Things Fall Apart
7/10
In Things Fall Apart(1958), Achebe narrates relates what he believes to be The African Reality aimed at discrediting the African Myth generated (you sound sceptical ...“what he believes”, if you are not, remove the what he believes, if you are, substantiate with argument. by the Western canonical authors like Joseph Conrad and Joyce Cary(no caps required). The wrestling match is a symbol in the text which becomes extremely significant from this perspective. Not only does Achebe present a cultural feature of the Igbo community through the wrestling match in chapter six, he also manages to present several social realities related to class and gender which are a part of that cultural milieu. The wrestling match in which Okonkwo defeated Amalinze the Cat brings heroic stature to Okonkwo in the community and in conjunction with other instances of Okonkwo’s violent reactions also serves as a way of charting Okonkwo’s regression. The wrestling is also read by critics as representing the tug-of-war between colonisation and ‘nativity’. This becomes extremely important not only from the point of view of highlighting to highlight the pre-colonial cultural disposition of the Igbo community but also the discourse around the anxiety of identity which developed before independence and in which Achebe believed that the best solution would be to mix the best of both worlds.Not mixing both the worlds exactly but unlike other writing of that time, his vision of the future wasn’t imagined as a return to the pre-colonial past. Rather, he saw the need to transcend the past and the present, so it’s not a mix but a moving beyond.
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe attempts what Frantz Fanon called “reclaiming of the past” to find a voice and identity for post-colonial Africa. He embarks on a literary expedition to describe the life and culture of Africans before being influenced by European civilisation. He chose the Igbo community for this exegesis which is done in a way that
In Things Fall Apart(1958), Achebe narrates relates what he believes to be The African Reality aimed at discrediting the African Myth generated (you sound sceptical ...“what he believes”, if you are not, remove the what he believes, if you are, substantiate with argument. by the Western canonical authors like Joseph Conrad and Joyce Cary(no caps required). The wrestling match is a symbol in the text which becomes extremely significant from this perspective. Not only does Achebe present a cultural feature of the Igbo community through the wrestling match in chapter six, he also manages to present several social realities related to class and gender which are a part of that cultural milieu. The wrestling match in which Okonkwo defeated Amalinze the Cat brings heroic stature to Okonkwo in the community and in conjunction with other instances of Okonkwo’s violent reactions also serves as a way of charting Okonkwo’s regression. The wrestling is also read by critics as representing the tug-of-war between colonisation and ‘nativity’. This becomes extremely important not only from the point of view of highlighting to highlight the pre-colonial cultural disposition of the Igbo community but also the discourse around the anxiety of identity which developed before independence and in which Achebe believed that the best solution would be to mix the best of both worlds.Not mixing both the worlds exactly but unlike other writing of that time, his vision of the future wasn’t imagined as a return to the pre-colonial past. Rather, he saw the need to transcend the past and the present, so it’s not a mix but a moving beyond.
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe attempts what Frantz Fanon called “reclaiming of the past” to find a voice and identity for post-colonial Africa. He embarks on a literary expedition to describe the life and culture of Africans before being influenced by European civilisation. He chose the Igbo community for this exegesis which is done in a way that