Chinua Achebe 1930 -

Why study this African novel in a Literature of Western Civ class?

Things Fall Apart – Historical Setting

District Commissioner’s future book (final line of TFA):

The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger

Egwugwu near Awka, 1930s

Nigeria

Were the Igbo “primitive”??

• Ozo titles at least 1000 years old

• Democratic– No tribal chiefs, only elders

• Harmonic community

Literary Setting – The Literature of Empire

European literature of Africa• Grew up over 400 years• Fantastical, mythical

Why would literature take up this portrayal?1560s – European slave trade began1700s – British trade with Africa entirely slaves

3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart

1. Using English to write an oral culture

• Use of Igbo words• Use of proverbs

– P. 2480 – proverb of the Mother Kite– P. 2506 – proverb of the toad jumping in daylight

3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart (cont’d)

2. Responding to the imperialist stereotypes of Africa– Achebe countering the imperialist view of the

European “parent” to the African “child”

(From Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” – 1899)Take up the White Man's burden--The savage wars of peace--Fill full the mouth of FamineAnd bid the sickness cease;

3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart (cont’d)

3. Getting a Western reader to identify internally with the Igbo– Traditional life not romanticized– religion - see p. 2496 – Akunna and Mr. Brown

Conrad and Achebe

How well does Achebe portray European characters?

Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart …ConradA study of imperialists

AchebeA study of Africans

Are Conrad and Achebe ultimately friends or enemies?

Achebe: “The psychological destruction of a few individuals has little prominence beside the material exploitation and cultural devastation of entire peoples.”

Some Questions

• Is Okonkwo justified in killing the colonial agent?– Should we view Okonkwo as a tragic hero?

• Does this text teach us better how to live, especially in a global society?

• Do things really “fall apart” in this novel?