African literature theme

1. Paper : Affrican literature
Sem : 4
Title : Things fall Apart
Presented by : Urvashi Chauhan

2.  Nigerian chinua Achebe
 Born on 16 November 1930
 Novelist, poet, professor and critic
 Best known for his 1st novel things
fall apart
 Whitch is the most widely read book
in modern African literature
 One of the most well known
contemporary writer from Africa

3.  Novel Published in 1958
 It is seen as the archetypal modern African
novel in English literature
 Story chronicles pre- colonial life in the south
eastern part of Nigeria and arrival of European
during 19th century
 Work split in 3 part
 1st describes family, personal history and
costoms and society of Igbo
 2nd and 3rd introduced the influence of British
colonialism and Christian missionaries on Igbo
community
 25 chapter

5.  Traditional Igbo life presented in this novel revolves around
structured gender roles
 Dominant role for women 1st to make a pure bride for honourable
man, 2nd to be submissive wife and 3rd to bear children
 The protagonist in the novel is extremely concerned with being
hyper masculine and devalues everything feminine leaving Him
rather unbalanced
 Idea of balance between masculine and feminine facesbody And
mind soul, emotional and rationality mother and father it one is in
imbalance it make the whole system haywire.

6. Many characters are suffers from fear of some sort
Okonkwo fears becoming like his lazy, shameful father,
Ekwefi fear losing her daughter and Nwoye fears his
father wrath
Fear in this novel leads character to behave in nagative
way that can bring the wrath of the Gods ,guilt and
community disapproval upon them

7. The Igbo God’s are mostly
manifestation of natural
of its elements which
makes sense because they
are an agricultural society
that depends on the
regularity of seasos and
natural phenomena to
survive
They worship the goddess
of the earth and always
careful to avoid
committing sins against
her for fear of revenge
that might wipe out an
entire generation the Igbo
ancestors also take on a
divine nature to some
extent.

8.  defined as a crime against the God
Such transgression occur when a member of society
violence the most intensive bond of family. Especially with
regard To one’s children or somehow insults Generation
spirit
These sin all for quick & strict punishment often including
animal sacrifices a heavy fine various symbolic gesture of
Atonement exile from one’s fatherland and even death

9. Human spirit is always in synchronization with his will
it is aligned with the way that a person can control his own
destiny like Okonkwo. However at several moments. it
appears that Okonkwo uses his free will but does not have
control over his life as fate sends him to an exile drives him
to kill the missionary and finally suicide. These events defy
this notion that there is a free will in the Igbo society.

10.  https://literarydevices.net/things-fall-apart-themes/
 https://study.com/academy/lesson/things-fall-apart-summary-characters-
themes.html
 https://study.com/academy/lesson/themes-in-things-fall-apart.html