Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe
Table of Contents
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe was the son of an Anglican missionary. Born in 1930 in a village in Nigeria, he received the Christian name Albert, which he would later discard. Growing up in a village much like the one described in his most famous novelThings Fall Apart, Achebe could testify to many of the events depicted therein—for even though he lived during a time when Nigeria was already colonized by the English, many of the tribes retained their native customs even in his day.
Achebe himself attended the English-established Government College and graduated from University College when he was 23 years old. After studying both history and theology, Achebe developed a new worldview from which to judge his country’s place in the world. It was then that he dropped the Christian name given to him at birth and adopted the name Chinua.
In his 30s, Achebe became one of the leaders of realistic Nigerian literature by detailing the culture and customs of Nigeria’s native people. His novel Things Fall Apart may be read as a response to other English works, which cast the African people in a primitive light and depict lives shrouded in darkness. Although Things Fall Apart is full of dark events, it also serves to humanize the Nigerian natives to such an extent that several of the characters in the novel may be viewed sympathetically.
