African Literature

2. AFRICAN
LITERATURE

3. THINGS FALL APART

4. AUTHOR

5. CHINUA ACHABE
CHINUA ACHABE IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE
EARLIST AND BEST NOVELIST TO HAVE COME OUT
OF MODERN NIGERIA.
FAMOUS FOR HIS NOVELS DESCRIBING THE EFFECT
OF WESTERN CUSTOMS AND VALUES ON
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SOCIATY.
ACHABE PRESENT NATIVE AFRICAN CULTURE IN
HIS STUNNING WORK. THINGS FALL APART.

6. CHINUA ACHABE
FAMOUS FOR HIS NOVELS DESCRIBING THE EFFECT
OF WESTERN CUSTOMS AND VALUES ON
TRADITIONAL AFRICAN SOCIATY.
ACHABE PRESENT NATIVE AFRICAN CULTURE IN
HIS STUNNING WORK. THINGS FALL APART.

7. CHARACTERS

8. CHARACTERS
OKONKWO- the protagonist, has
three wives and ten (total) children
and becomes a leader of his clan.
Ezinma-is Okonkwo's favorite
daughter and the only child of
his wife Ekwefi.
Unoka- is Okonkwo's father, who
defied typical Igbo masculinity by
neglecting to grow yams, take
care of his wives and children, and
pay his debts before he dies.
Obierika is Okonkwo's best friend
from Umuofia. Unlike Okonkwo,
Obierika thinks before he acts and
is, therefore, less violent and
arrogant than Okonkwo.
Ikemefuna-is a boy from the Mbaino
tribe. His father murders the wife
of an Umuofia man, and in the
resulting settlement of the matter,
Ikemefuma is put into the care of
Okonkwo.
Nwoye- is Okonkwo's son,
about whom Okonkwo worries,
fearing that he will become
like Unoka.

9. CHARACTERS
Ekwefi-is Okonkwo's second wife.
Although she falls in love with
Okonkwo after seeing him in a
wrestling match, she marries
another man because Okonkwo is
too poor to pay her bride price at
that time.
Ogbuefi Ezeudu is one of the elders
of Umuofia.
Mr. Smith is another English
missionary sent to Umuofia to
replace Mr. Brown after he falls ill.
Mr. Brown is an English missionary
who comes to Umuofia.

10. PLOT OF THE
STYORY

11. PLOT OF THE STORY
EXPOSITION
●The exposition runs from the time that the novel
begins to the point where the missionaries arrive after
Okonkwo's
●The point of the long exposition is to get the reader
used to the Igbo culture, Okonkwo and the way of life
in Umuofla, so that the reader can recognize the way
they change later in the story
●It also foreshadows the events with the missionaries
and other characters in the story.
RISING ACTION
●The rising action begins after the missionaries arrive.
●It literally describes the clashes between the Igbo
and the Christians, but it metaphorically is a battle
about the Igbo being unsure about accepting them.
●It shapes Okonkwo's mindset to the idea that the
Christians are demolishing Igbo life leading to the
climax.
FALLING ACTION/RESOLUTION
●The falling action is largely implied as the time in
between Okonkwo's suicide and the murder of the
messenger.
●The resolution is the discovery of Okonkwo's body.
●The resolution sumps up the new form of life that the
area will have to live with a regard to both cultures and
both livelihoods.
CLIMAX
●The climax occur when the Igbo are having there
meeting regarding the crimes of the Christians and
Okonkwo ends up killing a smug Christian messenger.
●at this point the village isba fifty/fifty about
going to war, but Okonkwo's brash action lead to
the Igbo letting the Christians live in peace.
●at this point Okonkwo is ready to fight or die for
his culture, but he realizes how far things have
fallen apart when he sees that his culture doesn't

12. CONFLICT IN THINGS FALL APART
●The fundamental conflicts explored by Achebe in
Things Fall Apart is that of Tradition vs Change. The
change that take place among the Igbo people after
the arrival of Christian missionaries are profound.
Many people not previously held in high esteem by the
Igbo are converting to Christianity and gaining prestige
as a result of their actions. When Okonkwo returns
from this Exile, he finds that the religion has
destroyed much of the coherence of Igbo Society.
Okonkwo tries but fails to marshal support for a
return to traditional life, and so he kills himself.
THEME
The Struggle Between Change and
Tradition
As a story about a culture on the verge of change,
Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and
reality of change affect various characters. The
tension about whether change should be privileged
over tradition often involves questions of personal
status.
AUTHOR'S PURPOSE
●Achebe's primary purpose of writing the novel is because he wants to
educate his readers about the value of his culture as an African. Things
Fall Apart provides readers with an insight of Igbo society right before
the white missionaries' invasion on their land. ●His first novel Things Fall
Apart, depict the confrontation between the Igbo people of Southeast
Nigeria and the British who come to colonized them ●Achebe tells the
story from an African point of view, showing that the Igbo were not
"Savages" needing to be civilized, but intelligent human beings with a
stable ordered society and rich tradition.