Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe's novel reflects historical fact as it fictionally portrays traditional African life in a Nigerian village before and after the coming of the white man. The author portrays history in a subjective way, clearly sympathetic to the plight of the Africans, especially the hero Okonkwo, and critical of the imperialistic Europeans. The book is effective in transmitting the injustices of imperialism and the tragedy of the Africans and their way of life in large part because it so realistically portrays both oppressor and oppressed.

Achebe describes the Nigerian village as one defined by traditions and rituals which give the society order and organization. The author gives his novel historical accuracy by including all the prejudices, chauvinism and superstitions of the African people. Achebe is saying that, whatever their problems, the Africans had found a way to live with one another and with the land, and that way was based on traditional beliefs and values which permeated the society.

Okonkwo is a hero, but a flawed hero. We come to know African society through him, and we come to know the impact of the white man's coming on Africa through his tragedy. He gives the title personal significance, because his death symbolizes the falling apart of traditional African life because of the white man's ways. As a heroic character, Okonkwo was doomed by the white man's ways, so he chose to control his own fate

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t" of African traditional life in the face of the cultural onslaught of Christian European imperialists. Clearly, these ideas are extremely significant for Africans as well as for Europeans, because they point up the injustices and destruction which result from such imperialism, and because they may be used to inspire and enrage other Third World peoples to fight against such an onslaught before it is too late. Economic imperialism is the greatest danger Third World nations face today, and Achebe's book is a strong warning against the victory of such parasitic cultural and political movements. Even if the book does not stop such tragedies from occurring as a result of other such confrontations, it is nevertheless an important book because it memorializes the loss of much traditional African life. Niane, D.T. Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Essex, England: Longman, 1993. D.T. Niane, in this translation of an African epic created originally in the oral tradition, presents the tale of an historical and cultural hero, Maghan Sundiata, whose role it was to give Africans a sense of pride in their culture and guidelines on how to live according to tradition: Maghan Sundiata was unique. In his own time no one equalled him and after him n
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Approximate Word count = 1607
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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