Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart tell

Achebe shows the injustices of imperialism and the suffering of the Africans, but he does so in a way which shows the reader that life is not simply black and white, so to speak, but filled instead with grays. The book is effective in part because of the realistic and complex way in which the author portrays both the European oppressors and the Africans who are oppressed.

In the village of Umuofia, Okonkwo is a unique character. The village is being threatened by Europeans who are deliberately as well as unconsciously spreading their culture and religion into a culture with a great history and much variety. The Europeans are unaware of this history and variety, or simply do not care. Their motivation is not significant in comparison to the damage they are doing to the Africans and their way of life. What makes Okonkwo the center of the novel and its tragedy is that he is caught in the middle of the tensions that drive the book. He is in the middle of the generational struggle of those who want to be more like the Europeans and those who want to stick th

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hich will Africans across the continent will express as they fight against European imperialism. Achebe shows the Nigerian village to be shaped by traditions which give the society order and organization. Again, the author gives his novel historical accuracy by including all the prejudices, chauvinism and superstitions of the African people. For example, after reading the horrible treatment of the dead body of the child Onwumbiko by the medicine man, no reader could accuse Achebe of idealizing the Ibo people: He brought out a sharp razor . . . and began to mutilate the child. Then he took it away to bury it in the Evil Forest, holding it by the ankle and dragging it on the ground behind him (78-79). After presenting such an example, Achebe does not try to ease the implications of such child murder, but leaves it up to the intelligent reader to come to his or her own conclusions. Such a reader will independently realize Achebe's message. Whatever their unique cultural realities, 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 existed throughout society and were bewildering to whites, just as the ways of the whites were bewildering to Afri
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Significantly Okonkwo, Africa Africa's, Umuofia Okonkwo, Africa African, Africans Okonkwo, Evil Forest, Achebe Nigerian, District Commissioner, Africans Achebe, African Nigerian, white man's, ibo people, traditional african, white culture, african life, character okonkwo, traditional african life, history variety, culture okonkwo, flawed hero, falling apart,
Approximate Word count = 1665
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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