Chinua Achebe's interview, "The African Voice" provided us with a great insight of the background behind the authors work and worldwide impacts. This interview has really highlighted the significance of Things Fall apart in the African community and literature, but it mostly served in uniting a number of cultures together that have been oppressed through imperialism. Personally, one of the most interesting points discussed in the interview was in the idea of Things Fall Apart being a book about the story of dispossession. Firstly, Achebe mentions how he was surprised that people from all around the world responded to his book and somehow related to the story. This lead on to look the concept of "universal civilization." This concept looked at how the world can become united despite any difference. In the context of the novel, people from all around the world related to the book in the same way even though they didn't experience colonization similarly to the African culture. This just shows how powerful literature can be. we concluded that in order to achieve this idea of a universal civilization, differences should be understood and accepted; Things Fall Apart was a way of meeting all the differences in cultures and finding similarities. We also discussed how African literature is a form of expression which allows African people to define themselves and portray their side of the story. looking at the theme of Oppression vs. The Opressed in African literature really opened our eyes and offered a different perspective of Africa. It is also interesting how literature can be used as a tool for expression and this reveals one of Things Fall Apart's purposes. And perhaps this relates to the idea of a universal civilization. In this situation, all the differences are set aside where they are able to agree on the impacts of colonialism.
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