EngL1401W - Spring 2007: Introduction to "Third World" Literature

Maybe...

Achebe is showing the complexity of society, namely Igbo but also Africa's many societies in general. He does this explicitly as a response to the stereotypes of Africa that he was trying to deconstruct.
He paints colonization as spearheaded by religion to show how the peoples were undermined. Christianity is a very intolerant religion that involved the destruction of traditional beliefs and not coexistence, this implies the loss of cultural continuity for the Igbo and greater Africa. Ironically, it was the similarities in mythology and uses of music that led to conversions of many such as Nwoye, but also, as is very common in Christian history, they cater to marginal peoples as well (osu's)
In this way, they really are like locusts, the missionaries are scouting the areas, gaining a stronghold and providing info to the colonial governments. The governments act as separate entities but are really sharing the same ideology of cultural superiority with the missionaries.
Achebe is demonstrating the similarity in character of Africans (Igbo men and women) with Europeans also. He needs not to detail the colonizers because of the assumed familiarity with the history. Though, the commissioner is used by Achebe to show how the colonizers were simultaneously preserving the culture as they destroyed it, they preserve it as a curio and under falsity. The role of anthropologist was played by judge and jury simultaneously. They made African's a "dead" people when they were still living, they made them "historical" when they were contemporary. They distorted the image of Africans and left a legacy of negative impact.

If I were to write a paper on Things Fall Apart I would focus on Achebe’s decision to write the novel in English. I find it very interesting that Achebe used English instead of his native Igbo. I thought about it and I think that he did this because his novel was aimed at cultures in which there are colonizers (aka English speaking society’s/ Western world). By writing his novel in English his book becomes accessible to this target audience. However, Achebe is not ignorant about writing it in English. Throughout the whole book he inserts Igbo proverbs, words, and anecdotes. By doing this he is showing the singular cultural traits of the Igbo culture. I would probably write a thesis statement on that. It would be something like:
Chinua Achebe’s decision to write his novel “Things Fall Apart” in English is pivotal to the message he portrays. By using English he is able to convey his story to his target audience, the western world.