The personal history of an author can have a
significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing.
Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart.
Chinua Achebe’s post
colonialism novel Things fall apart,
is heavily influenced from Achebe’s bicultural identity that him and many other
Nigerians had after a few generations since the Christian missionaries had arrived. The
novel tells the story of an Igbo man named Okonkwo, a very devout man to the
Igbo traditions and culture. Conflict arises in the story when the arrival of Christian
missionaries threatens the Igbo culture’s survival. Achebe explores the beauty,
the flaws as well as the complexity of both of these cultures, in order to
assist many Nigerians and himself to come to terms with their bicultural
identity heading into an independent Nigeria.
Okonkwo’s character is used
as a method to explore the accurate reality of the Igbo culture, prior to the
arrival of missionaries.
Okonkwo’s outer conflict
against the Christian religion is a representation of Achebe and many other Nigerians’
conflicting cultural identities.
The theme of religion
throughout Things fall apart, allows
Achebe to compare the similarities and
differences between the Igbo and Christian
culture.
