Here are some possible responses to the discussion questions:1. Achebe wrote in English because it was the language of education under British rule in Nigeria, and he wanted his stories to reach the widest possible audience both within and outside of Nigeria. However, if I were in his position, I may have tried writing in both my native Igbo language and English to preserve my culture while also spreading messages of Nigerian life and struggles with colonialism. 2. Achebe's books received so much attention because they were among the first novels to portray African characters and cultures from an African point of view, challenging stereotypes during decolonization. His vivid storytelling and themes of cultural conflict struck a chord with readers around the
Similar to Here are some possible responses to the discussion questions:1. Achebe wrote in English because it was the language of education under British rule in Nigeria, and he wanted his stories to reach the widest possible audience both within and outside of Nigeria. However, if I were in his position, I may have tried writing in both my native Igbo language and English to preserve my culture while also spreading messages of Nigerian life and struggles with colonialism. 2. Achebe's books received so much attention because they were among the first novels to portray African characters and cultures from an African point of view, challenging stereotypes during decolonization. His vivid storytelling and themes of cultural conflict struck a chord with readers around the
Similar to Here are some possible responses to the discussion questions:1. Achebe wrote in English because it was the language of education under British rule in Nigeria, and he wanted his stories to reach the widest possible audience both within and outside of Nigeria. However, if I were in his position, I may have tried writing in both my native Igbo language and English to preserve my culture while also spreading messages of Nigerian life and struggles with colonialism. 2. Achebe's books received so much attention because they were among the first novels to portray African characters and cultures from an African point of view, challenging stereotypes during decolonization. His vivid storytelling and themes of cultural conflict struck a chord with readers around the (17)
Here are some possible responses to the discussion questions:1. Achebe wrote in English because it was the language of education under British rule in Nigeria, and he wanted his stories to reach the widest possible audience both within and outside of Nigeria. However, if I were in his position, I may have tried writing in both my native Igbo language and English to preserve my culture while also spreading messages of Nigerian life and struggles with colonialism. 2. Achebe's books received so much attention because they were among the first novels to portray African characters and cultures from an African point of view, challenging stereotypes during decolonization. His vivid storytelling and themes of cultural conflict struck a chord with readers around the
3. THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come at last,
Slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?
6. Childhood
Raised in the Igbo village of
Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria
Parents were christian.
7. Passion
Storytelling was a main part of Igbo tradition
His parents told him many stories as a child.
He also read numerous books including Midsummer
Night’s Dream.
8. Childhood education
In 1936, he entered St Philips’ Central
school and his intelligence in reading and writing was
recognized.
By 12, he moved to Nekede, where he attended
Central School.
Took the SAT and was accepted into the governemnt
college in Umuahia.
9. Education
1944 - Achebe attended
Government College in Umuahia
1953 - attended the Universtiy College of Ibadan
where he recieved his BA.
University of College of Ibadan accepted his
indegenous name (Chinua)
10. Occupation
In 1954, he joined the Nigerian Broadcast Company in
Lagos
In 1958, Achebe published his first novel, Things Fall
Apart.
In 1960, Achebe published No Longer At Ease
1961, he was the director of External Services in
charge of the Voice of Nigeria.
11. Occupation
(1967-70) Nigerian Civil War
In 1967, Achebe entered the Biafran governement
service and cofounded a publishing company with his
friend.
In 1970, He became director of Heinemann Educational
Books Ltd.
By 1971, he was the editor of Okike, the leading journal
of Nigerian new writing.
In 1976, He became professor of English at the
University of Nigeria.
12. Occupation
In 1983, he published The Trouble With Nigeria.
In 1984, he founded the magazines UWA, NDI, IGBO.
In 1985, He became a professor emeritus at the University of
Nigeria.
In the 1990s, Achebe was a faculty member at Bard College,
where he has taught literature to undergraduates.
An automobile accident in 1990 left Achebe confined to a
wheelchair permanently to his last day.
14. Other works
Poetry
Beware, Soul-Brother
Short Stories
Civil Peace
Dead Men’s Path
Marriage Is A Private Affair
Essays
Morning Yet on Creation Day
Hopes and Impediments
The Trouble with Nigeria
---
15. Importance to African American
Literature
“the father of modern African
writing”
One of the first
paved the way for other
writers
published other writers’ works
Legacy
16. Quote by Achebe
“My position is that the Nobel Prize is important. But
it is a European prize. It’s not an African
prize...Literature is not a heavy weight championship.
Nigerians may think you know, this man has been
knocked out. It’s nothing to do with that.”
17. Summary
Chinua Achebe was born in an Igbo village by the name of Ogidi. He was
extremely dilligent and showed quick and excellent progress in school.
He went to several universities including Imuahia and Ibadan. Once he
graduated with a BA, he pursued his career in many fields mostly
focusing around English. He was an English professor in many areas
including the University of Nigeria. Achebe has successfully published
many books and poems including his most famous novels Things Fall
Apart, A Man of the People, and the Arrows of God. Today Chinua
Achebe is known as a novelist, professor, poet, and a critic. He has
greatly influenced African literature as well as literature outside of
Africa. Chinua Achebe was an honorable man who till this day has shown
nothing but determination.
18. Quotes from TFA
“During the planting season, Okonkwo worked daily on his
farms on his farms from cock-crow until the chickens went to
roost.”
This quote is simply put Okonkwo worked extremely hard
and looking at his present state, he became extrmeely
successful.
This represents Chinua himself because he worked
countless hours on reading and writing and he was indeed
recognized for his hard work and became extremely
successful.
19. Quotes
“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his
religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay.
Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.
He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have
fallen apart.”
This is conveying the message that the white man has slowly
encroached and taken over the customs of their culture making
their tribe fall apart.
This relates to not only Chinua’s belief but the majority of Nigeria
and imperialist victims at the time. African nations being colonized
always feared the white man and his beliefs and this is exactly
why.
20. Discussion
Why do you think Achebe wrote in English? If you
were in Achebe’s shoes, would you write your novel
in English or in your native tongue?
Why do you think Achebe’s books receieved so much
attention rather than other books?
Do you think Achebe wrote his novels for
entertainment or for a different message?
