Indigenous Culture Erosion in 'Things Fall Apart'

Something which resonates with the Australian student in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart is the tragic loss of an Indigenous culture. Achebe employs structural elements to highlight the suppression and subsequent loss of the Ibo culture. The author shows how the Ibo culture is enveloped by the more dominant British culture as the novel progresses.

The author constructs the loss of culture through the employment of a three part structure: the pre-colonial, exile and post-colonial section. This allows the reader to establish the differences between before and after the arrival of the British. It illustrates how Ibo culture was slowly, but surely lost. The structure of the first part is repetitive to reinforce the length of time the Indigenous culture has existed for. The second part of the novel acts as a time of change and almost as an ‘interval’ before

The author clearly wants to convey his own cultural views about retaining one’s identity and cultural values. Achebe himself was very passionate about traditional African culture and world religions. He uses the structure of the novel Things Fall Apart to show the impact the white government had on the Nigerian people and the aftermath of their broken culture. Through the contrasts in the linear structure, the author warns the reader and makes them see how easily imperialism can occur.

Chinua Achebe has exposed the different structural makings of Things Fall Apart to highlight the demise of Ibo culture after the arrival of British colonials. This is a theme he constantly writes upon in his novels. The opening of the novel is metaphorically the tribe in its glory as it existed for many years. The second part of the text symbolises the speed with which a culture can be removed, and the final part of the novel is quickly paced and contrasts sharply with the focus in the first part; it symbolises the death of a culture and its