Transcription
Things Fall ApartIntroduction and Background to African Literature
"The Second Coming"William ButlerYeats!!“Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the worstAre full of passionate intensity.Surely some revelation is at hand;Surely the Second Coming is at hand.!
African Literature African literature was firstrecognized around 2300-2100 B.C.,when ancient Egyptians begin usingburial texts to accompany their dead.These include the first writtenaccounts of creation - the MemphiteDeclaration of Deities.
African Literature African literature spawns from theirextremely oral culture Oral culture takes many forms: proverbsand riddles, epic narratives, praisepoetry and songs, chants and rituals,stories, legends and folk tales. This is present in the many proverbstold in Things Fall Apart
African Literature With the period of Colonization, Africanoral traditions and written works cameunder serious threat from outsidesources. Europeans attempted to destroy the"pagan" and "primitive" culture of theAfricans to make them more pliable slaves.
African Literature Chinua Achebe’s ThingsFall Apart is the most readwork of African Literatureever written The novel provides a deeplevel of cultural chebe.jpg
ChinuaAchebe is one of the mostwell-known contemporary writersfrom Africa.! ThingsFall Apart, his first novel,deals with the clash of cultures andthe violent transitions in life andvalues brought about by the onset ofBritish colonialism in Nigeria at theend of the nineteenth century.
Chinua Achebe born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in thelarge village of Ogidi, one of the first centersof Anglican missionary work in EasternNigeria.! He is a graduate of University College, Ibadan.! From 1972 to 1976, and again in 1987 to1988, Mr. Achebe was a Professor of English atthe University of Massachusetts, Amherst, andalso for one year at the University ofConnecticut, Storrs.
Author’sPurpose“Let me first make one general point that isfundamental and essential to the appreciationof African issues by Americans. Africans arepeople in the same way that Americans,Europeans, Asians, and others are people.Africans are not some strange beings withunpronounceable names and impenetrableminds. Although the action of Things FallApart takes place in a setting with whichmost Americans are unfamiliar, the charactersare normal people and their events are realhuman events.”!Chinua Achebe
What made Achebe’s African literature truly African? Things Fall Apart combines Westernlinguistic forms and literary traditionswith Igbo (or Ibo) words and phrases,proverbs, fables, tales, and otherelements of African oral and communalstorytelling traditions. This helps record and preserve Africanoral traditions as well as to overcome thecolonialist language and culture.
Things Fall Apart Published in 1958, just before Nigerianindependence, the novel recounts thelife of the village hero Okonkwo anddescribes the arrival of whitemissionaries in Nigeria and its impact ontraditional Igbo society during the late1800s.
Background Things Fall Apart, Africa's mostimportant novel to date, is probably themost widely studied African creativework both in Africa and abroad. Thenovel's universal appeal has led to itsbeing translated into more than 50languages
Achebe has published novels, shortstories, essays, and children's books.! He was cited in the London SundayTimes as one of the 1,000 "Makers ofthe Twentieth Century," for defining "amodern African literature that was trulyAfrican" and thereby making "a majorcontribution to world literature."
Drawing of an Ibo Village in the 1800s.
Background Things Fall Apart takes place duringBritish colonial rule of Nigeria in thelatter part of the 1800s and deals withthe Ibo(Igbo) Culture
www.nematoday.org/pictures/map nigeria wt afr.gif
Ibo Culture To understand the concepts in ThingsFall Apart, it is important to knowabout the Ibo (also called Igbo)culture
Belief System Igbo beliefs were once very tribal in nature. Before Christianity belief system revolved aroundone particular god, named Chukwu Chukwu was all powerful and omnipresent God andrepresentations, symbols, and sanctuaries for himcan be found almost anywhere.– Homes, compounds, buildings and even village parks andsquares would display these depictions of Chukwu Also believed in many smaller deities that wouldcompete among themselves CHI was a god seen as individually personalized byits followers. The people believed strongly in one’s ability toimprove status in the present world or afterlifethrough change.
People and Communityhttp://www.nigeriansinamerica.com/content images/igbo igbo%20husband/Feels Good 2B Home/igbowedding.jpg
Music Igbo music is generally lively, upbeat,and spontaneous which creates avariety of sounds that enables theIgbo people to incorporate music intoalmost all the facets of their dailylives
Ekwe- type of drumhttp://www.uta.fi/ ages/nigeria/drums/ekwe.jpgOge- type ofbell
A Tortoise Shell DrumDrums were avery importantpart of everydaylife. They werepart of religiousceremoniesand rituals.
Yams are a staple 8 4c786d9af4.jpg?v 0
VillageCustomsLife in Umuofia was very structured and daily lifehad many important rituals.!There were important traditions for welcomingvisitors, for attaining and respecting social status, fortreatment of women, for going to war, gettingmarried, and for settling disputes.
Kola Nut Kola nut wasmixed withalligator pepperand eaten. This was servedas an appetizeras part of thewelcoming ritual.
Alligator Pepper Alligatorpepper has aspicy flavor inthe seeds. It was used as aseasoning bymixing it withkola nut.
Boy withKola Nut
Kola BowlKola was mixed and served in this type of bowl.When a guest arrived, thehost would ask the guestto break the kola nut.They would politely argueabout who should servethe kola. Finally, the hostwould serve it.The guest would draw chalklines on the floor andpaint his big toe whitewith the chalk.
Religious CeremoniesThe people of Umuofia believed in many gods,ghosts, ancestral spirits, and even believed certainanimals were sacred.They prayed to their ancestors and also had a chior personal god.They revered the python as the most sacred animaland called a rainbow the python of the sky.
Ceremonial Masks The egwugwu were the leaders ofthe community. The women would be afraid ofthe egwugwu, even though theyknew their men were not presentat the ceremonies and had to bethe egwugwu. Evil Forest was the lead egwugwuin Things Fall Apart.
An Elder MeetingThe Egwugwu are in Masks
Boys of the VillageIt was important to include boys in daily rituals.
! They would makecommunal decisionsfor the Ibo peoplesuch as:– settling propertydisputes– deciding whether togo to warEgwugwu wearing ceremonial masks
Jaw Mask, Another Form of Ceremonial Mask
Mask and an Ibo Boy in a Mask
CeremonialDress
Drinking Palm Wine From a Human Skull Was Part of ReligiousCeremoniesOkonkwo Had Five Skulls to His Credit
Village LifeThe villagers were warriors, farmers, andcraftsmen.The men’s crop was yam, the king of crops.Women’s crops were coco-yams, beans, andcassava.
People and Community Igbo home life is also verystructured. Typically the husband is thehead of the household. He alsoaccepts his responsibilities tohis community. It is of equal importance to tendto both the family and thevillage. Igbo people usually havevery extended families.Ibo Huts
An Ibo Building
"Proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." Among the Ibo people, the art of conversationis very highly regarded. At the time the novel takes place (1930s), theIbo people do not use the written word. They received their news from the town crier. A Proverb is a short saying that expresses acommon truth or experience. Proverbs arevery important to the Ibo people.
Locusts Locusts are relatedto grasshoppers.They swarm and candestroy whole fieldsand crops. The Umuofiansconsidered them tobe a delicacy. They gathered themin baskets and thenroasted them and atethem.
Cowry Shells Cowry shells were used asmoney in Africa. They were small enoughto carry and were scarceenough to be valuable. 25 bags of cowry shellswere paid as bride priceduring the engagementceremony in the novel.
Chinua Achebe is one of the most well-known contemporary writers from Africa. ! Things Fall Apart, his first novel, deals with the clash of cultures and the violent transitions in life and values brought about by the onset of British col
