Accordingly, the geography of the novel is dictated by precolonial norms of political and social organization. In Igboland, clusters of villages band together to protect each other and guarantee their own safety.
The gendering of geography plays an important symbolic role in the novel, since Okonkwo sees his seven-year exile in the motherland as an emasculating threat to his reputation. Just as geography has meaning in Things Fall Apart , so too does time. The novel is set in the s, at the beginning of the British colonial incursion into Igboland. The story takes place in a moment of rupture, as the old ways of the precolonial period come under threat from—and eventually buckle under the weight of—pressure from Europeans.
Although the novel was first published in — two years before Nigeria achieved its independence — thousands of copies are still sold every year in the United States alone. Millions of copies have been sold around the world in its many translations.
The novel has been adapted for productions on the stage, on the radio, and on television. Teachers in high schools, colleges, and graduate schools use the novel as a textbook in many types of classes — from history and social studies to comparative literature and anthropology.
The novel takes its title from a verse in the poem "The Second Coming" by W. Yeats, an Irish poet, essayist, and dramatist:. Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
In this poem — ironically, a product of European thought — Yeats describes an apocalyptic vision in which the world collapses into anarchy because of an internal flaw in humanity.
In Things Fall Apart , Achebe illustrates this vision by showing us what happened in the Igbo society of Nigeria at the time of its colonization by the British.
Because of internal weaknesses within the native structure and the divided nature of Igbo society, the community of Umuofia in this novel is unable to withstand the tidal wave of foreign religion, commerce, technology, and government.
This ominous tone gradually emerges in Things Fall Apart as an intrusive religious presence and an insensitive government together cause the traditional Umuofian world to fall apart. When Things Fall Apart was first published, Achebe announced that one of his purposes was to present a complex, dynamic society to a Western audience who perceived African society as primitive, simple, and backward.
Unless Africans could tell their side of their story, Achebe believed that the African experience would forever be "mistold," even by such well-meaning authors as Joyce Cary in Mister Johnson. Cary worked in Nigeria as a colonial administrator and was sympathetic to the Nigerian people.
Many European writers have presented the continent as a dark place inhabited by people with impenetrable, primitive minds; Achebe considers this reductionist portrayal of Africa racist. He points to Conrad, who wrote against imperialism but reduced Africans to mysterious, animalistic, and exotic "others.
On the contrary, Achebe urges students to read such works in order to better understand the racism of the colonial era. Achebe also kept in mind his own Nigerian people as an audience. In , he stated his goal:. I would be quite satisfied if my novels. Smith sees no need to compromise on unquestionable religious doctrine or practices, even during their introduction to a society very different from his own.
He simply does not recognize any benefit for allowing the Nigerians to retain elements of their heritage. The District Commissioner, on the other hand, prides himself on being a student of primitive customs and sees himself as a benevolent leader who has only the best intentions for pacifying the primitive tribes and bringing them into the modern era.
Both men would express surprise if anyone suggested to them that their European values may not be entirely appropriate for these societies. The Commissioner's plan for briefly treating the story of Okonkwo illustrates the inclination toward Western simplification and essentialization of African culture. To counter this inclination, Achebe brings to life an African culture with a religion, a government, a system of money, and an artistic tradition, as well as a judicial system.
While technologically unsophisticated, the Igbo culture is revealed to the reader as remarkably complex. Furthermore, Things Fall Apart ironically reverses the style of novels by such writers as Conrad and Cary, who created flat and stereotypical African characters.
One has to move with the times or else one is left behind. I have a hunch that those who fail to come to terms with the white man may well regret their lack of foresight.
The publisher soon asked him to sign on as general editor of its African Writers Series, a post he held, without pay, for ten years. Among the writers whose novels were published during his tenure were Flora Nwapa, John Munonye, and Ayi Kwei Armah—all of whom became important figures in the emerging African literature. But the appeal of English was not purely commercial.
Political imperatives were not hypothetical in Nigeria, which, having achieved independence in , entered a prolonged period of upheaval. In , following two coups that had led to genocidal violence against the Igbo, Igboland declared independence as the Republic of Biafra. He devoted himself fully to the Biafran cause. But the fledgling nation starved, its roads and ports blockaded by the British-backed Nigerian Army.
By the time Biafra was finally forced to surrender, in , the number of Igbo dead was estimated at between one million and three million. The sufferers could be recognized by the distinctive signs of protein deficiency, known as kwashiorkor: bloated bellies, pale skin, and reddish hair. She took from their bundle of possessions A broken comb and combed The rust-colored hair left on his skull And then—humming in her eyes—began carefully to part it.
In their former life this was perhaps A little daily act of no consequence Before his breakfast and school; now she did it Like putting flowers on a tiny grave. The heartbreak of Biafra shook the foundations of Nigerian society and led to decades of political turmoil. Achebe took the opportunity to distance himself temporarily, spending part of the early nineteen-seventies teaching in the United States. He was infuriated to find how widespread these attitudes remained.
Since literature was complicit in colonialism, he says, let it also work to exorcise the ghosts of colonialism. Sam, who took power in a coup, is steering the nation rapidly toward dictatorship. Achebe insists that in its form and content the African novel must be an indigenous creation. The novel begins with the image of a man sleeping on a bus with his eyes open.
Streets and buildings are caked with garbage, phlegm, and excrement. Beneath the filthy surfaces, structures are rotten to the core. Is it too utopian to imagine that the African novel could exist simply as a novel, absolved of its social and pedagogical mission?
To say that a work of literature transcends national boundaries is not to deny its moral or political value. In , Achebe was paralyzed after a serious car accident. Doctors advised him to come to the United States for treatment, and he has taught at Bard College ever since.
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