THINGS FALL APART Chinua Achebe

CHINUA ACHEBE

WHAT HAPPENNED TO AFRICA?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNdjcFOoVi8

An interview with Chinua Achebe, professor at Bard College

“THE SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw12KGSj53k&feature=related What motivated European enslavement of

Africans? Link that lists African Natural resources:

http://www.afribiz.info/content/natural-resources-of-africa

List 8 valuable natural resources found in Africa.

QUESTIONS FOLLOWING THE INTERVIEW What is the common impression of

Africa’s history shared by most Westerners today?

What were the Europeans impressions in the 1600’s

What enabled the Europeans to take over Africans?

“I sell you or you sell me” explain.

PRE-COLONIAL AFRICA

Achebe was the first African novelist to tell the story of Africa before European colonization

Things Fall Apart depicts the clash of European culture with traditional African culture

And the results are tragic

THE IBO TRIBE MAP OF NIGERIA

This is the culture depicted by Achebe in the novel An Agricultural society Highly organized social

structure Lots of story telling Strictly defined gender roles Strong adherence to tradition Respect for elders Ruthless violence is a fact of

life

IGBO RELIGION

Centered around the belief that humans must live in harmony with the supernatural forces around them

Gods and energies (unseen) are an ever-present reality

Many laws were intended to cultivate a peaceful relationship with the gods

Happy gods=fertile crops

KEY CHARACTERS – OKONKWO

Successful, driven, hardworking

Emotionally distant Hates father Reveres laws and

traditions of clan A tragic figure

ACHEBE’S USE OF THE “TRAGIC HERO”

TRAGIC HERO CLASSICAL DEFINITION  A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially

heroic qualities. This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force

to doom and destruction or at least to great suffering. But the hero struggles mightily against this fate and this cosmic

conflict wins our admiration. (Is this true for us and Okonkwo?) Because the tragic hero simply cannot accept a diminished view

of the self and because of some personality flaw, the hero fails in this epic struggle against fate. (What is it that Okonkwo cannot accept about himself?)

This tragic drama involves choices (free will) and results in a paradox --- Is it Fate or Free Will which is primarily responsible for the suffering in the hero's life (and in our lives in light of our own personal tragedies)?.

MORE ON THE TRAGIC HERO

Tragic doom is both public (the State) and private (a family tragedy as well)

We are energized by witnessing this eternal drama for it encompasses the fate and "stuff" of all humans from kings and queens to paupers.

As for paupers, in his famous editorial for the NY Times, Tragedy and the Common Man, Arthur Miller argues that the common person is also capable of tragic stature in so far as each one of us seeks a true identity and a personal dignity.

http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/santorar/engl190v/trag.hero.htm

OTHER KEY CHARACTERS

UnokaOkonkwo’s

father (that he hates)Obierika

Okonko’s best friend, advisor and helperNwoye

Okonkows oldest son, joins missionaries in end

Ikemefunachild from native

tribe, given as punishment to Okonwo’s clanEkwefe

Okonkwo’s second wifeEnzima

Okonkwo’s eldest and favorite daughter

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15527

“THE SECOND COMING”

TERMS AND VOCABULARY IN POEM

Gyre Falcon and falconer Anarchy Ceremony of innocence Spiritus mundi Sphinx Rough beast Bethlehem

KEY IMAGES IN SECOND COMING

GYRES AND SPIRAL IMAGERY

MORE ON YEATS’ ‘GYRES

 Technically, it stands for the alternation between two historical cycles: one characterized by order and growth, the other by chaos and decay. It’s comparable to the Chinese concepts of Yin and Yang.

http://www.shmoop.com/second-coming/gyre-symbol.html

For Yeats these were forces at work in the universe shaping the cyclic fate of the world

KEY IMAGES IN SECOND COMING

FALCON AND FALCONER NOTICE HOW THE SPIRAL OF A FLACON IN FLIGHT PARALLELS THE GYRE IMAGES

KEY IMAGES IN “SECOND COMING”

ROUGH BEAST BLOOD DIMMED TIDE

KEY IMAGES IN “SECOND COMING”

SPIRITUS MUNDI SIGNIFICANCE OF SPIRITUS MUNDI

Translation from Latin Spirit of the world or

Soul of the world The ‘collective memory

of the human race’ The fertile ground from

which springs forth powerful and universal images usually connected to religion

Yeats believed the poet was a visionary who could tap into the ‘database’ of the spiritus mundi

Who plays this role in Things Fall Apart ? (Ch 11 Chielo)

Draw a picture of this concept.

BETHLEHEM

Matthew 2:1--2: In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.“

Matthew 2:16: When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• Written in 1920 after WWI• War that took lives of

millions• Poem predicts the

breakdown of Western Civilization

• Yeats poem foretells of violence to come

• Introduces the idea that history occurs in cycles

• Chaos takes over and makes way for the emergence of a new era

• Yeats won Nobel Prize in 1923

ACHEBE’S USE OF TITLE

Given what you now know about Yeat’s poem, spend some time thinking about why Achebe chose the title “Things Fall Apart”

See if you can find three points of comparison—three themes that occur in both works.

Discuss the role of religion in both the poem and the novel.