Chinua Achebe, In His Novel “Things Fall Apart” Masterfully

Chinua Achebe, in his novel â€Å"Things Fall Apart† masterfully depicts the socials changes and conflicts that occurred due to the infiltration of colonialism in the Nigerian village of Umuofia. The Meriam Webster dictionary defines the term colonialism as â€Å"Control by one power over a dependent area or people† (Meriam Webster). Achebe successfully manages to show the readers of his novel how colonialism occurred within the village of Umuofia, and he does so by revealing downfalls within the beliefs of the Igbo clan that led to members of the Igbo joining the new colonists of Umuofia. The passage I chose to analyze is a conversation between two important characters, Okonkwo and Obierika and their frustrations about colonialism and the†¦show more content†¦Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son is deeply troubled by his father’s participation in the killing of Ikemefuna as the two were close for the time Ikemefuna lived in Umuofia. After the slaying of Ikemefun a, Okonkwo runs into some misfortune that leads to him being banished from his clan for seven years. It is during this time that the colonists arrive in Umuofia and things start to fall apart. I feel passionately about the quote I chose because it draws attention to the unity that the British colonists robbed Okonkwo’s and Obierika’s clan of. â€Å"It is already too late,† Said Obierika sadly. â€Å"Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger (Achebe 176). The Igbo society did not dismiss the colonists as they came to the village, but instead just assumed they would come and go. When the missionaries asked the clan leaders for a plot of land to build their church the leaders of the clan had given them a plot of the â€Å"evil forest†. The evil forest was a representation of evil and darkness to the people of Umuofia. People who died of nasty diseases and powerful medicine men were buried in the evil forest. Uchendu the clan leader chos e the land selectively as he and the rest of the villagers believed the evil forest would rid the village of the colonists. â€Å"Everyone was puzzled. And then it became known that the white man’s fetish had unbelievable powers† (Achebe 149). To theShow MoreRelatedThings Fall Apart: The Relationship Between Cultural Relativity and Superiority1352 Words   |  6 PagesBy utilizing an unbiased stance in his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe promotes cultural relativity without forcibly steering his audience to a particular mindset. He presents the flaws of the Ibo tribe the same way he presents the assets—without either condescension or pride; he presents the cruelties of the colonizers the same way he presents their open mindedness—without either resentment or sympathy. Because of this balance, readers are able to view the characters as multifaceted humanRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1015 Words   |  5 PagesIn his novel Things Fall A part, author Chinua Achebe utilizes his distinctive writing style in order to accurately capture the culture and customs of the Igbo people despite writing his story in a foreign language. Five aspects of Achebe’s style that make his writing unique is the straightforward diction present in dialogue, the inclusion of native parables convey Igbo life authentically, the inclusion of native Igbo words and phrases, detailed descriptions of nature and the usage of figurative languageRead MoreThe Destruction Of Igbo Culture : The African Perspective1367 Words   |  6 PagesEuropean culture. This narrow portrayal of African culture motivated Chinua Achebe, a man of the Igbo nation in Nigeria, to write his landmark novel Things Fall Apart (published in 1959), to not only tell the African perspective of their colonization, but also as a way of showing that his culture was not simple and straightforward to understand; it was intricate and dynamic. Forty-nine years after the publicatio n of Things Fall Apart, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie published her short story â€Å"The HeadstrongRead MoreChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart1005 Words   |  5 PagesApril 28, 2015 Unlike Father, Unlike Son There are many father and son relationships depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart set in the post-colonial era of 1958. Unoka is the father of the protagonist of the novel, Okonkwa. Secondly, Okonkwa is the father of a young boy named Nwoye. Throughout his novel, Achebe has masterfully portrayed how father and son relationships lead to things falling apart because a father’s behavior has a profound impact on their son s upbringing and their behavior