Igbo Novel Analysis

Chinua Achebe writes against a particular historical tradition and a national context to present his point of view as a novelist. His novels achieve universality through a sensitive interpretation of socio-cultural situations of Igbo community. Achebe uses his African background to explore the human conditions of pride and power, defeat and dejection, love and loss. Though firmly set in Africa, his novels have a universal appeal. Achebe claims to be an insider to the Igbo world and a recorder of the cultural history of his people. Achebe shows that in Igbo system nothing is absolute, and anything and everyone is counterbalanced with the consciousness of the community. The tradition and socio-cultural spaces enable to achieve a balance and

In most other civilizations, copper and bronze had been made before iron working was discovered, but in Africa People Seem to have gone straight from using stone to making iron ones. Iron working technology was probably brought from the Phoenician colonies on the North African Coast, rather than from khush, and carried across the Sahara along trade routes from the Mediterranean. Among the first Africans to manufacture iron were the Nok People, who had lived in what is now the West African State of Nigeria since about 900B.C. Among the few remains of Nok culture is a number of terracotta heads, some of which are life sized and were clearly modelled on real people. They were probably used for religious rituals.

There are tales of women and the story of tortoise and his ambition to fly in the sky, which faces tragic end for his cunningness with birds. There is another story of a bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat. These folktales are deeply rooted with Nigerian national cultural awareness. The songs are very deeply related with Igbo land and their culture. One can feel the sense of wit and humour in the song of marriage ceremony where Okonkwo is present.In Things Fall Apart, the song is such