Facts about the author:
Chinua achebe was born in Ogidi, in Eastern Nigeria, in 1930.His father was one of the early
Ibo converts to Christianity who was evangelist and teacher in the church Missionary
Society’s village school.Chinua attended his father’s school and having started to learn
English at about the age of eight, went on to Government College, in 1944.In 1948 he entered
University College and began to study medicine in Ibadan where he graduated in 1953.After
teaching for a few months, he joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 1954 as a
Talks Producer and rose, by way of being Head of the Talks Section (1957) and Controller,
Estern Region (1959), to become Director of External Services in 1961.His job took him on
long journeys about Nigeria and, as he drove, his mind was busy reviewing the history and life
of his people and casting this mass of unique material in the classical fictional moulds he had
studied at university.This resulted, in 1958, in the publication of his first novel, Things fall
Apart.It was an immediate success and he won the Margaret Wrong Prize.No Longer At Ease
was published in 1960 and won the Nigerian National Trophy.Arrow of God came out in 1964
and his fourth, and so far his last, novel, A Man of the People, appeared in 1966.
With the massacre of the Ibos in Northern Nigeria in 1966 and the beginning of the Nigerian
Troubles, he resigned from the Broadcasting Corporation and moved back to Eastern
Nigeria.During the civil war he taught for two years in the United States.The Biafran conflict
and his experiences with the war have had a profound effect on Achebe.He wrote about these
effects in several essays(Girls at War 1971,a collection of short stories which concern the
war). Now he wanted to show how an experience with such a tragic war can change one’s
attitude to life.
Summary:
The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe is about a small village in Nigeria,
called Umuofia. The novel is divided into three chapters. At the end of the nineteen century
the Europeans came to West America were they tried to impose their culture and their religion
to the Africans. All inhabitants of Umuofia belonged to the same clan which meant that they
shared the same customs and helped each other. The whole village was very religious.
However, they had their own religion because they believed in several gods. In same way the
people lived isolated because they had no contact to the rest of the world. They were farmers
and produced things such as palm oil, that they used to cook. One of the village’s leading
person was Okonkwo. He really had great influence on the other people. However, the
relationship to his son was difficult because he was scared that his son Nwoye would grow up
like his grandfather Unoko who didn’t work hard enough. One day life in Umuofia changed
completely. The Europeans came and destroyed the neighbour-village. At the first moment the
people were totally shocked of the white men. Then missionaries from Europe went to Africa
because they want the Africans to become Christians. The white men worked very hard to
persuade them. Consequently more and more people were exploited by the white men and
joined the new religion.
Okonkwo could not trust his eyes because now his ideas were not so important anymore.The
white men gained more and more influence. The brought a new kind of government, built new
courts and judged people who disobeyed the new laws. The missionaries built new churches,
hospitals and now schools were started. It was a great thing for many inhabitants because they
could learn to write and read. Apart from these facts the Europeans improved trading and
Umuofia was getting rich. While the others were interested in the new religion or the new
government Okonkwo tried to preserve his customs. Even his son joined Christianity
and Okonkwo was left alone with his ideas. Only his best friend Obierika could understand
him but he knew that there was no way out because the people only saw the good things the
white men had brought. The white men spread control over the whole village. Okonkwo could
not bear the pressure and decided to punish the white men for what they had done. He killed
one chief official. Afterwards he noticed that life would never be like in the old days. In his
opinion there was no other solution and he commited suicide.
Main characters
__________________________________________________
Okonkwo___________________________________________ _______________
The principle character of Things Fall Apart is Okonkwo.At the beginning he is a strong
man
who fights against things he doesn’t agree.Whenever he is angry and can’t get his words out
quickly enough, he uses hid fists.He has no patience with unsuccessful men because he can’t
imagine being not successful.He is a wealthy farmer, has just married his third wife and he is a
man of war that make him one of the greatest men of his time.However, he also has faults but
he is always too proud to admit that he is mistaken, which his clansmen see as a defect in his
character.In all, on the good side he id brave, hardworking and energetic but on the bad side
he is unbending and inflexible, unwilling to change his traditional way of life.He knows that
the people of Umuofia will not fight with him.However he can’t live with this people who
have destroyed his world and consequently he chooses to commit suicide, the most shameful
way to die for a man like he was.
__________________________________________________ ___
Unoka_____________________________________________ _
Unoka, his father, is the opposite of Okonkwo.He is weak, idle, improvident, unsuccessful
and interested in the softer and more kindly aspects of life.Okonkwo tries as much as possible
to be unlike his father.He is ashamed of Unoka.
___________________________________________
Nwoye_____________________________________________ __________
Nwoye is like his grandfather which makes Okonkwo feel angry.He doesn’t want to have a
son like his father.So he keeps beating Nwoye and exactly this is the wrong thing he does
because Nwoye is very sensitive and begins to be afraid of his father.At first he hesitates to
join the Christians, but his father’s violence and opposition finally drive him away to attend
__________________________________________________ __
Obierika__________________________________________ ________
Obierika is a man who thinks about things.He is a man who will obey the law but not
blindly.Although he doesn’t know what to do about the established order of things when he
feels it to be wrong, he nevertheless questions it.He sees how men’s faiths must adjust to new
circumstances and not bring destruction by blind adherence to the old ways.
Theme:
The main theme of Things Fall Apart is that of change and the affects on society.New ideasnew
ideas in religion, in law, in political, economic and social structure-have their affects on
people.These affects have often been noticed in history, for example, when a country has
changed its political system (as in revolution) or when an agriculture-based economy has
changed to one based on industrialisation.Violence is often a result of such changes.The
tragedy of Okonkwo is one expression of that violence.There must have been similar tragedies
in history when similar characters have tried to oppose change.
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