Narrative Technique in Chinua Achebe's "things Fall Apart"

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Narrative Technique in Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" by: Purwarno, UISU, Medan

Chinua Achebe is probably the most widely read of contemporary African writers. His first novel, Things Fall Apart published in 1958 brought forth glory and fame. Then it was followed by his other novels such as No Longer Ease (1960), Arrow of Good (1964) and A Man of the People (1966). His father was an evangelist and church teacher, although many of his relatives adhered to the Ibo religion and customs. Thus, he grew up `at the crossroads of cultivars'. To quote in his own words Achebe took up the theme of how Christianity influenced and enveloped gradually the tradition of Ibo religion and culture in Things Fall Apart. The title of the novel borrowed from Yeats' The Second Coming is appropriate to the novel's record of the destruction of a civilization. Yeats' poem, The Second Coming, foresees the end of the Christian era while Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart records the end of the non-Christian era in Eastern Nigeria. The parallel between Okonkwo's sacrifice of Ikemefuna and the story of Abraham and Isaac is brought to the surface when Nwoye takes Isaac as his Christian name.

Things Fall Apart seems a simple novel, but it is deceptively so. On closer inspection we see that it is provocatively complex, interweaving significant themes: love, compassion, colonialism, achievement, honour and individualism. Achebe employs devices such as proverbs, folktales, rituals and juxtaposition of characters to provide a double view of Ibo society and the central character, Okonkwo. The traditional Ibo society is a complex one: ritualistic and rigid yet in many ways surprisingly flexible. The child is valued more than any material acquisition yet the ...

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...hapter. The other 3 chapters (to which may be added chapter 14) carry less plot action, but are of great thematic importance for the deal with marriage. The married chapters take up the married contract of Obereika's daughter, (Obereika is Okonkwo's close friend who does not agree to Okonkwo's action to kill Ikemefuna) the setting of marriage deputed by ancestral egwugwo, and the Uri of Obereika's daughter.

The first six chapters may be described as oppressively masculine. Okonkwo's manly and sometime vicious behavior and the hard work that goes into production of the man's crop the yam. Even the celebration that climaxes the 6th chapter is dominated by the manliest sport, wrestling - the same sport through which Okonkwo first achieved fame, reported in the 1st paragraph of the novel. Thus the section ends as it began, with the manliest strength of wrestler.

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