Things Fall Apart Research Paper

Nigeria is the largest country in Africa with 1 out of every 5 Africans being Nigerian.(1) It has many oil reserves and extremely fertile land, yet for centuries it has failed to improve its horrendous economy. Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian activist who spent his life dedicated to globally improving Nigeria; his first book Things Fall Apart reflects his strong views on the west, Nigeria’s fight for independence, and the failings of its leaders. Chinua Achebe wrote over 30 books about Africa attempting to change the lack of understanding in the Western culture. As he says, “The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms.”()

Achebe attempts to show the world that understanding others is critically important because when people fail to understand cultures other than their own

Achebe openly supported Nigerian independence and as he stated in one of his many interviews his written words would be his voice, “it is clear to me that an African creative writer who tries to avoid the big social and political issues of contemporary Africa will end up being completely irrelevant()” In Things Fall Apart the main character Okonkwo had many flaws, but above all he fought for his village and household. Similarly, Achebe also believed he needed to speak out against wrongs, but not necessarily though violence. In fact one of Achebe’s speeches was titled The Duty and Involvement of African Writers. Although Okonkwo went about many things in a very violent way he did attempt to speak out against the white men when they directly disrespected the African culture. When the white men begun taking over and enforcing government Okonkwo called together a meeting, “He turned to Okonkwo and said, thank you for calling us together.”(167) This meeting fails to remove the white man from power but it still reflects the need to speak out. Achebe’s protests may have been more peaceful, but Okonkwo’s need to speak against injustice reveals another similarity between the author and his