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Style and Narrative Strategies
Achebe's early novels are realistic and historical in genre. The style of Achebe's fiction draws heavily on the oral tradition of the Igbo people. He weaves folk tales into the fabric of his stories, illuminating community values in both the content and the form of the storytelling. An example is the tale about the Earth and Sky in Things Fall Apart. Another hallmark of Achebe's style is the use of proverbs, which often illustrate the values of the rural Igbo tradition. He sprinkles them throughout the narratives, repeating points made in conversation.
Language
As the decolonisation process unfolded in the 1950s, a debate about choice of language erupted which involved Achebe too. There were two main options:
- One school of thought, championed by Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o urged the use of indigenous African languages. English and other European languages were "part of the neo-colonial structures that repress progressive
ideas".
2) Achebe decided to use English. In his essay "The African Writer and the English Language", he discusses how the process of colonialism – for all its ills – provided colonised people from varying linguistic backgrounds "a language with which to talk to one another". His purpose was to communicate with readers across Nigeria by using one central language. Using English also allowed his books to be read in the colonial ruling nations.
LANGUAGE (2)
Still, Achebe recognises the shortcomings of using English:
"For an African writing in English is not without its serious setbacks. He often finds himself describing situations or modes of thought which have no direct equivalent in the English way of life. Caught in that situation he can do one of two things. He can try and contain what he wants to say within the limits of conventional English or he can try to push back those limits to accommodate his ideas".
Achebe opted for the second solution.
and he ‘Igboized’ (nativized) his English to describe local realities. By altering syntax, usage, and idiom, he transforms the language into a distinctly African style. In some spots this takes the form of repetition of an Igbo idea in standard English parlance or he uses Igbo words in the English text.
THEMES (1) Chinua Achebe and Things fall apart
Achebe's novels approach a variety of themes. In his early writing, depictions (raffigurazioni) of the Igbo culture are recurrent and they convey the reality of Igbo cultural identity. The portrayal of indigenous life is not simply a matter of literary background, but rather a response to and critique of a Eurocentrically constructed imperial ‘reality’. A prevalent theme in Achebe's novels is the intersection of African tradition (particularly Igbo varieties) and modernity, especially as embodied by European colonialism. The village of Umuofia in Things Fall Apart, for example, is violently shaken with internal
Divisions when the white Christian missionaries arrive. Not only individuals, but also institutions invade local culture and threaten to dissolve it.
THEMES (2)
The standard Achebean ending results in the destruction of an individual and, by synecdoche, the downfall of the community. Despite the emphasis on colonialism, however, Achebe's tragic endings show the traditional confluence of fate, individual and society, as represented by Sophocles and Shakespeare. But he never seeks to portray this as fatalistic inevitability. The gender roles of men and women, as well as societies' conceptions of the associated concepts, are frequent themes in Achebe's writing. He has been criticised as a sexist author, offering an uncritical depiction of traditionally patriarchal Igbo society, where the most masculine men take numerous wives, and women are beaten regularly. Others suggest that Achebe is merely representing the limited gendered vision of the characters, and the inherent dangers of
Part 1
Okonkwo develops “one passion to hate everything that Unoka had loved, one of this things was gentleness and another was idleness. His range, drive him to three transgressions and his punishment is seven years of exile.- The first was his ferocious beating of one of his wives and he tries to shoot her (for going to get her hair plaited rather than cooking) during the Week of Peace, a week when all violence is forbidden, to honour the Earth goddess. Okonkwo has a real problem with women throughout the book. He is consistently brutal and violent,
“He rules his household with a heavy hand”, closely connected to his fear of anything that he perceives as gentle, weak and that he associated with the feminine.
The second transgression is the killing of a boy with his machete, and it’s not just a young man. It’s Ikemefuna, who Okonkwo raised in his house for three years, a young man who called him father. Ikemefuna had been turned over to the clan as a sacrifice by another village in order to avoid war and he’d been sent to live in Okonkwo’s family, where he became a great friend of his son, Nwoye. Ikemefuna was a good influence on his son’s development. Of course Okonkwo never shows his love towards Ikemefuna or any emotion openly, because this would be something feminine, unless it was the emotion of anger. Okonkwo was advised not to participate during the sacrifice of Ikemefuna to the Earth goddess by Unoka, due to his close relationship to the boy but at the end he will kill him to prove
everybody he is not weak.- The third and most serious transgression was that his gun explodes during a funeral and a man is killed (they received guns trading with white people), a clan member son of Ezeulu, and offended the Earth Goddess. This is called a female murder because it was not on purpose. Something unheard before. He and his family go into exile for 7 years.
Part 2
Obierka a close friend of Okonkwo questioned himself why Okonkwo should be punished for a crime he did not on purpose, same happened to him when he was forced to abandon his twins considered abomination. As it happens often in the village when someone is doing something wrong he must be punished otherwise all the village can be contaminated by the evil, his house and animals were destroyed. They were not savages there was a kind of highly socialised system, family bonds and a democratic structure. Okonkwo started everything again in the new village trying to change his "chi", chi is an individual personal god.
and they can change their chi by actions, similar to destiny. When the missionaries and the British empire arrives things start to change. A missionary compared to Locusts start using his religion to "destroy" the Igbos traditions. Okonkwo's first son, Nwoye, was truly captivated by the missionary and this lead to Okonkwo's range that tried to beat him. After this incident Nwoye joins the missionaries for good. Okonkwo sees this attitude as weak, he sits, staring into a fire and reflects about his son's departure. By the time Okonkwo returns from exile, a Christian missionary church has arrived in his own village and many people have converted to Christianity. The first converts are those outcasts from society, when the British Empire arrives starts a radical change in the Igbo society, building churches, police stations, trading posts and prisons. (Mentioning Frantz Fanon, who talked about means of resistance. In one of
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