Things Fall Apart, authored by
Chinua Achebe, is a book that is one of a kind. It shows characteristics of
conforming to be part of the genre of realistic fiction but is also close to
creating a whole new genre as well. The author’s use of non-linearity in his
book makes it an interesting read which is away from the conventional norms of
realistic fiction.
In realistic fiction, real
conditions found in the real world are used along with fictional characters.
This is evident in Things Fall Apart as the theme is set in the 1800’s and the
book, in the first part, informs the reader about traditional African culture
but to give it life and humaneness, Achebe uses fictional characters such as
Okonkwo, Obierika and Ezinma. Achebe puts his fictional characters in the
environment he created and presents them as following their everyday lives and
through that he shows the great dynamics of his Ibo culture by adding events
such as marriages, funerals,, sacrifice, exiles, crimes etc. Since most of the
book is dedicated to inform the reader about the Ibo culture and the people in
it, we can deduce that Achebe aims to bring the African people, specifically
Nigerian culture to the forefront to give it meaning and significance. This is
one of the main evidences of Achebe’s book conforming to the norms of realist
fiction.
The non-linearity present in
the first part of the story deviates from the conventional linear approach of
most realistic fictional writers. This has a very significant implication as it
is following the art of speaking which is highly prized in the Ibo culture.
Achebe’s non-linear way of presenting the culture in the first part presents a
direct parallel of how skilled Ibo speakers can speak for long periods of time
and hit the point at last just like Achebe did for part 3 of the book where at
last Okonkwo commits suicide. Achebe also uses a significant amount of proverbs
to express the importance of them being the palm oil with which words are
eaten. Therefore the art of speaking or conversation is held in high value in
the production of this book and hence is deviating from the norm of a linear
approach used within realistic fiction. It could also be that Achebe wanted to
prove himself as a matured writer and wanted to add his own personal flair to
the book.
The purpose of not following
the conventions of European realist fiction could be the cause of one of many
reasons. It is possible Achebe wanted to embrace his culture or show how
complex its structure actually is and it’s actually just not a matter of “black
and white” as Reverend James Smith says. Achebe intends to bring out the whole
culture in front of the readers like an open book before the start of its rapid
decline due to colonization to show the readers that the Ibo were once great
people, who had unknowingly given into the cunning plots the white people like
Mr. Brown had created...............................
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