Comments on: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

By: derrick N

derrick N — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:55:58 +0000

Achebe’s book is legendary and by any definition it is a timeless read, that reflects the simple fact that Africa had a culture even before colonisation. I have read this book several times over and it still has the same profound effect it had on me when i read it ten years ago!

My fascination with this book centers ofcourse around Okoknwo.(arguably my tragic hero). As the novel opens,(Things) he is presented clearly as the heroic symbol of his culture aand time.However as it progresses we see his faults beginning to betray him which eventually leads him to exile and his subsequent suicide. Okonkwo in some way represents a part of the African society,which tried in every way to keep the traditional status-quo and resist change. This sadly failed.(Okoknwo over-did it,his strengths became his ultimate weaknesses and fall).
He was in a serious regard, a prophet of sorts. In the novel he tells his son Nwoye “a live fire begets cold impotent ash..” how so true it turned out to be! This was not only true of his son but also for the majority of his society who embraced change and colonisation.! The ‘live fire’ soon begot the cold impotent ash…the once lively people and generation soon turned out to be cowards and collaborators.
There is a lot one could say about this book and Achebe. The truth is, Achebe is one of the world’s finest writer’s. I was having a chat with a bunch of friends and i was just mentioning that Achebe is a prolific, outstanding writer (which i expected to be common sense) and i went on to comment that his Novel Things Fall Apart is actually the first literary novel to come out of Africa by an African. Well, one of my ‘associates’- Obviously uninformed and clearly arrogant eked out something to the effect of ‘well if he has’nt been a New York Time’s best seller then he isnt the best..’ i looked at him sternly and thought to myself….

jb says: Thanks for that, Derrick. Sometimes our friends seem to be on a different planet.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:17:44 +0000

Mr. Baker, I just finished reading the book as an assignment for my English class, and the book was very good. It was one of the first books in my English class that I read and actually enjoyed. As a part of my grade, I am required to do a project on the book, and I chose to post a comment on your blog as my project. That being said thanks for allowing me to post this and helping pass.

Thanks,
Brandon

By: Neil

Neil — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 15:03:27 +0000

Haha firstly, I found the last comment pretty amusing, as well as the brilliant english used by supposed about-to-be PhDs.

But yes, the novel is a great one, although it’s ending was kind of disappointing. But it shows history for what it is, not overly showing African’s as noble, cultured, heroes, but at the same time, making it clear that they weren’t complete savages like Conrad and others portrayed them to be. In fact, even for me, it was quite an eye-opening read, to know that African tribes too had so many customs and value systems. In the past, I had gotten only the euro-centric biased view of Africa, with Russell Peters making fun of !Xobile and mad tribals running around in ‘The Gods Must be Crazy’.

But John, I would like to know why you chose this particular passage for the excerpt. I mean so many other passages could have shown a glimpse of the crux of the book in a better way, what was your thought process and reasoning behind choosing this one?

jb says: Oh, Neil, I just loved the passage about the wedding ceremony. Such warmth and community and meaning expressed so beatifully and succinctly.

By: Kaylee

Kaylee — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:00:08 +0000

Hi Mr. Baker,
I just finished reading “Things Fall Apart” for my current English class. I found this book to be an incredibly intense look into the Ibo culture.
Achebe gives the reader a look into the culture and what life was like for the Ibo people. With the vivid descriptions of the rituals and daily life of the Ibo, Achebe gives a basis to compare our current society with their past society. The faults of the Ibo and how they are totally different from our culture, as well as how the people experience some of the same conflicts we are faced with in today’s modern society.
For example the concept of the ‘Ogbanje’; the evil spirit that torments pregnant mothers by causing them to miscarriage. The Ibo believe in getting rid of the spirit by doing things like mutilating the bodies of the lifeless babies. We know that these are just unfortunate events, and that they are not caused by an evil spirit. When I read this I felt really bad for the poor mothers who had to do this to their poor dead babies! The way Achebe illustrates these occurrences makes our culture look so superior, and more knowledgeable than theirs.
Sometimes throughout the book I would start to feel sorry for the characters and what they believed. Their uneducated beliefs were sometimes almost too pitiful to read about. One prime example of this is when the clan gives the missionaries land in the evil forest. They think that the once the church is built, if they give the gods some time, that they will destroy it. Of course, nothing happens. The innocence of the clan is so incredibly remarkable to me it is almost upsetting. The village is incredibly smart at things like growing the yams, and survival skills, but when it comes to religious matters, and rituals they start to have issues.
Another difficult concept when reading this story was the fact that they kill innocent people for ritual reasons. When Nwoye starts to realize the faults in his culture, you can tell he feels trapped inside it; this is why he is so ready to accept Christianity and believe in the missionaries. Christianity to him is an escape from the negative aspects of his culture that haunt him. It is as if when Nwoye finds out about the death of his, in a way adopted brother, and the (supposed) cursed twins are left in the woods to die, a part of him snaps. Nwoye is not the same ever again after these events in the book that lead up to the split between him and Okonkwo. Reading about the pain that Nwoye is suffering is tormenting because (until the missionaries come and build the church) there is nothing he can do and nowhere for him to go.
These are the main things I thought about when I read this book. I felt this book was ingeniously organized and written. Achebe is a true insightful author and this book just proves that point. This book is an amazing basis to compare how people feel the same things now that they did in the past and how they will feel in the future.

By: Catai Smith

Catai Smith — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:50:52 +0000

Why would Things Fall Apart be bannned in Malaysia?

jb says: Why would anything be banned anywhere? Censorship doesn’t work. We know that. Only people who don’t know that (i.e. ignorant and badly informed people) ban things. People who ban books are plain stupid.

By: Wilson

Wilson — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 09:01:59 +0000

hey Ashis! Can i gt to kno u so u can help me out bcos i am doin this bk in skul

By: Houston

Houston — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:57:05 +0000

This book should not be banned, to me this book is one of the greatest book ever published! I am also a missionary in my religion and being one is not easy as other think what I am doing is wasting of time but to me I enjoyed it and I feel great about too! So I will keep doing it.

By: maymed

maymed — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:30:35 +0000

Hi,
I totally agree with ur opinions which may represent mine i will be very happy if i could read what your doing in your disertation . i m fond of Chinua Achebe and especially Things Fall Apart which remains for mi one the greatest classics of universal literature . i love reading everything concerning the writer and his work .
many thanks in advance .

may

jb says: I’m not dissertating, May. I’m just a guy.