Just finished reading this novel by Chinua Achebe (sp?). My HS frosh daughter had been assigned it for English class, and I have been enjoying reading and discussing her assigned books with her.
I was not terribly impressed with this book, and was somewhat surprised when my research informed me that this is widely acclaimed as a “masterpiece.” I readily acknowledge that I have little if any familiarity with fiction by African authors. But if this is the epitome of that genre, I have little interest in increasing my acquaintance.
The characters struck me as very one dimensional, and I did not see much character growth or development in the book. I guess it was effective in conveying the culture/society in that portion of pre-colonial Africa, but in that sense, it struck me more as a sociological study, than a novel. On the plus side, I certainly know more about yams than I ever did before!
I’d be interested in hearing your views on this book.
It’s been a long time since I read it (for a Poli Sci class, not English), but I think you have the gist - it isn’t about characters or plot but about setting. Fiction can have any of those things as central, and don’t condemn a work for not being what the author didn’t intend it to be.
You do know more about the postcolonial period in Africa than you did before, right?
I just finished it a few weeks ago for Decolonizing Africa class, and loved it. Of course, it helped that our Professor walked us through the book, and explained the differences between Western storytelling, and traditional Igbo story telling, as well as pointed out some of the more subtle themes and references, that I honestly missed the first time through. Liek when Okonkwo hands his daughter a piece of fish while he’s eating—I didn’t realize that he meant he considered her to be a son. Things like that.
Achebe’s book Anthills of the Savannah is also pretty good–well, the first 48 pages are pretty good. I haven’t gotten much past that.
Just wanted to back ElvisL1ves and say I read this book in college for a class on “modern, post-modern, and post-colonial” literature – the book fits squarely in the third category. It’s the first, or one of the first, books in English to look at life in a small African village from an insider’s (positive) perspective. We read the book right after Heart of Darkness for the contrast.
It might also help in appreciating the book to know that the title comes from a line in Yeats’ “Second Coming” (my edition may have had the poem as an epigraph…can’t remember now…). The end of the world in Things Fall Apart is the coming of the white man.
…and that’s all I remember from my class. There are a number of sites that contain essays about the book. Google’s list
I guess I always assumed African tribes had their own philosophies/customs/histories/religions/traditions/etc. Same as every other indigenous people. So I guess I never accepted the Conrad-ian portrayal of them an shallow and somehow less “human” than the Europeans. To which I understand Achebe was in part responding.
But I can’t say that I’m all that more enriched from knowing the specifics of Ibo culture. And that culture certainly impresses me as - uh - primative. I don’t see any curiosity. No desire to improve or progress as a culture. There is no technology, no written language, no appeal to science or reason other than an awareness of the seasonal weather changes. Little more than tradition which I personally view as somewhat ignorant, based on male perogative, force, the acumulation of wealth, and appeals to magic.
Having said that, I am certainly not a fan of missionaries who destroy indigenous cultures, nor colonialists/imperialists.
Just because a people has an established “culture” does not mean that it necessarily should be respected as having merit other than factually as the way they conduct their society.
g fI read a sampling of the essays I found on line, as well as the poem. That was in response to my inability to explain to my daughter why this book would be considered worth reading.
If I were compiling a list of books for a HS year, I can’t imagine TFA being on that list.
Saying it was the first, or best, example of its kind is insufficient to me. Kinda like saying I’m the most honest among a group of lawyers. The class in question is not a survey of regional literature. It does not include examples of Asian, American Indian, Arabic, etc. literature.
If you weren’t a very big fan of Things Fall Apart, I recommend you avoid its sequel, No Longer at Ease. I enjoyed the first (yams and all), but NLaE is really just more of the same, but following Okonkwo’s son now. It didn’t add to my appreciation of the storyline at all.
Dinsdale: Without straying too far into GD mode: Do you see some value in exposing high school readers to the idea that there are other ways that a society might be organized? Perhaps your daughter will find that innovation, scientific curiosity, and cultural progress are the most admirable qualities of a culture, just as you have. But learning that other ways of doing things exist (or at least once existed) seems like a valuable exercise, which in this case happens to come in novel form. That said, I can’t comment on the how well the novel actually accomplishes that, having never read it, but I have heard that there’s an awful lot about yams in there.
I thought of this novel rather than Yeats as soon as I saw the title. I haven’t read it in twenty years, but I do remember thinking that it was terrific. It’s written more like a folk tale or fable than a conventional novel, which means that you have to shift in the rhythms and concerns of another world to appreciate the story.
You might say that it is exactly this attitude that drove him to write the book.
Actually, Dinsdale, having read the book and done some research for the essay I had to write (The Effect of Christianity on Igbo Culture, in case you are wondering) the Igbo culture is extremely intricate, and may not be technologically advanced, they were not “backwards” or “primitive” either. Many of the “advances” the Colonizers introduced effectively destroyed them–and not in a good way. Just because they didn’t have the same priorities the West had does not mean they were primitive–not by any stretch. You list science and curiosity as high, but these were not a stupid people. A written language is not any better than their oral tradition. To them, knowing why a yam grows was not nearly as important as the fact that they did grow. Just because survival was the number one concern does not mean that the West was any better for bringing things like a new religion, capitalism, and science.
Their religion, animism, ancestor worship, polytheism and magic is no more ridiculous than Western Religion–indeed, the similiarities are quite remarkable.
And really, the “accumulation of wealth” is just as important in Western society as it is in the Igbo culture. And both these things you reference play a vital part in keeping the society together.
The females actually held more equality than it may first appear. You have to read between the lines somewhat. It was a patriarchal society, but women have their own rights, women were able to actually act as men in society and have their own wives, women could inherit property, women could have titles, women could choose their own husbands, women could divorce, women had their own festivals and days. It wasn’t until after colonization that things got really bad for women in Africa.
As for Force, well Okonkwo was the most forceful man in the village, and he was greatly respected and a leader, but he also made the other men uncomfortable. That fact is referenced more than once. I think Okonkwo was an extreme, and in general, men and women were more balanced and fair. Okonkwo was punished more than once for his excessive use of force.
I think that Achebe wrote a very fair look at the Igbo culture. He was born in a Protestant mission and raised Christian (his father was a minister) but his parents also instilled in him an appreciation for the Igbo culture. He lists the problems (the murder of the twins, the punishment for an inadvertant crime, the reasons why Christianity was so appealing) and explains the society clearly. He’s also not completely negative about Christianity or the colonizers, recognizing they brought important advancements even as he explored the negative effects. (remember the part where he mentioned people were selling Kola nuts? Something they used to give away for free and an important part of polite custom–and now only people with money could afford it.)
I read TFA when I was in high school (after Heart of Darkness) and just thought “Okay, that was nice, nothing special.”
My third year of college, I took a class on pre-colonial Africa and reread TFA after almost a semester of study and it seemed to have a lot more depth. It might just be a matter of context.
Or it may just not be your cup of tea. Kudos to you though for reading along and discussing with your daughter. My dad also did that when I was in HS (he taught HS English, so he had read most of the books already anyway) and it was a tremendous help.
I was quite excited to see this thread since I’m in high school and just finished reading it. For the most part, it didn’t seem like the novel really picked up until the missionaries were introduced. The ending was quite sad and poignant, but the beginning of the book seemed like too much unnecessary description. Of course, we haven’t discussed it in class yet, and I’ll probably see more in it after we talk about it.
That’s on the reading list at my school and I read it a few years ago. When read on it’s own, no extra cool info as provided by some of the posters here, it’s a big “Eh!” The dept head defended it by mentioning that it’s a good starting point when introducing many American kids to such a different culture.
Nothing to add about the book. I just wanted to say I was struck the differences of when and in what classes others have read this book. I myself read it in a 200-level history class in my sophomore year of college.
My mom made me read Things Fall Apart and The Palm Wine Drinkard in the summer between sophmore year and junior year of high school. Then I had to read the former book again for Political Science in college.
Hmmm, looks like I have nothing to add other than a ‘me, too’.
Nice post, pepperlandgirl. Well, Dinsdale, one must read the book as it seems everyone has; it is now a common reference point for our on-going collective conversation.
I read it some time ago, and was struck mostly by the parallel that is suggested by the invisible gods in the rocks, who “tell” the Africans what to do, and the distant, invisible queen Victoria, who “tells” the colonial administrators what to do.
And I think, too, it is a misapprehension to think that cultures that the West view as unchanging and not interested in “progress” and “science” and so forth, do not change, and do not make new discoveries.
There are a number of sites that contain essays about the book. 
The class in question is not a survey of regional literature. It does not include examples of Asian, American Indian, Arabic, etc. literature.