Chinua Achebe 1930 -

1. Chinua Achebe 1930 -

2. Why study this African novel in a Literature of Western Civ class?

3. Things Fall Apart – Historical Setting District Commissioner’s future book (final line of TFA): The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger Egwugwunear Awka, 1930s

4. Nigeria

5. Were the Igbo “primitive”?? • Ozotitles at least 1000 years old • Democratic • No tribal chiefs, only elders • Harmonic community

6. Literary Setting – The Literature of Empire European literature of Africa • Grew up over 400 years • Fantastical, mythical Why would literature take up this portrayal? 1560s – European slave trade began 1700s – British trade with Africa entirely slaves

7. 3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart • Using English to write an oral culture • Use of Igbo words • Use of proverbs • P. 2480 – proverb of the Mother Kite • P. 2506 – proverb of the toad jumping in daylight

8. 3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart (cont’d) 2. Responding to the imperialist stereotypes of Africa • Achebe countering the imperialist view of the European “parent” to the African “child” (From Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” – 1899) Take up the White Man's burden-- The savage wars of peace-- Fill full the mouth of Famine And bid the sickness cease;

9. 3 Challenges and Achievements in Things Fall Apart (cont’d) 3. Getting a Western reader to identify internally with the Igbo • Traditional life not romanticized • religion - see p. 2496 – Akunna and Mr. Brown

10. Conrad and Achebe How well does Achebe portray European characters? Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart … Achebe: “The psychological destruction of a few individuals has little prominence beside the material exploitation and cultural devastation of entire peoples.” Are Conrad and Achebe ultimately friends or enemies?

11. Some Questions • Is Okonkwo justified in killing the colonial agent? • Should we view Okonkwo as a tragic hero? • Does this text teach us better how to live, especially in a global society? • Do things really “fall apart” in this novel?