The class has finally accomplished reading the text, ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe. This novel portrayed the society of Nigeria before and after Christianity was introduced. I was able to discover many facts about Nigeria before and after it was colonized.
Part one brought the readers (us) to the village of Umuofia. Achebe was able to display points about the Umuofian society, culture, values, beliefs and religion through a character, Okonkwo. Achebe portrayed how they saw the world and displayed facts that he wanted the world to know about Umofians, like how they used yams and wives to represent wealth. This showed their culture and way of life from in inside view This part showed us a part of Nigeria from an insider’s view, we saw Umuofia from an insider’s view.
Part 2 led Okonkwo to flee to Mbanta as punishment for ‘women crime’. This section showed us how even though Nigeria is one place, that doesn’t mean everyone is the same and every village has the same traditions and customs. Achebe tried to portray this through Okonkwo, being forced to leave to a new place. Many books on Nigeria explain the territory as if it’s all alike. Through this section of the novel, we were able to see how villages differed from each other although they were in the same country. Achebe gives us the comparison of two villages in one place. Through this, we were able to see how villages differed even if they were form the same country.
Part 3 was about how Nigeria became colonized. The Europeans came to Nigeria and slowly conquered them without any wars. Their strategy was to lure on the outcasts of and converted them to Christian faith (lure the ones that were considered unworthy). They then slowly started the convert women. Umofia didn’t know this, but the missionaries were slowly penetrating the heart of the village. Okonkwo couldn’t take it anymore and committed sucide as a result of the people of Umuofia wanting to convert while he was against it completely. The European District Commissioner thought about publishing a book about his time in Nigeria, and from this entire story, he decided to dedicate Okonkwo a paragraph. A man’s life was a book long; others show it in only as a paragraph. It could represent that though people have visited Nigeria and wrote books on it, they do not know the full story as Nigerians do. This incredible novel showed me that there is more to a book that just reading, you always need to find the deeper meaning because everything happens for a reason. This text is my new official favourite! It opened me up to new things, it taught me that I should always think and notice that everything is the way it is because it was meant for that! This is why Chinua Achebe wrote this amazing text, ‘Things Fall Apart’.
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