Troy Nickens
THINGS FALL APART
BY: CHINUA ACHEBE
CHINUA ACHEBE
Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born on
November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria
 Raised by Christian missionaries
 Received early education in Engilsh
 Grew up surrounded by both Igbo and English
traditions
 Studied history and theology at the University of
Ibadan

CHINUA ACHEBE
While in college he developed his interest in
indigenous Nigerian cultures
 Rejected his Christian name*
 One of the founders of a Nigerian literary
movement of the 1950s
 Drew on oral traditions of indigenous tribes
 His novels were written in English, but he
incorporates Igbo vocabulary and narratives.

CHINUA ACHEBE
Novels are concerned with the clash of
cultures.
 His exposure to European customs and English
education allowed him to capture both
European and African perspectives on race,
religion, and culture.
 Composed his first novel, Things Fall Apart
(1959), while working for the Nigerian
broadcasting Corporation.


“Achebe tells the story from an African point of
view, showing that the Igbo were not "savages”
needing to be civilized, as the European
conquerors believed, but intelligent human
beings with a stable, ordered society and rich
tradition.”

Purpose of bringing dignity back to the
individuals of Africa who were consistently
presented as ignorant, dark, almost sinister
people with no sense of justice or purpose.
THINGS FALL APART
Translated into at least 45 languages
 Sold 8 million copies worldwide
 Published as a response to novels that treat
Africa as a cultureless foil for Europe.
 Seeks to convey fuller understandings of one
African culture

THINGS FALL APART
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 struggle between change and tradition
 Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity against his
fathers will
 Invasion of Christian missionaries in Nigeria
 Interpretations of Masculinity
 Okonkwo’s hatred of laziness because of his
father
 Nwoye’s rebellion towards his father’s wishes
 Okonkwo’s fondness of Ikemefuna and Ezinma


“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
IGBO SOCIETY
SOCIAL & POLITICAL STRUCTURES
Lack of centralized political structures
 Lived in autonomous villages & towns, ruled
by their elders
 Organized in patriarchal lineages
 Democracy was obtained through a council
of elders, age groups, councils of chiefs,
women’s associations, and secret societies

IGBO SOCIETY
MARRIAGE CUSTOMS
Marriages were discussed in depth as they
brought families & entire villages together
 Most husbands practiced polygamy
 Igbo women lived in separate houses,
cooked for themselves, and raised their own
children
 Unhappy women could leave a marriage

IGBO SOCIETY
IGBO RELIGION (POLYTHEISTIC)
Chukwu (the supreme being) is everywhere at
the same time--therefore there are no shrines or
altars for worship
 Ekwensu=trickster god who caused problems
 The ikenga = a wooden carving that symbolizes
a man’s strength & success--a priest invokes a
spirit into it & the men consult it for advice
 Chi = a person’s personal god…follows you
throughout life and can be either malevolent or
benevolent…but chi does not control destiny

THINGS FALL APART
BRIEF BACKGROUND
Story is set between 1860 & 1890--written
between 1952 & 1958; a time when Nigeria was
finally ending colonial rule
 Central theme=what happens to the values that
define Okonkwo’s cultural community & define
his sense of moral order when everything
collapses in the face of European colonialism
 Colonial rule destabilizes traditional values &
institutions
 There is a crisis of authority & power, which
leads to a crisis of culture

POINT OF VIEW

Achebe uses third-person narration to mimic
the oral nature of African stories. There is little
dialogue between the characters. Readers can
imagine an elder member of the tribe passing
the story to the younger clansmen. Achebe
also uses point of view to illustrate the
communal nature of African society.
STRUCTURE, THREE PARTS
Part I: necessary exposition, introduction to
Okonkwo and reflection of the Ibo people and
their way of life
 Part II: story of Okonkwo’s exile and the
intrusion of the European government into the
African culture
 Part III: Okonkwo’s return to the village and
what he finds*

TRAGEDY, INDIVIDUAL

Tragedy of Okonkwo who works hard to
overcome a difficult past, achieves success,
and then because of his temper, falls
TRAGEDY, COMMUNALLY

The tribe also falls, losing its culture and
tradition because the members stop praying to
their gods.
LITERARY DEVICES TO WATCH FOR
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Foreshadowing
 Proverbs
ALLUSION

Main allusion to a poem by William Butler
Yeats, “The Second Coming”: the vision of an
apocalyptic end of one culture and the rise of
another culture with a loss of control and the
end of traditional authority resulting in a new
age that is frightful.
CHARACTERS
KEY THEMES

African Traditions





Colonialism

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
Religion
Oral story telling
Village life
Gender roles
Modernity versus tradition
Christianity
Clash between tradition and colonialism
CREDITS:

This powerpoint is taken primarily from the
work of Troy Nickens, with minor changes and
additions.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/chinuaachebe/
 http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chinuaachebe/
 http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/achebe.htm
 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/themes.
html
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