about droughts,
flooding, gullies and habitat destruction. These were all captured in some passages from the
super story.

When they had eaten they talked about many things: about the heavy rains which were drowning
the yams… (Chapter one, p.5)

The first rains were late, and, when they came, lasted only a brief moment. The blazing sun
returned, more fierce than it had ever been known, and scorched all the green that had appeared
with the rains. The earth burnt like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown…He
had sown four hundred seeds when the rains dried up and the heat returned. He watched the sky
all day for signs of rain clouds and lay awake all night.
(p. Chapter three, 16-17)

But the year had gone mad. Rain fell s it had never fallen before. For days and nights together it
poured down in violent torrents, and washed away the yam heaps. Trees were uprooted and deep
gorges appeared everywhere. The spell of sunshine which always came in the middle of the wet
season did not appear. The yams put on luxuriant green leaves, but every farmer knew that
without sunshine the tubers would not grow.
(Chapter three, p.17)

All the grass had long been scorched brown, and the sand felt like live coals to the feet.
Evergreen trees wore dusty coat f brown. The birds were silenced in the forests, and the world
lay panting under the live vibrating heat. And then came the clap of thunder. It was angry,
metallic and thirsty clap, unlike the deep liquid rumbling of the rainy season. (Chapter fourteen,
p.91-92)

Ezeudu was a great man, and so all the clan was at his funeral. The ancient drums of death beat,
guns and cannon were fired, and men dashed about in frenzy, cutting down every tree or animal

6
they saw, jumping over walls and dancing on the roof.
(Chapter thirteen, p.86-87)

As soon as the day broke, a large crowd of men from Ezeudu’s quarter stormed Okonkwo’s
compound, dressed in garbs of war. They set fire to his houses, demolished his red walls, killed
his animals and destroyed his barn. It was the justice of he earth goddess. They had no hatred in
their hearts against Okonkwo. (Chapter thirteen, p.87)

Environmental Law and Policy in Things Fall Apart

Barau (2004) defines environmental law as a framework for achieving ecological sustainability.
It therefore includes laws, pacts and penalties to guard, govern and guide individuals and
institutions at local and global levels to stick to ways that favour the environment. In Things Fall
Apart, the communal environmental policies and laws are meant to checkmate the excesses of
individuals and they therefore protect and enhance the environment. However, in contrast to the
environmental laws and policies of many developed and developing countries and even
deliberate disregard to international pacts like Kyoto treaty by heavyweight polluters like the
United States. The Week of Peace observed by the people of Umuofia is implemented more than
the themes of the contemporary World Environment Day observed every June 5th are
implemented across the UN member states. The argument is justifiable from the following
passages:

In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. (Chapter
four, p.21)

“Take away your kola nut. I shall not eat in the house of a man who has no respect for our gods
and ancestors.” (Chapter four, p. 21)

When they saw it they drove it back to its owner, who at once paid the heavy fine which the
village imposed on anyone whose cow was let loose on his neighbor’s crops. (Chapter twelve,
p.80)

If a clansman killed a royal python accidentally, he made sacrifices of atonement and performed
an expensive burial ceremony such as was done for a great man. (Chapter eighteen, p. 112)

As soon as the day broke, a large crowd of men from Ezeudu’s quarter stormed Okonkwo’s
compound, dressed in garbs of war. They set fire to his houses, demolished his red walls, killed
his animals and destroyed his barn. It was the justice of he earth goddess. They had no hatred in
their hearts against Okonkwo. (Chapter thirteen, p.87)

“Who killed this banana tree? Or are you all dumb?” As a matter of fact the tree was very much
alive. Okonkwo’s wife had merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food, and she said so.
Without further argument Okonkwo gave her a sound beating that left her and her only daughter
weeping. (Chapter five, p.27)

Every clan and village had its “evil forest”. In it were buried all those who died of the really evil
diseases, like leprosy and smallpox. It was also dumping ground for the potent fetishes of great

7
medicine-men when they died. An “evil forest” was, therefore, alive with sinister forces and
powers of darkness. (Chapter seventeen, p.105)

Things Fall Apart’s Typology of Sustainability

Today all development round tables and fora are stereotyped with the concept of sustainable
development. “Sustainable development is the development that meets the need of the present
without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs”
(International Institute of Sustainable Development, 2008). This concept of sustainability is
incomplete if it is compared with that of Things Fall Apart. Why? The contemporary universal
concept of sustainable development as it comes to Africans from the industrialized states only
take care of the present and future and jettisons the past. On the other hand, in Africa the present
and future are woven with the threads of the past. Many passages from the super story under
review have indicated how people take into consideration their ancestors. They believe that their
ancestors are still attached to them and could be harmed or pleased by the inactions of the living
generations. Additionally, the Africans on the sacredness of the nature, therefore, they seek
consent of their sundry gods whenever they will act. The following passages justify this
argument:

All our gods are weeping. Idemili is weeping. Ogwugwu is weeping. Agbla is weeping, and all
others. Our dead fathers are weeping because of the shameful sacrilege they are suffering and
the abomination we have all seen with our eyes’. (Chapter twenty four, p. 143)

Early that morning as he offered a sacrifice of yam and palm oil to his ancestors he asked them
to protect him, his children and their mothers in the new year. (Chapter five, p.28)

I sacrifice a cock to Ani, the owner of all land. It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the
shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams. I clear the bush and set fire to it when it is dry. (Chapter
three, p.12-13)

Conclusion
Things Fall Apart is an environment friendly super story, it captures the way and manner African
values hold nature high, establish harmony between humans and the nature. Therefore, we can
conclude that Things Fall Apart is a quintessential prose that has made a breakthrough in the
budding field of ecocriticism. It shows that Africans just like the far eastern civilizations were
very much advanced in integrating nature into their sundry literature genres. However,
colonization of Africa has bereft it of these sterling values, hence, the increasing cases of
ecological failures being witnessed all over the continent. Since literature has an unimpeachable
root in the life of humanity it is desirous for African writers to go back to the drawing board to
see how their forefathers lived harmoniously with nature and express that to their readers. The
global community of environmentalists is in better position to appreciate the environment
friendly values of Africa which the grassroots know and appreciate better. It is also easier to
implement and maintain. This suggestion becomes imperative if we look at the facts of this
moment. The myriad global treaties on environment and the widespread institutional efforts in
that angle have not delivered Africa and the world as a whole from the raging ecological crises
that surround us. Professor Chinua Achebe has done this fifty years ago, now the African
writer’s community should borrow a leaf by hoisting the green flags of environment by their

8
pens.

Reference:

Achebe, C. (1981) Things Fall Apart with Introduction and Notes by Aigbojo Higo
Heinemann Educational Books, London.
Adamu, Y.; Barau, A.S. (2008) Prospects of Literary Environmentalism in Fostering
Ecological Stability in Northern Nigeria. A paper presented at the national Work on
Literature and Creative Writing organized by the Association of Nigerian Authors in
collaboration with Mobil Nigeria Producing Unlimited, held at Eket, Akwa Ibom State 27-
29th March 2008.
Adalemo, I. A. (1990) ‘Geography and the Environmental Challenge’ in Geographical
Perspectives on Nigeria’s Development. Ayeni, B., Faniran, A (eds) Nigerian
Geographical Association, Ibadan
Agary, K. (2006) Yellow-Yellow, Dtalkshop, Lagos
Barau, A.S. (2004) Environment and Sustainable Development in the Qur’an, International
Institute of Islamic Thought, Nigeria Office, Kano
Browne, N. (2004) Activating the Art of Knowledge… in Interdisciplinary Studies in
Literature and Environment (Summer)
International Institute of Sustainable Development, What is Sustainable Development?
www.iisd.org viewed on 21/4/2008
Ofamata, G.E.K. (2002) ‘Soils and Soil Erosion’ in: A Survey of the Igbo Nation, Ofamata,
G.E.K.(Ed) Africana First Publishers Limited, Onitsha, pp.99-116
Olofin, E. (2000) ‘Environmental Hazards and Sustainable Development in Northern
Nigeria’ in Issues in Land Administration and Development in Northern Nigeria, Falola,
J. A; Ahmed, K; Liman, M. A; Maiwada, A. (Eds.) Department of Geography, Bayero
University, Kano, Nigeria pp.207-220
Omara-Ojungu, P.H. (1992) Resource Management in Developing Countries, Longman
Scientific and Technical, Harlow Essex.
Rhoden, L.B (2005) “Greening Central American Literature” in Interdisciplinary Studies
in Literature and Environment Vol.12.1 (Winter)
Synder, G. (2004) “Ecology, Literature and World Disorder” in Interdisciplinary Studies in
Literature and Environment Vol.11.1 (Winter 2004)
Tucker, M.E. (2004) Worldly Wonder – Religions Enter their Ecological Phase. Open Court,
Chicago.

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 Yoon , H. K. (undated) The Value of Folklore in the Study of Man’s Attitude toward
Environment. Department of Geography, University of Auckland, Auckland.

Endnotes

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe with Introduction and Notes by Aigbojo Higo Heinemann
Educational Books, London, 1981.

Bionote
Aliyu Salisu Barau was born in Kano city northern Nigeria, he teaches geography at the Federal
College of Education, Kano. He is member of Association of Nigerian Authors. His research
areas include sustainable development, land use management. He is presented papers at several
international conferences in Africa, Europe and Middle East.

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