Chinua Achebe: Father of African Literature 1930 - 2013 Lecture 2

1. Chinua Achebe: Father of African Literature 1930 - 2013Lecture 2 http://viennachinuaachebe.wordpress.com/ Derek Barker www.derekbarker.info Dr.Derek.Barker@gmail.com

2. Things Fall Apart • It was published in 1958, two years before Nigeria’s independence • Translated into over fifty languages and has sold above ten million copies • Achebe regarded as “father of African literature” • Did not receive the Nobel prize in spite of fierce lobbying by supports

3. Summary I The chief protagonist Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to show no weakness. Okonkwo wants to dispel his father Unoka’s tainted legacy of being cheap (he borrowed and lost money, and neglected his wives and children) and cowardly (he feared the sight of blood)

4. Summary II Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely on his own, as Unoka died a shameful death and left many unpaid debts. Although brusque with his three wives, children, and neighbours, he is wealthy, courageous, and powerful among the people of his village. He is a leader of his village, and he has attained a position in his society for which he has striven all his life.

5. Summary III Because of the great esteem in which the village holds him, Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy taken by the village as a peace settlement between Umuofia and another village after Ikemefuna's father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of him. The boy looks up to Okonkwo and considers him a second father.

6. Summary IV The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy must be killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the murder because it would be like killing his own child. But to avoid seeming weak and feminine to the other men of the village, Okonkwo participates in the murder of the boy despite the warning from the old man

7. Summary V In fact, Okonkwo himself strikes the killing blow even as Ikemefuna begs his "father" for protection. However, for many days after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo feels guilty and saddened by this.

8. Summary VI Shortly after Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go wrong for Okonkwo. During a gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the gods he has offended.

9. Summary VII While Okonkwo is away, white men begin to arrive in Umuofia with the intent of introducing their religion. As the number of converts increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village is forced to respond with either appeasement or conflict to the imposition of the white people's nascent society.

10. Summary VIII Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his village a changed place because of the presence of the white men. He and other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian church. In return, the leader of the white government takes them prisoner and holds them for ransom for a short while, further humiliating and insulting the native leaders

11. Summary IX As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of cowardice and advocates for war against the white men. When messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills one of them.

12. Summary X He realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to protect themselves — his society's response to such a conflict, which for so long had been predictable and dictated by tradition, is changing.

13. Summary XI When the local leader of the white government comes to Okonkwo's house to take him to court, he finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself. He ultimately commits suicide rather than be tried in a colonial court. Among his own people, Okonkwo's action has ruined his reputation and status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the Igbo to commit suicide.

14. Characters • Okonkwo is the novel's protagonist. He has three wives and eight children, and is a brave and rash Umuofian (Nigerian) warrior and clan leader. Unlike most, he cares more for his daughter (Ezinma) than his son, Nwoye (who is later called Isaac), who he believes is weak. Okonkwo is the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, a man he resents for his weaknesses. Okonkwo strives to make his way in a culture that traditionally values manliness. As a young man he defeated the village's best wrestler, earning him lasting prestige

15. Characters • Unoka is Okonkwo's father, who lived a life in contrast to typical Igbo masculinity. He loved language and music, the flute in particular. He is lazy and miserly, neglecting to take care of his wives and children and even dies with unpaid debts. Okonkwo spends his life trying not to become a failure like his father Unoka.

16. Characters • Nwoye is Okonkwo's son, about whom Okonkwo worries, fearing that he will become like Unoka. Similar to Unoka, Nwoye does not ascribe to the traditional Igbo view of masculinity being equated to violence; rather, he prefers the stories of his mother. Nwoye connects to Ikemefuma, who presents an alternative to Okonkwo's rigid masculinity. He is one of the early converts to Christianity with the arrival of the missionaries, an act which Okonkwo views as a final betrayal.

17. Characters • Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. He is given to Okonkwo in a settlement when an Mbaino tribesman murders the wife of an Umofian. Ikemefuna is ultimately murdered, an act which Okonkwo does not prevent, and even participates in, for fear of seeming not masculine.

18. Characters • Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite daughter, and the only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma is very much the antithesis of a normal woman within the culture and Okonkwo routinely remarks that she would've made a much better boy than a girl, even wishing that this was the case of her birth. Ezinma often contradicts and challenges her father, which wins his adoration, affection, and respect. She is very similar to her father, and this is made apparent when she matures into a beautiful young woman who refuses to marry during her family's exile, instead choosing to help her father regain his place of respect within society

19. Themes I Notion of success and failure. Okonkwo's personal ambition to avoid a life of "failure" similar to his father, Unoka, leads to his high title and affluence in the community. He ardently tries to avoid failure. The notion of failure draws a parallel with the idea of cultural alteration in Umuofia and a shift in cultural values. Failure, for Okonkwo, is societal reform, hence Okonkwo's drastic, and at times unpredictable, exploits in opposition to anything foreign or lacking in what he perceives to be masculine traits.

20. Themes II Social value of communication. In spite of innumerable opportunities for understanding, people must strive to communicate. For example, Okonkwo and his son Nwoye have a difficult time understanding one another because they hold different values. On the other hand, Okonkwo spends more time with Ikemefuna and develops a deeper relationship that seems to go beyond cultural restraints.

21. Themes III Inter-dependence of society and individual. Individuals gain strength from their society or community, and societies derive strength from the individuals who belong to them. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo builds his titles and strength with the support of his society's customs. Likewise, Okonkwo's community profits from his hard work and willpower to remain strong.

22. Themes IV Struggle between change and tradition is constant. Change can be accepted, as evidenced by how the people of Umuofia refuse to join Okonkwo as he strikes down the white man's messenger at the end. Okonkwo is bothered by change perhaps because the idea of losing everything he has built up, such as his fortune, prestige, and title, depends on the old values being maintained. These will be replaced by new values.

23. Question Any other themes that you can think of?

24. Orature – some features • Single narrative perspective • Absence of omniscient narrator / speculative statement / internal dialogue • Simple in plot, stereotypical phrases, proverbs • rhetorical questions, songs, moral endings, ideophones.

25. Question • Are there any features of orature present in “Things Fall Apart”?

26. Question • What is postcolonialism?

27. Postcolonial literature • Post-colonial literature (also Postcolonial literature, New English Literature, and New English literatures) is a body of literary writing that responds to the intellectual discourse of European colonization in the Asia, Africa, Middle East, the Pacific, and other post-colonial areas throughout the globe. Post-colonial literature addresses the problems and consequences of the de-colonization of a country and of a nation, especially the political and cultural independence of formerly subjugated colonial peoples; and it also is a literary critique of and about post-colonial literature, the undertones of which carry, communicate, and justify racism and colonialism.

28. Abiola Irele Things Fall Apart provides an image of an African society reconstituted as a living entity and in its historic circumstances, an image of a coherent social structure forming the institutional fabric of a universe of meaning and values

29. Question • Is “Things Fall Apart” a historical novel?

30. Questions • Why does Things Fall Apart end with the District Commissioner musing about the book that he is writing on Africa?

31. Question • What is the role of weather in the novel? How does it work, symbolically or otherwise, in relation to important elements of the novel such as religion? Are rain and draught significant? Explore the ways in which weather affects the emotional and spiritual realms of the novel as well as the physical world.

32. Question • Role of women: Women suffer great losses in this novel but also, in certain circumstances, hold tremendous power. What role do women play in Okonkwo’s life? Is there any difference between his interaction with specific women and his understanding of women and femininity in general?

33. Question • In what ways does the idea of progress shape the novel? If Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye are symbolic of three successive generations, how does society in Umuofia change over the course of their lifetimes? Where does Ikemefuna fit into this picture?

34. Question • What is the role of the number 7 in the novel? Are there any theological and moral similarities between Christianity and Igbo religion?