Things Fall Apart is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It portrays the life of Okonkwo, a traditional influential leader of the fictional Igbo clan, Umuofia. He is a feared warrior and a local wrestling champion who opposed colonialism and the early Christian missionaries. Upon publication in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd, the novel gained positive reviews and has been translated into fifty languages.
Okonkwo is a famous man in the village of Umuofia. He is a wrestling champion and leader of a clan. He is characterized as a different person from his father Unoka, who had been a debtor unable to support his wife or children, and who preferred playing his flute over conflict. Okonkwo works independently to build his own fame and wealth from a young age, as his father left him with no inheritance. Obsessed with masculinity, and non expression of his emotions if not anger, he often beats his wives and children.
Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy taken as a peace settlement between Umuofia and another clan after Ikemefuna's father killed a woman from Umuofia. The boy looks up to Okonkwo as his second father. The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy must be killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo not to associate himself with the murder but he disregards the warning and proceeds with the killing. After the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo feels depressed and had occasional nightmares. During a gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun accidentally explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are exiled to Mbanta, his motherland, for seven years in order to appease the gods.
While Okonkwo is in Mbanta, he learns that the white men are living in Umuofia with the intent of introducing their religion, Christianity. As the number of converts increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village is forced to respond with either appeasement or resistance to the imposition of the white people's nascent society. Okonkwo's son Nwoye becomes curious about the missionaries, and after he is beaten by his father for the last time, he decides to leave his family behind to live independently. Nwoye is introduced to the new religion by a missionary, Mr. Brown. In the last year of his exile, Okonkwo instructs his best friend Obierika to sell all of his yams and hire two men to build him two huts so he can have a house to go back to with his family. He also holds a great feast for his mother's kinsmen.
Returning from Mbanta, Okonkwo finds his village changed by the presence of the white men. After a convert commits the crime of unmasking an elder as he embodies an ancestral spirit of the clan, the village retaliates by destroying a local Christian church. In response, the District Commissioner representing the colonial government takes Okonkwo and several other native leaders prisoner pending payment of a fine of two hundred bags of cowries. Despite the District Commissioner's instructions to treat the leaders of Umuofia with respect, the native "court messengers" humiliates them, doing things such as shaving their heads and whipping them. As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for an uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of cowardice and advocates war against the white men.
When messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo beheads one of them. Because the crowd allows the other messengers to escape and does not fight alongside Okonkwo, he realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to protect themselves. When the District Commissioner, Gregory Irwin, comes to Okonkwo's house to take him to court, he finds that Okonkwo killed himself because he saw that he was fighting the battle alone and his tribe had given up. Among his own people, Okonkwo's actions have tarnished his reputation and status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the Igbo to commit suicide. Obierika struggles not to break down as he laments Okonkwo's death. As Irwin and his men prepare to bury Okonkwo, Irwin muses that Okonkwo's death will make an interesting chapter for his written book, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
Background
Achebe was born in 1930, in Ogidi, Anambra State, where Igbo-speaking people lived together in groups of independent villages ruled by titled elders. Within the forty years of the colonization of Nigeria, and by the time of his birth, the missionaries were already established.
Written in English, Achebe felt that the written standard Igbo language was stilted, which he connected to the fact that the standard was deliberately created by combining various dialects. In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review, Achebe said, "the novel form seems to go with the English language. There is a problem with the Igbo language. It suffers from a very serious inheritance which it received at the beginning of this century from the Anglican mission. They sent out a missionary by the name of Dennis. Archdeacon Dennis. He was a scholar. He had this notion that the Igbo language—which had very many different dialects—should somehow manufacture a uniform dialect that would be used in writing to avoid all these different dialects. Because the missionaries were powerful, what they wanted to do they did. This became the law. But the standard version cannot sing."[2]
Achebe's choice to write in English has caused controversy. While both African and non-African critics agree that Achebe modelled Things Fall Apart on classic European literature, they disagree about whether his novel upholds a Western model, or, in fact, subverts or confronts it.[3] Achebe continued to defend his decision: "English is something you spend your lifetime acquiring, so it would be foolish not to use it. Also, in the logic of colonization and decolonization it is actually a very powerful weapon in the fight to regain what was yours. English was the language of colonization itself. It is not simply something you use because you have it anyway."[4]
Achebe is noted for his inclusion of and weaving in of proverbs from Igbo oral culture into his writing.[5] This influence was explicitly referenced by Achebe in Things Fall Apart: "Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."
Publication history
Achebe, who was assigned to his former duties in the Talks Department at NBS, had time to revisit and review his manuscript. He removed the second and third parts of the novel, leaving only the story of Okonkwo, the main character of the novel. He also restructured and added new chapters and paragraphs until 1957. After he has seen an advertisement in The Spectator, he sent the copies of his handwritten manuscripts to a typing agency in London by ordinary mail. The agency requested a fee of £22, which Achebe sent by British postal order. He heard nothing from the agency for many months. Towards the end of the year, Angela Beattie, about to relinquish her post as Head of Talks at NBS, was going to London for her annual leave, and Achebe asked her to check the status of his manuscript which he sent to the typing agency. Beattie's intervention forced the agency to retrieve the manuscripts already covered with dust in a corner of the office, and sent only one typed copy to Achebe in Lagos.[6]
After becoming the Head of Talks, Achebe sent the typescript of the novel to the literary agent of Gilbert Phelps in 1958.[7] Several publishing houses rejected the typescript with the reason that the fiction by African writers possess no financial potential. It was eventually taken to the office of William Heinemann, where it was presented to James Michie and through him, came to the attention of Alan Hill, a publishing advisor.[8]Things Fall Apart was published in hardback on 17 June 1958 with around 2000 print copies. Although the publishers didn't reedit or copyedited the manuscript, it achieved instant acclaim in the British Nation Press. The Times Literary Supplement said that the novel "genuinely succeeds in presenting tribal life from inside while patterns of feeling and attitudes of mind appear clothed in a distinctive African imagery, written neither up nor down."[8]Time and Tide called it a fascinating story while The Observer praised it as an excellent novel which is "well worth reading."[9]
Themes
Culture
Things Fall Apart depicts the cultural roots of the Igbos and refers them as a universal principle, which revives the lost dignity of the people during the Colonial Nigeria.[10]
one general point...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. Although the action of Things Fall Apart takes place in a setting with which most Americans are unfamiliar, the characters are nor-mal people and their events are real human events. The necessity even to say this is part of a burden imposed on us by the customary denigration of Africa in the popular imagination of the West.
Historians focuses on past African Empires in order to improve the status of African history, but Achebe ignores the pattern by portraying Igbo people as isolated with an established tradition.[11] He cleanses the picture of Africa in order to create a true meaning of the people's dignity. For example, when the missionaries enters Mbanta, they expects a king but seeing none, they set up their ruling system. In Things Fall Apart, there is a contradiction between different cultural practices; for example, the Europeans allow men to fight over religion but the Igbo tradition forbids the killing of each other.[12]
Achebe presents some standard for the Igbo culture while not idealizing the past, like the troubling culture for modern democrats is the law that says Ikemefuna should be killed for the sins of his clans.[13] Although Achebe shows the treachery, ignorance, and intolerance of the British, he doesn't present them as evil people. Instead he uses the both cultures—British and Igbo—to represent two mixture of human beings as seen in Okonkwo and Mr. Smith, who will not compromise when their cultures are threatened.[14]
Religion
Masculinity
Women in the Pre— Colonial
Colonism
Reception
Things Fall Apart is regarded as a milestone in AnglophoneAfrican literature, and for the perception of African literature in the West. It is studied widely in Africa, Europe, India, and North America, where it has been the subject of secondary and tertiary analytical works. It has been translated to over 50 languages.[15]Time listed the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[16]
In 1987, the book was made into a very successful miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television Authority. It starred several established film actors, including Pete Edochie in the lead role of Okonkwo and Justus Esiri as Obierika, with Nkem Owoh and Sam Loco Efe in supporting roles.[23]
In 1999, the American hip-hop band the Roots released their fourth studio album Things Fall Apart in reference to Achebe's novel.
Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as a central figure of modern African literature. His first novel and magnum opus, Things Fall Apart (1958), occupies a pivotal place in African literature and remains the most widely studied, translated, and read African novel. Along with Things Fall Apart, his No Longer at Ease (1960) and Arrow of God (1964) complete the "African Trilogy". Later novels include A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987). In the West, Achebe is often referred to as the "father of African literature", although he vigorously rejected the characterization.
Christopher Ifekandu Okigbo was a Nigerian poet, teacher, and librarian, who died fighting for the independence of Biafra. He is today widely acknowledged as an outstanding postcolonial English-language African poet and one of the major modernist writers of the 20th century.
Nigerian literature may be roughly defined as the literary writing by citizens of the nation of Nigeria for Nigerian readers, addressing Nigerian issues. This encompasses writers in a number of languages, including not only English but Igbo, Urhobo, Yoruba, and in the northern part of the county Hausa and Nupe. More broadly, it includes British Nigerians, Nigerian Americans and other members of the African diaspora.
No Longer at Ease is a 1960 novel by Chinua Achebe. It is the story of an Igbo man, Obi Okonkwo, who leaves his village for an education in Britain and then a job in the Colonial Nigeria civil service, but is conflicted between his African culture and Western lifestyle and ends up taking a bribe. The novel is the second book of Achebe and second work in the "African trilogy"; following Things Fall Apart and preceding Arrow of God.
Mbaise is a region in Imo State in southeastern Nigeria. In the heart of Igboland, the region includes several towns and cities. The population is composed of indigenous clans, connected by intermarriage. With a population density of over 1,000 people per square kilometer, Mbaise is West Africa's most densely-populated area; its 2006 population was 611,204.
Okonkwo is a Nigerian surname. It is a male name and of Igbo origin, which means "A boy born on Nkwo day". Nkwo day is "the last of the four Igbo market days". The diminutive form is Okoronkwo.
Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa, was a Nigerian author who has been called the mother of modern African Literature. She was the forerunner to a generation of African women writers, and the first African woman novelist to be published in the English language in Britain. She achieved international recognition with her first novel Efuru, published in 1966 by Heinemann Educational Books. While never considering herself a feminist, she was best known for recreating life and traditions from an Igbo woman's viewpoint.
Arrow of God, published in 1964, is the third novel by Chinua Achebe. Along with Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease, it is considered part of The African Trilogy, sharing similar settings and themes. The novel centres on Ezeulu, the chief priest of several Igbo villages in colonial Nigeria, who confronts colonial powers and Christian missionaries in the 1920s. The novel was published as part of the influential Heinemann African Writers Series.
A Man of the People is a novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. Written as a satirical piece, "A Man of the People" follows the story told by Odili, a young and educated narrator, about his conflict with Chief Nanga, his former teacher who enters a career in politics in an unnamed fictional 20th-century African country. Odili represents the changing younger generation, while Nanga represents the traditional West African customs inspired by Achebe's native Nigeria. The book ends with a military coup, similar to the real-life coup organized by Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Major Adewale Ademoyega, Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, Captain Chris Anuforo, Major Donatus Okafor, and Major Humphrey Chukwuka.
Oyi is a Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria. It is home to the Oyi people. The towns that make up the local government are Nkwelle-Ezunaka, Awkuzu, Ogbunike, Umunede Umunya and Nteje.
Igbo Americans, or Americans of Igbo ancestry, or Igbo Black Americans are residents of the United States who identify as having Igbo ancestry from modern day Bight of Biafra, which includes Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, São Tomé and Príncipe & Nigeria. There are primarily two classes of people with Igbo ancestry in the United States, those whose ancestors were taken from Igboland as a result of the transatlantic slave trade before the 20th century and those who immigrated from the 20th century onwards partly as a result of the Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s and economic instability in Nigeria. Igbo people prior to the American Civil War were brought to the United States by force from their hinterland homes on the Bight of Biafra and shipped by Europeans to North America between the 17th and 19th centuries.
The Thing Around Your Neck is a short-story collection by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, first published in April 2009 by Fourth Estate in the UK and by Knopf in the US. It received many positive reviews, including: "She makes storytelling seem as easy as birdsong" ; "Stunning. Like all fine storytellers, she leaves us wanting more".
Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays, 1965–1987 is collection of essays by Chinua Achebe, published in 1988.
Chidi Chike Achebe is a Nigerian-American physician executive. He is currently the chairman and CEO of AIDE. AIDE is a Boston-based organization dedicated to the development of the African continent. Dr. Achebe has also served as the president and CEO of Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, Medical Director of Whittier Street Health Center and as assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine– all in Boston, Massachusetts. Achebe also serves as medical consultant; Clean water for kids – an NGO that brings fresh water to underserved communities in Liberia; and advisor for Tesfa Health, Bahirdar, Ethiopia.
Christian Anieke is a Nigerian Roman Catholic priest and the founding Vice Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Nigeria. Ordained a priest in 2000, he is a professor of English Language and Studies. From 2006 to 2009, he was Provost of the Institute of Ecumenical Education. He became the Vice Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University, which is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Enugu in Nigeria, in 2009. He is also the director of the university's Institute of Chinua Achebe Studies.
Thomas John Dennis (1869–1917) was an Anglican priest who was the main translator of the Bible into the Igbo language.
Donatus Nwoga was a poetry critic and professor of African literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Ejike Ebenezer Obumneme Aghanya was a military officer and electrical engineer who served in the Nigerian Army and the Biafran Armed Forces, retiring as a colonel. Accused of involvement in the 1966 Nigerian coup d'état he was arrested and imprisoned without trial until the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War where he served on the side of Biafra, holding key positions in the Biafran Armed Forces. He was the head of the Biafran Agency for Research and Production (RAP) which produced bombs, rockets, missiles, as well as ammunition, armored vehicles, telecommunication gadgets and petroleum refineries among others for the Biafran Armed Forces. Later he was the Chief of Staff of the Biafran Organisation of Freedom Fighters (BOFF) which was the guerrilla warfare and special operations arm of the Biafran Armed Forces. He also served as Battalion Commander, 44th Electrical and Mechanical Engineer Battalion Biafran Army and later Brigade Commander of the 58th Brigade of 12th Infantry Division Biafran Army during the war.
Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1958–2005) was a Nigerian poet, short story writer and academic. He was one of the first Nigerians to publish poems written in Pidgin English. He died in Cambridge in 2005.
Chinụa Ezenwa-Ọhaeto is a Nigerian poet and academic. He is the author of The Teenager Who Became My Mother, published in 2017.
References
↑ Mongredien, Phil (31 January 2010). "Book review". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
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