Things Fall Apart Analysis

World Literature II

Dorothy Mitchell

What is colonialism?


Colonialism is when one strong country controls another country or area and the people within that said area (“Colonialism”). Colonialism is also sometimes confused with imperialism, and often are used as synonyms (Kohn, Margaret).

political/social climate in Nigeria


 Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s. The 1890s is when colonial government and missionaries made their way into the Igbo society ("Chinua Achebe") . The “clash between Nigeria’s white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo people” is represented in this novel (Sparknotes).

political/social climate in Nigeria

Things Fall Apart was published in 1958, which was in the middle of the Nigerian
renaissance (Chinua Achebe & Things Fall Apart). This time period is
refered to as the ‘Nigerian Renaissance’ because during this during a large
amount of powerful Nigerian writers started to write strong and new literature
that focused on the “changing times in Nigeria and Africa” (Nigerian
Renaissance).  Another fact about when Things Fall Apart was published is that it was published only two years before a century of British rule in Nigeria came to an end (Evening).

Chinua Achebe’s personal life and his writing


Chinua Achebe’s family was a part of the Igbo tribe. However, British government representatives who controlled Nigeria convinced his parents to follow Christianity, thus abandoning their traditional religion.Even though he was raised as a Christian, Achebe remained curious about traditional Nigerian faiths (World Biography).

historical and political events affect on Chinua Achebe’s writing


Historical events had an impact on Chinua Achebe’s writing. He went to University to study liberal arts, which was a combination of English, history and religious studies. Studying history and religion helped to deepen his knowledge of Nigerian history, and the literature he was assigned to read drew his attention to the distorted image of Nigerian culture and history. The Nigerian Civil War, which took place from 1967 to 1970 are portrayed in Achebe’s A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987)(“Chinua Achebe”).

literary selections that influenced Things Fall Apart


Chiuna Achebe got the title of this book from William Butler Yate’s The Second Coming –
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.” (Chinua Achebe).

Works CiteD


"colonialism." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster,
n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/colonialism>.


"Chinua Achebe." Chinua Achebe. N.p., n.d. Web. 6
July 2014. <http://kirjasto.sci.fi/achebe.htm>.

"Chinua Achebe." Chinua Achebe. N.p., n.d. Web. 9
July 2014. <http://faculty.atu.edu/cbrucker/Achebe.html>.

"Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart"
(Evening)." Chinua Achebe, 50th Anniversary of "Things Fall
Apart" (Evening): Conversations with African Poets and Writers (The Poetry
and Literature Center at the Library of Congress). N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.loc.gov/poetry/africanpoets/african-achebe-evening.html>.

"Chinua Achebe & Things Fall Apart." Chinua
Achebe & Things Fall Apart. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.postcolonialweb.org/achebe/things.html>.

Kohn, Margaret. "Colonialism." Stanford
University. Stanford University, 9 May 2006. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/>.


"Nigerian Renaissance | InformAfrica.com."
Nigerian Renaissance | InformAfrica.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.informafrica.com/tag/nigerian-renaissance/>.


"." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/context.html>.

"World Biography." Chinua Achebe Biography. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 6 July 2014.
<http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Achebe-Chinua.html>.

Things Fall Apart

By dmitche8