"Things Fall Apart"

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses the novel "Things Fall Apart," where Chinua Achebe draws a live portrait of a Nigerian people, the Igbo, at the end of the nineteenth century. The paper relates that Chinua Achebe's main achievement in the novel is that of accurately rendering a complex picture of the African cultural tradition and identity from the perspective of the Nigerian people. The paper discusses Achebe's goal of unmasking the Europeans' stereotypes and negative view of the African world.

From the Paper:

"Achebe deftly reverses the roles of the two antagonist cultures in his book: the white and the African culture, by telling his story from inside the tribe of Umuofio and from the perspective of the Igbo people who, this time, are the spectators at the show of the European culture and the ones who express their surprise at the peculiarities of the white culture and religion. This shift of cultural roles is the main narrative technique that the author uses in order to emphasize the cultural identity of the African world."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.
• Iyasere, Solomon O. ed. Understanding Things Fall Apart: Selected Essays and Criticism. Troy: Whitston, 1998
• Ogbaa, Kalu. Understanding Things Fall Apart: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1999

More papers on "Things Fall Apart":

• Essay # 137720 : "The End of Clan Unity – Things Fall Apart"
• Book Review # 73875 : "Characterization in Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"
• Book Review # 73851 : "Setting in Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"
• Book Review # 71173 : "Things Fall Apart"

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