Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

AUTHOR : Chinua Achebe

YEAR PUBLISHED: 1958

GENRE: Historical Fiction

 The title Things Fall Apart is taken from a line from William Butler Yeats's "The Second Coming,"
a poem that describes the state of the world in the aftermath of World War I. Achebe,
recognizing potential chaos in Nigeria's bid for independence from Britain, explores the themes
in Yeats's poem—pressing questions about a world order broken by violence and dissent.Things
Fall Apart is told in the third person by an omniscient narrator who has a deeply personal
connection to the setting, an 1890s Nigerian village.Achebe refers to the Igbo people as Ibo, an
older, and now outdated, spelling. Achebe's depiction of Igbo life and culture was also
appreciated.

 South East: The Ibo people : The East which was inhabited by the Ibo people has had a less
advanced socio political organisation than the Hausu and the Yoruba. Lesser material progress
could be a possible reason for this. In modern political jargon, lbo socio-political organisation
could be described as comprising ‘village democracies’ with the clan as the basic unit. Like the
Yoruba, the lbos too were pagan in their religious beliefs.

 One of the judges in the Man Booker competition, South African author Nadine Gordimer,
dubbed Achebe the "father of modern African literature," an unofficial title by which he
commonly became known.

 In Things Fall Apart Achebe voices his grievances against the ineptitude and racism of British
colonial rule. Following Nigerian independence in 1960, Achebe's focus evolved to criticism of
the country's corrupt African dictators and the citizens who accepted their violent leadership.

 Achebe’s sensitive perception of an ancient society at the crossroads of history, his artful
mastery of telling a complex story quite simply and his effective blending of the techniques of
oral narration with written discourse is the strength of the novel and makes it what it is a
modern classic. Some of these features are: simplicity, universality and the language as well as
the style of narration.
 Igbo metaphysics is a "thought system which recognizes the reality and independent existence
of non-physical beings and their interaction with physical beings in the material world. Achebe’s
exploration of this thought system and inscription of Igbo human personality , especial;;y
through the principles of causality , dualism and reincarnation. wherever something stands,
something else will stand beside it" means literally that nothing stands by itself: when a human
being stands, something else, chi, stands next to him/her; that no human being stands without
the essence of Chukwu. The statement, however, could also be interpreted as underscor ing the
ontology of the umunna (community) over the individual, and as emphasizing the
interconnection in all things.
 the Igbo believe that a man receives his gifts or talents, his character-indeed his portion in life
generally-before he comes into the world. It seems there is an element of choice available to
him at that point, and that his chi presides over the bargaining: hence the saying Obe etu nya na
chie si kwu, which we often hear when a man's misfortune is somehow beyond comprehen sion
and so can only be attributable to an agreement he himself must have entered into, at the
beginning, alone with his chi" .

 You can see that a human person in Igbo thought is not just a composition of body and soul. His
well-being does not depend solely on a rapport between the body and the soul, on showing how
effectively the soul influences the body, or on how the body manages without the soul. The
well-being of a person depends significantly on his relationship with his chi, on how his choice of
action is influenced by his chi, on how much he displeases or appeases his chi. Igbo "philoso phy
of the human person is more existential and practical than theoretical. It is based on the
conviction that the metaphysical sphere is not abstractly divorced from concrete experience".

 the narrative shows, using one of the platitudes I mentioned above, particularly, Onye kwe chi
ya ekwe, [if you say yes, your chi will say yes], Okonkwo says yes when his chi says yes. Such
agreement. reflects optimism, and it is not merely psychological, but also ethical and practical,
for Okonkwo's agreement with his chi resonates in his success and achievements, and in his
people's recognition of his integrity.

 The platitude Obu etu nya na chie si kwu to show some misfortune in Okonkwo's life. In this
aspect, the dualism in human existence is well underscored. Okonkwo's misfortune is not
attributed to his humanity alone, but to his chi: "Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for
great things.

 "Clearly his personal god or chi was not made for great things" (121). This statement is made
when Okonkwo is in exile because of the boy he inadvertently killed during the burial of Ezeudu.
The White man has not come to Umuofia at this time. Later, when Nwoye abandons the
"traditional sanctity" for " the poetry of the new religion" (137), Okonkwo ruminates thus: "Why
... should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son? He saw clearly in it the finger of
his personal god or chi" (142). These statements are made extradiegetically through the voice of
 the narrator, who explains every bit of the incidents in the narration. We hear Okonkwo's
thought through the consciousness of the narrator, and his consciousness portends, at these
junctures in the narrative Okonkwo's tragedy, to show that his misfortune is his agreement with
his chi, obu etu nya na chie si kwu. However that may be, the apparent phenomenon is
Okonkwo's interaction with non-physical elements.

 Okonkwo's life represents a contradiction; his life represents one who has arrogated to himself
the power of the non-physical being and who has forgotten the power of chi. Okonkwo excised
himself from that complex community, from the interconnection of things, to pursue his
aggrandized individual ego.

 This expression - the dark continent - was most probably first used by travellers and missionaries
who happened to visit the African continent much before political claims on its territory were
made and it was colonised by various European powers. The term ‘dark’ has been used for
describing the continent of Africa because, firstly, these early travellers as well as missionaries
considered anything mysterious that they did not understand much about. Secondly, and more
importantly, these first visitors considered Africa to be inhabited by people who were primitive,
uncivilised and savages.