How Does Things Fall Apart Change Time

Things Fall Apart is a historical fiction novel that takes place in Nigeria which at the time was being colonized by white men and having all their culture and traditions being changed. “When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.” Viktor E. Frankl. Unfortunately Okonkwo, one of the main characters, could not adapt to this change himself. The story starts off talking of Okonkwo and his past. It tells us how his character came to be and of his riches and many wives. Written in the late nineteen fifties, Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, tells us the stories of the tribe and many different cultures and traditions. The way the story was written used short sentences, proverbs, and folktales because of the place and time it was written in. The time and place play a big role throughout the novel and if it were different it would change the way the audience interpreted it.
If the story had been written in a different time like in today’s generation these folk tales would be children’s books or stories passed on from generation to generation. For example, Achebe tells the story of the tortoise and the birds (Achebe 96). In the novel Achebe uses it to represent another character without him saying the words himself. If this story were written in today’s generation it most likely wouldn’t be told to children who are very young, unlike it was told to Enzima, because of the way it was written. It consists of a twist of words and children from today’s generation, I believe, aren’t as clever to understand unlike kids from Nigeria in the