Things fall apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel whose title bears the central massage of the work. The very title ‘Things Fall Apart’ foreshadows the tragedy which takes place at the end of the novel. The novel depicts the tragedy of an individual as well as the tragedy of a society. The protagonist of the novel Okonkwo who was rich and respectable at the beginning of the novel meets a tragic fate at the end of the novel. Achebe portrays how an ambitious, well known, and respected African Okonkwo’s life falls apart. But when he suffers, his whole tribe also suffers. At the beginning of the novel, the Ibo society was a peaceful, organic society, but at the end of the novel it falls into pieces. Thus, the novel records not only falling apart of Okonkwo’s life but also his whole society.

1) What is historical context of Things Fall Apart?

Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s and portrays the clash between Nigeria's white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people. Achebe's novel shatters the stereotypical European portraits of native Africans.

2). What is the significant of the title?

The phrase "things fall apart" is taken from the poem, “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats, which Achebe quotes more extensively in the epigraph. Achebe’s literary allusion to Yeats’ poem might deepen or extend—by comparison and/or contrast—the meaning(s) of Achebe’s title and his novel. The beginning four lines of the poem are referred as a preface of the novel.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”

"Things fall apart" can be said when something we believed would last forever, comes to an end. The title Things Fall Apart refers to the fact that without proper balance, things do fall apart. The notion of balance in the novel is an important theme throughout the book. Beginning with the excerpt from Yeats' poem, the concept of balance is stressed as important; for without balance, order is lost. In the novel, there is a system of balance, which the Igbo culture seems but at the end of the novel the society people can not listen the leader, so a chaotic situation is created.

3) Write a brief note on the concept of 'Chi' in Things Fall Apart?

"Chi” symbolism

Fiction is fiction but ides that are conveyed in that is far beyond one’s imagination. Chinua Achebe is the prominent novelist of Igbo culture and he tried to give “Narration of the Nation” through this novel. He deliberately used various symbols in the novel and ‘Chi’ is most significant symbol in the novel.

When fiction becomes logically established and weighed on the balance of reality, they could stand for philosophy. Etymologically, hermeneutics suggests a sacred origin, being derived from the Greek word “hermeneia” which is related to the name of the god Hermes and the verb “hermeneuein”. These words have three directions of meaning:

To express/expression, to explain/explanation and to translate/ translation. All the three shades of meaning are rendered in English by to interpret/interpretation which in general, means “bring to understanding.”

existentialism and concept of ‘chi’:

this universe is very large. we are tiny part of this universe. and it does not get affected by our actions and deeds. it doesn't care for us. universe will remain as it is weather we do anything for it or not. there is different between what we expect from it and what we find in it

either people believe in god or they find life as meaningless. once we find it meaningless then we start thinking that does it mean that 'life is not worth living?'. so some people may committed suicide but we can give our own unique meaning to life rather than committing suicide. 

4. What do you think about the incident of Ikemefuna? How does it help to understand the Ibo culture in more specific ways?

Ikemefuna's death has a devastating affect on Okonkwo and Nwoye's emotions in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo was Ikemefuna's guardian, and the two had a strong relationship, but Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna after the Oracle demanded him as a sacrifice and therefore feels incredible guilt.

5. Write a brief note on Ibo people's belief in the world of spirits.

An Eco-Feminist Reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall by Tamsa Pandya on Scribd

  

6) How is the difference between the father land and the mother land is described in Things Fall Apart?

In Igboland, geography takes on gendered aspects depending on where a person’s parents were born. For instance, Umuofia is Okonkwo’s father’s home village, which makes it Okonkwo’s fatherland. When Okonkwo gets exiled for the crime of manslaughter, he and his family travel to another of the nine villages, Mbanta, which is Okonkwo’s motherland—that is, the village where his mother was born. The gendering of geography plays an important symbolic role in the novel, since Okonkwo sees his seven-year exile in the motherland as an emasculating threat to his reputation.

7) Point out the important points of Things Fall Apart which can be compared with Kanthapura by Raja Rao.

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is exiled from his native 

village of Umofia but ultimately he finds his way back to his 

village after seven long years, only to end his life to escape 

from the consequence of killing a white man. Okonkwo 

functions as an archetype as well as a mythic hero for Achebe 

to bring out colonial experience. Okonkwo’s downfall is the 

symbol of the destruction of the indigenous tradition and 

culture by the onslaught of the colonial forces. 

In Kanthapura, Raja Rao has depicted Moorthy as someone 

who is regarded as the young Gandhi by his fellow villagers.

The Reverend James Smith also acts as a villain in Things Fall Apart. He has far lesser respect and love for the indigenous natives than anyone else. He looks down upon the natives as 

savages in need of civilization

In Kanthapura, the villain archetype is represented by the colonial British. The protagonist, Moorthy and his followers’ revolt is the archetypal journey that India, as a nation has toundergo. Moorthy’s struggle suffers a tragic end but nevertheless it also gives birth to a new vigor and dreams about an independent India.

Thus, in the two novels under discussion, Things Fall Apart

and Kanthapura, Achebe and Raja Rao have fused myth with literature and the archetypes that they have been drawn from their respective cultures and traditions. Both the authors havedeployed different archetypes to evolve and work out fresh connections and interpretations.

Here I'm sharing my another work in form of academic presentation which I like to embed here , along with its YouTube video. 

In this particular presentation I have included the ethnographic reading of the things fall apart. 

Here we go with the presentation after this video..

The pitfalls of Ethnographic readings of things fall apart by Tamsa Pandya on Scribd