Things Fall Apart: A Novel
“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama
“African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison
"A magical writer—one of the greates of the twentieth century." —Margaret Atwood
Named one of America's most-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.
With more than twenty million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.
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Readers say they agree that 'Things Fall Apart' offers a vivid, honest portrayal of Igbo culture, challenging stereotypical views of Africa. Many high...
Re-read for first time since undergrad - maybe grad school. Not sure. I think I've read it three times now.
Very good story. Lots of hidden ironies and connections to find beneath a surface which makes it feel like a fairly straightforward tale, at least in the first half. The basic point is that the African societies which European literature and journalism and even science initially reduced (and to some degree still does reduce) to a monolithic, uncivilized mass of people were in fact multicultural, interrelated tribes, each with their own language, customs, etc. While I am sure some of those clans may have been more war-like than others, they were merely one end of a spectrum, and even then they were reacting in a perfectly understandable way to the erasure of their way of life. The European approach often didn't bother to learn anything about the people they wanted to "civilize", even including the languages, so they never understood traditions of peaceful compromise, often made decisions that were highly offensive to their cultural values, and this all inevitably lead to brutal cycles of violence which, because of technological advantages, the European culture was able to dominate and then describe, as victors do, in terms of self-defense, heroicism, or what have you.
The book doesn't hit you over the head with it though - at least not until the very end. The last chapter is a bit on the nose, although probably still needed. The main method is the telling of the tragic story of one man with a tragic flaw, a personal history, who commits a crime - not just in the eyes of the missionaries and colonial government but even in the eyes of his own tribe - and will be described in an entirely flattened and decontextualized paragraph in some racist anthropological propaganda. This hero is as tragic as anything out of a Greek or Indian or any other culture's myth, but the larger world would end up seeing him only as a violent savage. It's really a brilliant concept and very well executed.
Very good story. Lots of hidden ironies and connections to find beneath a surface which makes it feel like a fairly straightforward tale, at least in the first half. The basic point is that the African societies which European literature and journalism and even science initially reduced (and to some degree still does reduce) to a monolithic, uncivilized mass of people were in fact multicultural, interrelated tribes, each with their own language, customs, etc. While I am sure some of those clans may have been more war-like than others, they were merely one end of a spectrum, and even then they were reacting in a perfectly understandable way to the erasure of their way of life. The European approach often didn't bother to learn anything about the people they wanted to "civilize", even including the languages, so they never understood traditions of peaceful compromise, often made decisions that were highly offensive to their cultural values, and this all inevitably lead to brutal cycles of violence which, because of technological advantages, the European culture was able to dominate and then describe, as victors do, in terms of self-defense, heroicism, or what have you.
The book doesn't hit you over the head with it though - at least not until the very end. The last chapter is a bit on the nose, although probably still needed. The main method is the telling of the tragic story of one man with a tragic flaw, a personal history, who commits a crime - not just in the eyes of the missionaries and colonial government but even in the eyes of his own tribe - and will be described in an entirely flattened and decontextualized paragraph in some racist anthropological propaganda. This hero is as tragic as anything out of a Greek or Indian or any other culture's myth, but the larger world would end up seeing him only as a violent savage. It's really a brilliant concept and very well executed.
This is now the third time I have read *Things Fall Apart* and the second time I have taught it, and I enjoy it more every time I read it. Achebe’s use of foreshadowing and imagery throughout the text is absolutely masterful, and the ending is still as brutal the third time. Having read both *Heart of Darkness* and Achebe’s criticism of it, the allusions Achebe makes in *Things Fall Apart* to not only Conrad but other European authors are pointed and clear. It is so much better to read the book after reading these other works to be able to fully appreciate it.
My lingering questions are:
- What role did Achebe’s childhood with his missionary parents play in his depiction of the missionaries, especially the dichotomy between Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith?
My lingering thoughts/epiphanies are:
- At every point in the story when Okonkwo has a moment to grow, he remains the same. Achebe’s contrast between Okonkwo as a static character versus dynamic characters like Obierika or even Nwoye further emphasizes this point.
- The brevity of Chapter 25, the erasure of Okonkwo’s voice through the narration of the chapter from the District Commissioner’s perspective, and the final sentence all solidify the erasure of Igbo voices. By placing this at the end, after 24 chapters of rich storytelling and world building, Achebe makes his criticism of the Western literary canon very clear.
- I can’t get over how good Achebe’s use of foreshadowing is, especially in Part 2. Are you kidding me with this? After we know that Okonkwo has essentially already killed his ‘son’, Ikemefuna, in Chapter 7!!! Masterful.
- “I can tell you,” said Obierika. “Kill one of your sons for me.”
- “That will not be enough,” said Okonkwo.
- “Then kill yourself,” said Obierka.
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