-How do things Fall Apart conform to, or deviate
from, the conventions of a particular genre and for what purpose?
Written in 1958, Chinue Achebe's Things Fall Apart
explores the life of Okonkwo; a strong willed man who is a member of the
complex Igbo tribe. The story continues as the readers is engaged with the
cultural changes in society by British colonizers and white missionaries. African literature was
not highlighted until the 1950’s, and this is one of the primary reasons why
their struggle and their side of the story is not commonly known today. It
is believed that the genre of Things Fall Apart falls under realist fiction. If
we look at the typical conventions of a realist fiction text, it is seen that
they are stoned in events that could have actually occurred to people in a
believable manner. This highly contributes to the historical, cultural and
social context of Things Fall Apart as all the realities of these factors in
the tribe are in parallel with the content of the novel. Also, Achebe uses
characterization to further highlight this genre as he doesn't present any
particular characters in a certain light so the book does not demonstrate a
personal bias rather than a depiction of reality. Firstly this response will
explore the conventions of a typical realist fiction novel and Achebe's purpose
behind the conformity to these conventions.
Realist fiction differs from other types of novels
such as historical fiction and non-fiction. Although realist fiction creates a
certain type of plot that was not exactly true to real life events, the content
of the text is usually realistic and includes events that could have actually
happened in a particular time and place. Firstly lets look at why Achebe
decided to follow the conventions of this genre. Why has Achebe decided to
write a realist fiction novel? By using realist fiction, Achebe can clearly and
successfully achieve his main purpose of writing the novel; to offer a multitude
of perspectives about western colonialism in Africa and to not contradict a
particular culture or their philosophies on imperialism. By creating a story
that depicts these realities and engages the reader at the same time, Achebe
can send African messages across in a more efficient way. Achebe intentionally
using this genre in his novel is significant as it allows the reader to
interpret a personal form of meaning to the novel but it still allows him to
write about the realities in Africa at the time. This unbiased approach allows
readers to not form a certain criticism to the book and Achebe can gain a sort
of authenticity from his . Now the way Achebe conforms to this genre will be
discussed.
Firstly, if we look at the historical context of
the novel, this story took place at the time of the development and widespread
of British colonialism in Africa. Through his use of characterization, Achebe
was able to follow the conventions of realist fiction and convey the unbiased
and realist focus towards the novel; He didn't exactly antagonize any
particular group of people and presented different perspectives to the story.
Just because the Umuofia tribe was getting colonized and oppressed, Achebe
still highlights that this oppression was not solely the one factor that lead
to their downfall and that there were flaws and mistakes that were also
contributory. Achebe uses the main character, Okonkwo to convey this message as
we see the tragic flaws that Okonkwo carried out that lead to his downfall and
eventual death. Throughout the story, we see Okonkwo striving to become the
exact polar opposite of his father and gain the recognition of being a dominant
and masculine figure; his natural
balance of manliness, recognition, anger and violence brings him to his own
destruction as he couldn't accept the fact that there was gong to be a
more powerful concept present in his society. which ulitmetly lead his to
end his life. The use of Okonkwo as a tragic hero could symbolize the entire
Igbo culture as the reader recognizes throughout the novel that the culture
includes a series of flaws that lead them tot heir own downfall and it was not
solely based on imperialism; While
being colonized is not necessarily something that is a consequences of Igbo
actions, their inability to resist the oppression and fight back about their
personal culture and belief lead them to lose their history and
background. displaying Okonkwo as a normal person that
suffers from the clash and conflict between natural and developed flaws with
pride, readers are more able to relate to the character and develop an open
opinion for things. This shows how Achebe has an unbiased and realist approach
to the way he portrays his main characters and plot in the story; if Achebe
portrayed Okonkwo as a perfect human being who was completely oppressed against
and violated by western culture, that wouldn't be showing the true realities of
what happened in Africa at the time and would be biased.
Moreover, if we look
at the way Achebe conveyed the white missionaries, he didn't necessarily
portray them as "a force of evil personified in the form of christian
white missionaries.'' This can be directly seen by the integration of the white
reverend, Mr. Brown, as it shows how white missionaries entered the society in a peaceful way first with the use of Christianity as a tool to analyze weaknesses of a tribe and attract convert. This also shows how the Igbo culture was flawed in that particular time as they had the chance to fight back and hold onto their cultural ideals but did not.
Secondly, Achebe conveys the realities of the
social and cultural factors of the tribe in the context of his novel and allows
the reader to interpret whether or not the customs of their culture are
necessarily flawed. This can be exactly demonstrated in the way gender is
portrayed and valued in the tribe.
Finally, if we look at the structure of the novel,
Things fall apart isn't to in a chronological order. Since it is the point of
view of Okonkowo, Achebe doesn't write in a way that portrayed his life from
beginning to end, which is a much more historical approach to the genre.
Instead, the plot includes flash backs to significant events that drove Okonkwo
to pursue certain actions and behave the way he did in certain situations. So
in summation,
Words; 1098
Words; 1098
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