Chinua Achebe's novel "Things Fall Apart" (1958) depicts the late 19th century life of Okonkwo, a leader in a Nigerian village, and the arrival of European missionaries. The story focuses on the clash between Okonkwo's Igbo culture and the colonial influence of British values and Christianity, which ultimately leads to the breakdown of Okonkwo's life and Igbo traditions. Achebe uses the novel to challenge stereotypical Western narratives about African society and assert the complexities of traditional Igbo culture.

1. A Brief History & Background of
African Literature with special
reference to Chinua Achebe’s Things
Fall Apart

2. Africa is the
world's second-
largest and second
most-populous
continent, after
Asia.

3. Colonialism and Imperialism
• Refer to control over a piece of land and its people by a
more dominant power
• Colonialism – establishment of a colony by sending a group
of people from a dominant power to live in and control a
weaker one (e.g. the U.S. was once a British colony, India
was once a British colony, the Philippines was once a U.S.
colony)
• Imperialism – broader term that implies domination of a
group of people and their land, which may include
colonization (see above) but does not require it (e.g. the
U.S. controlling Afghanistan, U.S. using foreign aid in return
for countries protecting their interests, U.S. attempt to
control Cuba by forcing an embargo)

4. England and other colonial powers like France
and Germany divided Africa into 50 countries.

5. Colonialism in Nigeria
• Began around 1800 when England began
controlling West African ports to stop the
Transatlantic Slave Trade
• By 1885, England had complete political,
financial, and social control over what is now
Nigeria
• Nigerians fought against the control from
England from the very beginning, but England
had better weapons and more resources

6. Nigerian Independence
• Nigerians continued fighting for freedom during
the 19th century and into the 20th century.
• They wanted to form an independent country
that was not controlled by England but by
Nigerians
• In 1960, Nigeria gained independence from
England. 1960 is called the “Year of Africa,”
because many African countries gained
independence that year.

7. The End of Colonialism
• Between 1885 and 1914 Britain took nearly
30% of Africa's population under its control,
compared to 15% for France, 9% for Germany,
7% for Belgium and 1% for Italy.
• Nigeria alone contributed 15 million subjects,
more than in the whole of French West Africa
or the entire German colonial empire.

8. • After WWII, England’s sway and power over its
colonies around the world was weakened.
• England’s empire in Africa ended quickly,
often leaving the newly-independent states ill-
equipped to deal with the challenges of
governing themselves.
• Nigeria won independence in 1960, and many
other African nations followed shortly
thereafter.

9. AFRICAN LITERATURE

10. *African literature consists of a body
of work in different languages and
various genres, ranging from oral
literature to literature written in
colonial languages
(French, Portuguese, and English).

11. *Oral literature, including stories, dramas,
riddles, histories, myths, songs, proverbs,
and other expressions, is frequently
employed to educate and entertain
children. Oral histories, myths, and
proverbs additionally serve to remind whole
communities of their ancestors' heroic
deeds, their past, and the precedents for
their customs and traditions.

12. • literature is a reflection of the society is a fact
that has been widely acknowledged.
Literature indeed reflects the society, its good
values and its ills.

13. AFRICAN WRITERS AND POETS

14. SOYINKA, Wole
• Born in Nigeria, July 13,
1934. The foremost
English-Language poet and
certainly the most
celebrated playwright of
black America. His work
earned him the 1986 Nobel
Prize for Literature.

15. CLARK, John Pepper
• Nigerian Poet,
dramatist, and Literacy
critic. Born April 6,
1935, contributed
significantly to the
Nigerian renaissance of
the late 50s and early
’60s.

16. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• was born on September 15,
1977 in Nigeria. She writes
poems, short stories, and
novels. One of her stories,
called That Harmattan
Morning, was chosen as joint
winner of the BCC Short Story
Awards. She also won the O.
Henry prize for a story called
The American Embassy.

17. Ngugi wa Thiong'o
• Kenyan writer who was born
on January 5, 1938. His works
include plays, novels, short
stories, and essays. He has
written everything from
children's literature to social
criticism. Most of his work is
in English, but some of it is in
Gikuyu

18. Buchi Emecheta
• is a Nigerian novelist
who was born on July 21,
1944. She has published
over 20 books. Her most
well-known novels are:
"Second-Class Citizen,"
"The Bride Price," "The
Slave Girl," and "The Joys
of Motherhood."

19. Ayi Kwei Armah
• is a notable Ghanaian
writer who was born
in 1939. He mainly
writes novels. He has
written six novels, all
of which have been
fairly well received.
His most well known
work is called
"Fragments."

20. Chinua Achebe
He was born on
November 15,1930 in
Nigeria. He died on
March 12, 2013. He was a
novelist, a poet, a critic,
and a professor. He was
best known for his first
novel which is called
Things Fall Apart. It was
written in 1958

21. Chinua Achebe
• famous for his novels describing the effects of
Western customs and values on traditional
African society.
• Achebe's satire and his keen ear for spoken
language have made him one of the most
highly esteemed African writers in English.

22. • Many of his poems written during the war
were collected in BEWARE, SOUL BROTHER
(1971), which won the Commonwealth Poetry
Prize.
• Achebe wrote his first novel, THINGS FALL
APART (1958),Achebe took the title of the
book from William Butler Yates's The Second
Coming- "Things fall apart; the centre cannot
hold.“

23. Achebe’s works
• THINGS FALL APART, 1958
• NO LONGER AT EASE, 1960
• THE SACRIFICAL EGG, AND OTHER STORIES, 1962
• ARROW OF GOD, 1964
• A MAN OF THE PEOPLE, 1966 - Kansan mies (suom. Eila Pennanen,
1969)
• CHIKE AND THE RIVER, 1966 (with drawings by Prue Theobalds)
• BEWARE, SOUL BROTHER, 1971 (US title: Christmas in Biafra and
Other Poems, 1973)
• THE INSIDER: STORIES OF WAR AND PEACE FROM NIGERIA, 1971
(editor)
• GIRLS AT WAR, 1972
• HOW THE LEOPARD GOT HIS CLAWS, 1973 (with John Iroaganachi)
• MORNING YET ON CREATION DAY, 1975
• THE DRUM: A CHILDREN'S STORY, 1977 (ill. by John Roper; also
illustrated by Anne Nwoloye)

24. • THE FLUTE, 1977 (ill. by Tayo Adenaike)
• DON'T LET HIM DIE, 1978 (ed. with Dubem Okafor)
• LITERATURE AND SOCIETY, 1980
• AKA WETA, 1982 (ed. with Obiora Udechukwu)
• THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA, 1983
• AFRICAN SHORT STORIES, 1985 (ed. with C.L. Innes)
• THE WORLD OF OGBANJE, 1986
• ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNA, 1987 (short listed for the Booker Prize)
• THE UNIVERSITY AND THE LEADERSHIP FACTOR IN NIGERIAN POLITICS,
1988
• HOPES AND IMPEDIMENTS: SELECTED ESSAYS, 1965-1987, 1989
• NIGERIAN TOPICS, 1989
• BEYOND HUNGER IN AFRICA: CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND AN AFRICAN
VISION, 1990 (editor)
• THE HEINEMANN BOOK OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN SHORT STORIES,
1992 (ed. with C.L. Innes)
• ANOTHER AFRICA, 1997 (with photographs by Robert Lyons)
• HOME AND EXILE, 2000
• COLLECTED POEMS, 2004
• THE EDUCATION OF A BRITISH-PROTECTED CHILD, 2009

25. • As a youth, Achebe read many Western
novels but was often disdainful of the
African characters...until, that is, he
realized the racist biases of the
authors..Achebe’s education in English
and exposure to European customs have
allowed him to capture both the European
and the African perspectives on colonial
expansion, religion, race, and culture.

26. Themes
Culture and Colonialism - A prevalent theme in Achebe's
novels is the intersection of African tradition (particularly
Igbo varieties) and modernity, especially as embodied by
European colonialism. E.g. The Village of Umuofia in
Things Fall Apart, is violently shaken with internal
division when the white Christian missionaries arrive.
Masculinity and femininity - gender roles of men and
women, as well as societies conception of the
associated concepts, are frequent themes in Achebe's
writing.

27. – This is Achebe's criticism of
• “He criticizes Christianity not as something that is
wrong, but as something that divides communities
with its individual conversions”.
• “We do not pray to have more money but to have
more kinsmen”.
• “We are better than animals because we have
kinsmen. An animal rubs its aching flank against a
tree, a man asks his kinsman to scratch him . . . “

28. According to Achebe's greatest example of this binary logic is
“He saw things as black and white. And black was evil.

29. Things Fall Apart

30. WHAT DOES THE PHRASE
“FALL APART” MEANS
• “Collapse, break down, either physically
or mentally and emotionally”
• “come apart at the seams; go to pieces.”

31. Things Fall Apart
• Okankwo, the main character in this story was
the superior man of his village who had a major
downfall.
• He was powerful and he knew this as he was the
leader of his community. Everything is perfect in
Okankwo’s life until he kills a man and is banished
for seven years.
• The time period is set in the 1890s when
missionaries came into Igbo society and took
over. With this real life fact, Achebe incorporated
history into his fictional story.
• This invasion was Okankwo’s biggest downfall as
the missionaries took over leadership.

32. • Story is about Igbo tribe/culture
Story is about

33. • Story is about vanishing customs
• Setting is Nigeria
• Story is about Okonkwo
• Story is about Realization of
culture/tribe/values (the tribe
stands for) at risk
Story is about

34. • Story is about Africa losing her culture
• Story is about a father, a mother and her
children
• Story is about losing faith and gaining again
• Story is about a tragic flaw

35. "Things Fall Apart," Achebe presents a different idea of
Africans. They have families, religion, honors and titles, music,
economy, laws and a court system, complicated farming
techniques, a tradition of wise sayings and the art of
conversation; on top of this, they successfully practice an un-
autocratic style of communal living that Western societies long
for.

36. • The Europeans in Things Fall Apart are
depicted as intolerant of Igbo culture and
religion, telling villagers that their gods are
not real (pp. 135, 162) the Igbo are seen as
tolerant of other cultures as some of them
accepted Christian as their new religion.

37. • Oral traditions and storytelling are important
influences on Achebe’s work. He loved to hear the
Igbo stories that his mother and sister told when
he was a small boy. So, this novel is mainly written
based on the stories that Achebe has heard since
he was a little child.

38. • In Igbo society as stated in the, decisions
were not made by a chief or by any
individual but rather by a council of male
elders. Religious leaders were also called
upon to settle debates reflecting the
cultural focus of the Igbo people. . Prior to
British colonization, the Igbo people as
depicted in Things Fall Apart lived in a
patriarchal collective political system.

39. “If you look carefully, the women were never
really dealing alone with issues pertaining to
women, they were dealing with issues pertaining
to society”.

40. Achebe characterizes Umuofia’s women in the joys and
tribulations of their motherhood and selects specific moments
of their lives to represent some of the most meaningful cultural
and historical aspects of existence in Igbo communities .