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Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Timeless Exploration of Culture Clash
Introduction:
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, remains a cornerstone of post-colonial literature. More than just a historical novel, it's a powerful exploration of cultural collision, personal tragedy, and the enduring strength of the human spirit. This comprehensive guide will delve into the novel's key themes, characters, and lasting impact, providing a deep dive for both seasoned readers and those embarking on their first encounter with Achebe's masterpiece. We'll examine the intricate portrayal of Igbo society, the devastating effects of colonialism, and the complexities of Okonkwo's tragic fate, equipping you with a thorough understanding of this literary landmark.
Exploring the Igbo World: A Glimpse into Pre-Colonial Society
The Structure of Igbo Society:
Achebe meticulously crafts a vibrant portrait of pre-colonial Igbo society, showcasing its intricate social structure, religious beliefs, and traditional practices. The novel reveals a complex system of clans, villages, and age grades, each with its own specific roles and responsibilities. The importance of kinship ties, communal living, and the deeply ingrained respect for tradition are vividly illustrated. We see this through the intricacies of the week-long harvest celebration, the roles of the elders, and the powerful influence of the Oracle. Understanding this social framework is crucial to grasping the devastating impact of colonialism.
Religious Beliefs and Practices:
The Igbo people's spiritual life is deeply intertwined with their daily existence. Achebe masterfully depicts their animistic beliefs, their reverence for the earth and its spirits, and their reliance on the Oracle for guidance. This religious system provides a moral compass and a source of social control, highlighting the importance of community and the interconnectedness of all things. The introduction of Christianity disrupts this delicate balance, leading to conflict and cultural upheaval.
Okonkwo: A Tragic Hero Defined by Fear and Pride
Okonkwo's Character Analysis:
Okonkwo, the novel's protagonist, is a complex and deeply flawed character. His relentless pursuit of masculinity, driven by a deep-seated fear of weakness, ultimately leads to his downfall. His pride, his unwavering determination to avoid being like his father, Unoka, becomes his tragic flaw. He is a warrior, a respected member of his clan, yet his actions are often driven by fear and a desire for control.
Okonkwo's Conflicts: Internal and External:
Okonkwo faces numerous conflicts throughout the novel. His internal struggles stem from his fear of weakness and his relentless pursuit of status. Externally, he confronts the encroaching influence of colonialism, the changing social dynamics within his clan, and the challenges posed by the burgeoning Christian faith. These multifaceted conflicts contribute to his ultimate demise, making him a truly tragic figure.
The Crushing Weight of Colonialism: Cultural Disruption and its Consequences
The Arrival of the Missionaries:
The arrival of Christian missionaries marks a significant turning point in the novel. Their introduction represents not just a new religion, but a complete disruption of the Igbo way of life. Their attempts to convert the Igbo people are often portrayed as forceful and insensitive, highlighting the cultural clashes and the inherent power imbalance between colonizer and colonized.
The Impact of Colonial Rule:
Achebe powerfully illustrates the devastating consequences of colonial rule. It's not simply about the imposition of a new religion; it's about the destruction of traditional customs, the erosion of cultural identity, and the dismantling of a previously thriving society. The novel depicts the disintegration of the Igbo social fabric, the loss of traditional authority, and the ensuing chaos and violence.
The Enduring Legacy of Things Fall Apart
Themes of Identity and Change:
Things Fall Apart explores the profound themes of cultural identity and societal change. The novel compels readers to confront the complexities of modernization and the challenges of maintaining cultural heritage in the face of overwhelming external forces. It questions the very definition of progress and challenges the narrative of colonial superiority.
The Novel's Critical Reception and Influence:
Since its publication, Things Fall Apart has received widespread critical acclaim and has had a profound impact on post-colonial literature. It has been translated into numerous languages and continues to be widely read and studied, serving as a powerful reminder of the lasting effects of colonialism and the importance of understanding diverse cultural perspectives. Its influence on subsequent African literature and literary theory is undeniable.
Conclusion:
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is more than just a compelling narrative; it's a powerful indictment of colonialism and a poignant exploration of cultural identity. Through the tragic fate of Okonkwo and the disintegration of Igbo society, Achebe offers a timeless reflection on the human condition and the enduring struggle for cultural preservation. Its enduring relevance makes it essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of post-colonial history and the complexities of cultural clash.
FAQs:
1. What is the significance of the title, "Things Fall Apart"? The title, taken from William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," signifies the disintegration of Igbo society under the weight of colonialism and the loss of traditional values.
2. How does Achebe portray the Igbo religion? Achebe depicts the Igbo religion with respect and nuance, showcasing its complexity and importance in pre-colonial Igbo life. He avoids simplistic portrayals, highlighting the interconnectedness of spirituality and daily life.
3. What is the role of women in the novel? While often marginalized within the patriarchal Igbo society, women play crucial roles, shaping family dynamics and offering different perspectives on the unfolding events. Their voices, though often understated, contribute to the overall narrative.
4. How does the novel depict the impact of Christianity? The novel portrays the introduction of Christianity as a disruptive force, challenging traditional beliefs and social structures. It highlights the complexities of religious conversion and the cultural clashes that ensued.
5. Why is Things Fall Apart still relevant today? The novel's exploration of cultural clash, colonialism's lasting impact, and the struggle for identity remains powerfully resonant in a world still grappling with issues of cultural preservation, globalization, and the legacies of imperialism.
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 1994-09-01 “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 Nominated as one of America’s best-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 20 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. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 2013-04-25 One of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World' A worldwide bestseller and the first part of Achebe's African Trilogy, Things Fall Apart is the compelling story of one man's battle to protect his community against the forces of change Okonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive, and his fame spreads throughout West Africa like a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy. First published in 1958, Chinua Achebe's stark, coolly ironic novel reshaped both African and world literature, and has sold over ten million copies in forty-five languages. This arresting parable of a proud but powerless man witnessing the ruin of his people begins Achebe's landmark trilogy of works chronicling the fate of one African community, continued in Arrow of God and No Longer at Ease. 'His courage and generosity are made manifest in the work' Toni Morrison 'The writer in whose company the prison walls fell down' Nelson Mandela 'A great book, that bespeaks a great, brave, kind, human spirit' John Updike With an Introduction by Biyi Bandele |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The African Trilogy Chinua Achebe, 2010-01-05 Here, collected for the first time in Everyman’s Library, are the three internationally acclaimed classic novels that comprise what has come to be known as Chinua Achebe’s “African Trilogy”—with an intorduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie . Beginning with the best-selling Things Fall Apart—on the heels of its fiftieth anniversary—The African Trilogy captures a society caught between its traditional roots and the demands of a rapidly changing world. Achebe’s most famous novel introduces us to Okonkwo, an important member of the Igbo people, who fails to adjust as his village is colonized by the British. In No Longer at Ease we meet his grandson, Obi Okonkwo, a young man who was sent to a university in England and has returned, only to clash with the ruling elite to which he now believes he belongs. Arrow of God tells the story of Ezuelu, the chief priest of several Nigerian villages, and his battle with Christian missionaries. In these masterful novels, Achebe brilliantly sets universal tales of personal and moral struggle in the context of the tragic drama of colonization. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 2001-01 Okonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive, and his fame spreads throughout West Africa like a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village. With his world thrown radically off-balance he can only hurtle towards tragedy. A classic in every sense, Chinua Achebe's stark, coolly ironic novel reshaped both Africa and world literature. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart David Whittaker, Mpalive-Hangson Msiska, 2007-11-08 Offering an insight into African culture that had not been portrayed before, Things Fall Apart is the tragic story of an individual set in the wider context of colonialism, as well as a powerful and complex political statement of cross-cultural encounters. This guide offers an accessible introduction to the text and contexts of Things Fall Apart, surveying the many interpretations of the text from publication to the present and the critical material that surrounds it. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: There Was a Country Chinua Achebe, 2012-10-11 From the legendary author of Things Fall Apart—a long-awaited memoir of coming of age in a fragile new nation, and its destruction in a tragic civil war For more than forty years, Chinua Achebe maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Decades in the making, There Was a Country is a towering account of one of modern Africa’s most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage left an enduring stamp on world literature. A marriage of history and memoir, vivid firsthand observation and decades of research and reflection, There Was a Country is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe’s place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Isidore Okpewho, 2003 Chinua Achebe is Africa's most prominent writer, and Things Fall Apart (1958) is the most renowned and widely-read African novel in the global literary canon. The essays collected in this casebook explore the work's artistic, multicultural, and global significance from a variety of critical perspectives. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: No Longer at Ease Chinua Achebe, 1987 Obi Okenkwo, a Nigerian country boy, is determined to make it in the city. Educated in England, he has new, refined tastes which eventually conflict with his good resolutions and lead to his downfall. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Study Guide to Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Intelligent Education, 2020-02-15 A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, regarded as one of literature’s first counter narratives. As a classic novel written two years before Nigeria’s independence, Things Fall Apart showcases a pre-colonized Nigeria and the transformation of culture after English colonization. Moreover, Achebe is a colorful and gifted storyteller, allowing readers to experience a culture they otherwise might not have the pleasure of knowing. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Achebe’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Rise of the African Novel Mukoma Wa Ngugi, 2018-03-27 Engaging questions of language, identity, and reception to restore South African and diaspora writing to the African literary tradition |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Civilized World Susi Wyss, 2011-03-29 A glorious literary debut set in Africa about five unforgettable women—two of them haunted by a shared tragedy—whose lives intersect in unexpected and sometimes explosive ways When Adjoa leaves Ghana to find work in the Ivory Coast, she hopes that one day she'll return home to open a beauty parlor. Her dream comes true, though not before she suffers a devastating loss—one that will haunt her for years, and one that also deeply affects Janice, an American aid worker who no longer feels she has a place to call home. But the bustling Precious Brother Salon is not just the cleanest, friendliest, and most welcoming in the city. It's also where locals catch up on their gossip; where Comfort, an imperious busybody, can complain about her American daughter-in-law, Linda; and where Adjoa can get a fresh start on life—or so she thinks, until Janice moves to Ghana and unexpectedly stumbles upon the salon. At once deeply moving and utterly charming, The Civilized World follows five women as they face meddling mothers-in-law, unfaithful partners, and the lingering aftereffects of racism, only to learn that their cultural differences are outweighed by their common bond as women. With vibrant prose, Susi Wyss explores what it means to need forgiveness—and what it means to forgive. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Peace Child Don Richardson, 2005-08-08 From Cannibals to Christ-Followers--A True Story In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among these headhunters and cannibals, who valued treachery through fattening victims with friendship before the slaughter. God gave Don and Carol the key to the Sawi hearts via a redemptive analogy from their own mythology. The peace child became the secret to unlocking a value system that had existed through generations. This analogy became a stepping-stone by which the gospel came into the Sawi culture and started both a spiritual and a social revolution from within. With an epilogue updating how the gospel has impacted the Sawi people, this missionary classic will inspire a new generation of readers who need to hear this remarkable story and the lessons it teaches us about communicating Christ in a meaningful way to those around us. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Burning Forest Nandini Sundar, 2016 The Indian Government has repeatedly described Maoist guerrillas as 'the biggest security threat to the countryÕ and Bastar as their headquarters. This book chronicles how the armed conflict between the government and the Maoists has devastated the lives of some of India's poorest citizens. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Approaches to Teaching Achebe's Things Fall Apart Bernth Lindfors, 1991 A collection of essays offer various approaches to teaching Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by such writers as Ashton Nichols, Simon Gikandi, and Hunt Hawkins. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Indigeneity, Globalization, and African Literature Tanure Ojaide, 2015-10-07 Literature remains one of the few disciplines that reflect the experiences, sensibility, worldview, and living realities of its people. Contemporary African literature captures the African experience in history and politics in a multiplicity of ways. Politics itself has come to intersect and impact on most, if not all, aspects of the African reality. This relationship of literature with African people’s lives and condition forms the setting of this study. Tanure Ojaide’s Indigeneity, Globalization, and African Literature: Personally Speaking belongs with a well-established tradition of personal reflections on literature by African creative writer-critics. Ojaide’s contribution brings to the table the perspective of what is now recognized as a “second generation” writer, a poet, and a concerned citizen of Nigeria’s Niger Delta area. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction Rick Bowers, Raymond E. Jones, Jon C. Stott, 2005-12 The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction 4e continues its tradition of presenting a varied and diverse selection of short stories by men and women writers from around the world. It offers updated biographical and explanatory notes for both traditional and contemporary fiction, strategies for writing about literature, and a concise glossary of literary terms. The 4th edition has 25% new content, including several Canadian writers like Guy Vanderhaeghe and Carol Shields. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Fictional Leaders Jonathan Gosling, Peter Villiers, 2012-11-14 Management theory is vague about the experience of leading. Success, power, achievement are discussed but less focus is given to negative experiences leaders faced such as loneliness or disappointment. This book addresses difficult-to-explore aspects of leadership through well-known works of literature drawing lessons from fictional leaders. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2010-10-29 With her award-winning debut novel, Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was heralded by the Washington Post Book World as the “21st century daughter” of Chinua Achebe. Now, in her masterly, haunting new novel, she recreates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria during the 1960s. With the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Adichie weaves together the lives of five characters caught up in the extraordinary tumult of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Ugwu is houseboy to Odenigbo, a university professor who sends him to school, and in whose living room Ugwu hears voices full of revolutionary zeal. Odenigbo’s beautiful mistress, Olanna, a sociology teacher, is running away from her parents’ world of wealth and excess; Kainene, her urbane twin, is taking over their father’s business; and Kainene’s English lover, Richard, forms a bridge between their two worlds. As we follow these intertwined lives through a military coup, the Biafran secession and the subsequent war, Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise, and intimately, the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place. Epic, ambitious and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a more powerful, dramatic and intensely emotional picture of modern Africa than any we have had before. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe, 1994-09 - Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index- Introductory essay by Harold Bloom |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Queer Africa 2: New Stories Makhosazana Xaba, Karen Martin, 2017-08-08 In Queer Africa 2: New Stories, the 26 stories by writers from Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Uganda and the USA present exciting and varied narratives on life. There are stories on desire, disruption and dreams; others on longing, lust and love. The stories are representative of the range of human emotions and experiences that abound in the lives of Africans and those of the diaspora, who identify variously along the long and fluid line of the sexuality, gender and sexual orientation spectrum in the African continent. Centred in these stories and in their attendant relationships is humanity. The writers showcase their artistry in storytelling in thought-provoking and delightful ways. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Petals of Blood Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 2005-02-22 “The definitive African book of the twentieth century” (Moses Isegawa, from the Introduction) by the Nobel Prize–nominated Kenyan writer The puzzling murder of three African directors of a foreign-owned brewery sets the scene for this fervent, hard-hitting novel about disillusionment in independent Kenya. A deceptively simple tale, Petals of Blood is on the surface a suspenseful investigation of a spectacular triple murder in upcountry Kenya. Yet as the intertwined stories of the four suspects unfold, a devastating picture emerges of a modern third-world nation whose frustrated people feel their leaders have failed them time after time. First published in 1977, this novel was so explosive that its author was imprisoned without charges by the Kenyan government. His incarceration was so shocking that newspapers around the world called attention to the case, and protests were raised by human-rights groups, scholars, and writers, including James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Donald Barthelme, Harold Pinter, and Margaret Drabble. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Words in My Hands Asphyxia, 2021-11-09 Part coming of age, part call to action, this fast-paced #ownvoices novel about a Deaf teenager is a unique and inspiring exploration of what it means to belong. Smart, artistic, and independent, sixteen year old Piper is tired of trying to conform. Her mom wants her to be “normal,” to pass as hearing, to get a good job. But in a time of food scarcity, environmental collapse, and political corruption, Piper has other things on her mind—like survival. Piper has always been told that she needs to compensate for her Deafness in a world made for those who can hear. But when she meets Marley, a new world opens up—one where Deafness is something to celebrate, and where resilience means taking action, building a com-munity, and believing in something better. Published to rave reviews as Future Girl in Australia (Allen & Unwin, Sept. 2020), this empowering, unforgettable story is told through a visual extravaganza of text, paint, collage, and drawings. Set in an ominously prescient near future, The Words in My Hands is very much a novel for our turbulent times. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart David Whittaker, 2011 Since its publication in 1958, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart has won global critical and popular acclaim. Offering a hitherto unlimned picture of a traditional culture, it is both a moving story of the coming of colonialism and a powerful and complex political statement on the nature of cross-cultural encounter. The novel has been immensely influential work as the progenitor of a whole movement in fiction, drama, and poetry focusing on the re-evaluation of traditional cultures and postcolonial tensions. It enjoys a pre-eminent position as a foundational text of postcolonial studies. This collection, originating in a conference held in London to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the novel's first publication, opens with a fascinating, insightful, and wide-ranging interview with Achebe. The essays that following explore contemporary critical responses and the novel's historical and cultural contexts. Achebe's influence on the latest generation of Nigerian writers is discussed in essays devoted to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Another essay examines the radical feminist response to the novel in the work of the francophone Algerian writer Assia Djebar, another the illustrations accompanying early editions. Teaching strategies and reader responses to the novel cover Texas, Scotland, and Australia. One measure of the phenomenal worldwide success of Things Fall Apart is the fact that it has been rendered into some forty-five languages; accordingly, further contributions offer sharp analyses of the German and Polish translations of the novel. Contributors: Mick Jardine, Dorota Goluch, Waltraud Kolb, Bernth Lindfors, Russell McDougall, Malika Rebai Maamri, Michel Naumann, Chika Okeke-Agulu, Christopher E.W. Ouma, Rashna Batliwala Singh, Andrew Smith, David Whittaker. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: CliffsNotes on Achebe's Things Fall Apart John Chua, 2011-05-18 The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format. In CliffsNotes on Things Fall Apart, you explore the ground-breaking work of author Chinua Achebe, considered by many to be the most influential African writer of his generation. The novel, amazing in its authenticity, leaves behind the stereotypical portrayals of African life and presents the Igbo culture of Nigeria in all its remarkable complexity. Chapter summaries and commentaries take you through Achebe's world, and critical essays give you insight into the novel's themes and use of language. Other features that help you study include Character analyses of the main characters A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters A section on the life and background of Chinua Achebe A review section that tests your knowledge A Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sites Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Freedom Libraries Mike Selby, 2019-10-01 Freedom Libraries: The Untold Story of Libraries for African-Americans in the South. As the Civil Rights Movement exploded across the United States, the media of the time was able to show the rest of the world images of horrific racial violence. And while some of the bravest people of the 20th century risked their lives for the right to simply order a cheeseburger, ride a bus, or use a clean water fountain, there was another virtually unheard of struggle—this one for the right to read. Although illegal, racial segregation was strictly enforced in a number of American states, and public libraries were not immune. Numerous libraries were desegregated on paper only: there would be no cards given to African-Americans, no books for them read, and no furniture for them to use. It was these exact conditions that helped create Freedom Libraries. Over eighty of these parallel libraries appeared in the Deep South, staffed by civil rights voter registration workers. While the grassroots nature of the libraries meant they varied in size and quality, all of them created the first encounter many African-Americans had with a library. Terror, bombings, and eventually murder would be visited on the Freedom Libraries—with people giving up their lives so others could read a library book. This book delves into how these libraries were the heart of the Civil Rights Movement, and the remarkable courage of the people who used them. They would forever change libraries and librarianship, even as they helped the greater movement change the society these libraries belonged to. Photographs of the libraries bring this little-known part of American history to life. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Weep Not, Child Ngũgĩ wa Thiongʼo, 1964 Two small boys stand on a rubbish heap and look into the future. One boy is excited, he is beginning school; the other, his brother, is an apprentice carpetner. Together, they will serve their country--the teacher and the craftsman. But this is Kenya and times are against them. In the forests, the Mau Mau are waging war against the white government, and two brothers, Njoroge and Kamau, and the rest of their family, need to decide where their loyalties lie. For the practical man, the choice is simple, but for Njoroge, the scholar, the dream of progress through learning is a hard one to give up--Page 4 of cover. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Palm-Wine Drinkard Amos Tutuola, 2014-07-01 This classic novel tells the phantasmagorical story of an alcoholic man and his search for his dead palm-wine tapster. As he travels through the land of the dead, he encounters a host of supernatural and often terrifying beings - among them the complete gentleman who returns his body parts to their owners and the insatiable hungry-creature. Mixing Yoruba folktales with what T. S. Eliot described as a 'creepy crawly imagination', The Palm-Wine Drinkard is regarded as the seminal work of African literature.'Brief, thronged, grisly and bewitching.' Dylan Thomas, Observer'Tutuola's art conceals - or rather clothes - his purpose, as all good art must do.' Chinua Achebe |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Silent World Of Nicholas Quinn: An Inspector Morse Mystery 3 Colin Dexter, 2007-05-01 FROM CWA CARTIER DIAMOND DAGGER AWARD WINNER COLIN DEXTER Morse had never ceased to wonder why, with the staggering advances in medical science, all pronouncements concerning times of death seemed so disconcertingly vague. The newly appointed member of the Oxford Examinations Syndicate was deaf, provincial and gifted. Now he is dead . . . And his murder, in his north Oxford home, proves to be the start of a formidably labyrinthine case for Chief Inspector Morse, as he tries to track down the killer through the insular and bitchy world of the Oxford Colleges . . . PRAISE FOR THE INSPECTOR MORSE SERIES The Inspector Morse series, both the novels and the television dramas, are among the finest creations of British culture and are known and loved all over the world. Sydney Morning Herald Let those who lament the decline of the English detective story reach for Colin Dexter Guardian |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2012-11-29 The limits of fifteen-year-old Kambili’s world are defined by the high walls of her family estate and the dictates of her fanatically religious father. Her life is regulated by schedules: prayer, sleep, study, prayer. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart Harold Bloom, 2010 Things Fall Apart, set in Nigeria about a century ago, is widely regarded as Chinua Achebe's masterpiece. Considered one of the most broadly read African novels, Achebe's work responded to the two-dimensional caricatures of Africans that often dominated Western literature. This invaluable new edition of the study guide contains a selection of the finest contemporary criticism of this classic novel. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: As the Crow Flies Véronique Tadjo, 2012-10-09 The narrative of this wonderful gem of a novel weaves together a rich tapestry of characters who are both nameless and faceless, representing everyman and everywoman, to tell stories of parting and return, suffering, healing and desire in a lyrical and moving exploration of the human heart. Like a bird in flight, the reader travels across a borderless landscape composed of tales of daily existence, news reports, allegories and ancestral myths, becoming aware in the course of the journey of the interconnection of individual lives. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Of All the Stupid Things Alexandra Diaz, 2010-12-28 When a rumor starts circulating that Tara's boyfriend Brent has been sleeping with one of the guy cheerleaders, the innuendo doesn't just hurt Tara. It marks the beginning of the end for an inseparable trio of friends. Tara's training for a marathon, but also running from her fear of abandonment after being deserted by her father. Whitney Blaire seems to have everything, but an empty mansion and absentee parents leave this beauty to look for meaning in all the wrong places. And Pinkie has a compulsive need to mother everyone to make up for the mom she's never stopped missing. This friendship that promised to last forever is starting to break under the pressure of the girls' differences. And then new-girl Riley arrives in school with her long black hair, athletic body, and her blasé attitude, and suddenly Tara starts to feel things she's never felt before for a girl--and to reassess her feelings about Brent and what he may/may not have done. Is Tara gay--or does she just love Riley? And can her deepest friendships survive when all of the rules have changed? |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Blazing the Path Chima Anyadike, Kehinde A. Ayoola, 2012 Blazing the Path. Fifty Years of Things Fall Apart is a collection of new perspectives on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, a novel that was first published in 1958 and which has since become a classic of world literature. Aside from opening up the novel to new interpretive strategies of well established literary critics, and clarifying some past ones, this collection of essays repositions Things Fall Apart as a literary piece with interdisciplinary and multidimensional appeal. The volume fulfills the objective of using the novel to interrogate the colonial and pre-colonial African past with Nigeria's post-modern present, and projects the country into a future that looks to literature for a deeper understanding of where Nigeria is as a citizen of an emerging global village. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Girls at War and Other Stories Chinua Achebe, 2010-04-20 Girls at War and Other Stories reveals the essence of life in Nigeria and traces twenty years in the literary career of one of the twentieth century's most acclaimed writers. In this collection of stories, which display an astonishing range of experience, Chinua Achebe takes us inside the heart and soul of a people whose pride and ideals must compete with the simple struggle to survive. Hailed by critics everywhere, Achebe's fiction re-creates with energy and authenticity the major issues of daily life in Africa. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: This Is Pleasure Mary Gaitskill, 2019-11-05 Starting with Bad Behavior in the 1980s, Mary Gaitskill has been writing about gender relations with searing, even prophetic honesty. In This Is Pleasure, she considers our present moment through the lens of a particular #MeToo incident. The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable. Gaitskill has said that fiction is the only way that she could approach this subject because it is too emotionally faceted to treat in the more rational essay form. Her compliment to her characters—and to her readers—is that they are unvarnished and real. Her belief in our ability to understand them, even when we don’t always admire them, is a gesture of humanity from one of our greatest contemporary writers. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe M. Keith Booker, 2011 Edited and with an introduction by M. Keith Booker, this volume in the Critical Insights series brings together a wide variety of criticism on Achebe's seminal novel. In the opening section of the volume, Booker's introduction reflects on Achebe's pioneering achievement, and Petrina Crockford evaluates the enduring, international popularity of Things Fall Apart. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Modern Critical Interpretations Set, 83-Volumes Harold Bloom, 2007-06-01 Presents important and scholarly criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism Contains notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index Introductory essay by Harold Bloom |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Heart of Darkness (Wisehouse Classics Edition) Joseph Conrad, 2015-11-15 HEART OF DARKNESS (1899) is a novella by Polish-British novelist Joseph Conrad, about a voyage up the Congo River into the Congo Free State, in the heart of Africa, by the story's narrator Marlow. Marlow tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow's story of his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between London and Africa as places of darkness. Central to Conrad's work is the idea that there is little difference between so-called civilized people and those described as savages; Heart of Darkness raises important questions about imperialism and racism. Originally published as a three-part serial story in Blackwood's Magazine, the novella Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty-seventh of the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: The Drover's Wife Leah Purcell, 2019-12-03 Deep in the heart of Australia’s high country, along an ancient, hidden track, lives Molly Johnson and her four surviving children, another on the way. Husband Joe is away months at a time droving livestock up north, leaving his family in the bush to fend for itself. Molly’s children are her world, and life is hard and precarious with only their dog, Alligator, and a shotgun for protection – but it can be harder when Joe’s around. At just twelve years of age Molly’s eldest son Danny is the true man of the house, determined to see his mother and siblings safe – from raging floodwaters, hunger and intruders, man and reptile. Danny is mature beyond his years, but there are some things no child should see. He knows more than most just what it takes to be a drover’s wife. One night under the moon’s watch, Molly has a visitor of a different kind – a black ‘story keeper’, Yadaka. He’s on the run from authorities in the nearby town, and exchanges kindness for shelter. Both know that justice in this nation caught between two worlds can be as brutal as its landscape. But in their short time together, Yadaka shows Molly a secret truth, and the strength to imagine a different path. Full of fury and power, Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson is a brave reimagining of the Henry Lawson short story that has become an Australian classic. Brilliantly plotted, it is a compelling thriller of our pioneering past that confronts head-on issues of today: race, gender, violence and inheritance. |
| chinua achebe things fall apart: Hdev (with APA Card) Spencer A. Rathus, 2020-01-07 |
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, 1994 - Archive.org
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. —W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”
Things Fall Apart - University of Split Faculty of Humanities and ...
BOOßS eBooks Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe. Title. Things Fall Apart. Author. Chinua Achebe.
Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Post-Colonial Igbo Society - D…
Chinua Achebe (1930- 2013) published his first novel Things Fall Apart (TFA) in 1958. Achebe wrote TFA in response to European novels …
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. F. ABIOLA IRELE. If there is any single work that can be …
Cultural Clash and Colonial Consequences: A Comprehensive …
This paper explores Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart (1958) within the context of postcolonial theory, focusing on the clash …
Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart [PDF] - netsec.csuci.edu
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, remains a cornerstone of post-colonial literature. More than just a …
Culture in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart - JSTOR
Culture in Achebe's Things Fall Apart Since Achebe is not the first to write of Africa, he must dispel old images in order to create a …
Language and Gender Representation in Chinua Achebe’…
This article examines the linguistic construction of gender in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. It shows how this reflects the social reality of …
FIRST ANCHOR BOOKS EDITION, 1994 - Archive.org
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. —W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”
Things Fall Apart - University of Split Faculty of Humanities …
BOOßS eBooks Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe. Title. Things Fall Apart. Author. Chinua Achebe.
Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Post-Colonial …
Chinua Achebe (1930- 2013) published his first novel Things Fall Apart (TFA) in 1958. Achebe wrote TFA in response to European novels that depicted Africans as savages who needed to …
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall …
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. F. ABIOLA IRELE. If there is any single work that can be considered central to the evolving canon of modern African …
Cultural Clash and Colonial Consequences: A Comprehensive …
This paper explores Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart (1958) within the context of postcolonial theory, focusing on the clash between traditional Igbo culture and the forces of …
Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart [PDF] - netsec.csuci.edu
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, first published in 1958, remains a cornerstone of post-colonial literature. More than just a historical novel, it's a powerful exploration of cultural collision, …
Culture in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart - JSTOR
Culture in Achebe's Things Fall Apart Since Achebe is not the first to write of Africa, he must dispel old images in order to create a true sense of his people's dignity. Works such as Joseph …
Language and Gender Representation in Chinua Achebe’s …
This article examines the linguistic construction of gender in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. It shows how this reflects the social reality of the relationships between women and men in …
Things Fall Apart and Chinua Achebe’s Postcolonial Discourse
study seeks to approach Things Fall apart by reflecting on those discursive features which have provided the ground for constructing such a pathological reading and an alternative to the …
Igbo Metaphysics in Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart'
metaphysics in Things Fall Apart, I intend to recognize Achebe's exploration of this thought system and his inscription of Igbo human personality, especially through principles of …
“The Headstrong Historian”: Writing with Things Fall Apart
ABSTRACT. pletion, and extension of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. A narratological analysis employing Gérard Genette’s theories reveals the numerous ways in which Adichie …
Culture and Imperialism in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall …
Things Fall Apart is particularly important for both the marking and the making of the first decade of decolonization. It delves in the themes of cultural, traditional and theological clashes …
Reading as a Woman: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart …
order to read Chinua Achebe's 1969 literary masterpiece, Things Fall Apart, as a woman, one must query readings which suggest that Okonkwo is the only major figure in the novel, and …
An Analytical Approach to Colonialism in Chinua Achebe's …
Things Fall Apart is analyzed in this paper through an insightful methodology that reveals insight into Colonialism in Africa, which has gone through a few phases in various African nations. …
THINGS FALL APART - OnPDF.org
The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul-the question of the twins crying in the bush …
While Achebe's early novels have been popularly received for …
Things Fall Aparfs famous ending describes the District Commissioner's yearning to write the story of his colonized natives as a challenging ethno? graphic project in a moment of the …
Portrayal of Masculinity in Chinua Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart
The paper investigates the construction and representation of masculinity in Chinua Achebe‟s Things Fall Apart. The study digs underneath the structure and tradition of Igbo culture
Things Fall Apart in Mid-America - JSTOR
1Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. A Faw-cett Premier Book. (Greenwich, Conn.: Faw-cett Publications, Inc., 1959), p. 168. and Man, and Lord of the Flies, we found that Things Fall …
WISDOM AND AGE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S “THINGS FALL …
This research used narratological and methodological theories to conceptualize the relation of age to several aspects of wisdom in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The paper investigates various …
Micro-Politics of Buttocks: The Queer Intimacies of Chinua …
Things Fall Apart and Anthills of the Savannah act as bookends to Achebe’s reflections on queer possibilities. By illuminating those reflections, I hope to revise pedagogical dispositions toward …
