DAY 5: Things Fall Apart

LITERATURE: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Genre: Historical Fiction, Tragedy

Background: 

Achebe was born on November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, a large village in Nigeria. Although he was the child of a Protestant missionary and received his early education in English, his upbringing was multicultural, as the inhabitants of Ogidi still lived according to many aspects of traditional Igbo (formerly written as Ibo) culture. 

Things Fall Apart is set in this same area, though the country of Nigeria did not exist during the late 19th century when this story takes place. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart in the late 1950's towards the end of the colonial era. One of the reasons this book is so important is that it represents the first time a story of Africa was told by an African to the English-speaking world.  Prior to this book, stories about Africa and Africans were written primarily by, and from the perspective of, white Europeans. Achebe challenged the traditional White notion of Africans as savages and confronted the failure of previous authors to represent African people with all of the depth and complexity of humanity. 

In the novel, Achebe explores the destructive realities produced by both individual and institutional power when it is based on fear, hatred, and ignorance. Things fall apart in Things Fall Apart not only because of the outside pressures of colonialism but also because of the interior pressures of the main character, Okonkwo.

Conflicts:

Struggle between change and tradition: As a story about a culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. 

Generational Divide:Things Fall Apart spotlights two significant generational divides. The first divide separates Okonkwo from his father, Unoka. The second is the divide between Okonkwo and his son eldest son, Nwoye. 

Symbolism:

Fire: Okonkwo is associated with burning, fire, and flame throughout the novel, alluding to his intense and dangerous anger—the only emotion that he allows himself to display. Just as fire feeds on itself until all that is left is a pile of ash, Okonkwo eventually succumbs to his intense rage, allowing it to rule his actions until it destroys him.

Locusts: Achebe depicts the locusts that descend upon the village in highly allegorical terms that prefigure the arrival of the white settlers, who will feast on and exploit the resources of the Igbo. The fact that the Igbo eat these locusts highlights how innocuous they take them to be. Similarly, those who convert to Christianity fail to realize the damage that the culture of the colonizer does to the culture of the colonized. 

Themes: masculinity; pride; repression 

(Credit to Spark Notes https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/)

LITERATURE: Chapters 1-3, p.3-25

MAP WORK:  Grab a blank piece of paper and some colored pencils.  Pause the video around the 20-second mark and sketch the outline of the African continent.  Continue watching and pausing the video to fill in and label your map.

HISTORY: