Chinua Achebe published his first novel Things Fall Apart in 1958. Achebe writes this novel to present the civilized and rich life the Igbo lives before the arrival of the Christian missionaries. Things Fall Apart is a sharp respond to the European's novels (especially Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness) that depicts Africans as savages who needed to be enlightened by the Europeans. It serves ''to expose a text long celebrated for its searing indictment of western hypocrisy as in fact perpetuating some of the West's most derogatory and insulting stereotypes of Africa and Africans "(Cornwell ,299) . So, Achebe's primary purpose is to educate his readers about the value of his culture as an African and about every aspect of Igbo culture
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''The dual vision of Things Fall Apart is evidence ,at least at the narrative level,of things not falling apart''(Wright ,76 ).Wright concludes that the title is …show more content…
165), Uchendu says at Okonkwo’s feast, and another man adds: “We have come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.” (p. 167). Achebe presents Igbo as a polygamous society. In its traditional culture it is required for a ''real'' man to wed two or more wives. The women of the clan are aware of this and accept this ritual. The White Missionaries are against polygamy because Christianity forbid such an act . In Umuofia society, a man’s success in farming, the number of wives and children he has, and the size of his obi , are important to his esteem and influence in the clan. The man of repute “wears title as signs of the authority and power that comes with prosperity” (Gikandi, 37). Achebe reports that “Age was respected […], but achievement was revered” (TFA,p. 8) among the Igbo people. Regarding to the women, they are presented as less valuable than men, where "female characters are not presented in the fuller public roles that they would have played in reality " (Daniels ,75) .Women are treated badly by their husbands. When Okonkwo hits his wife,he is punished not because hitting a woman is a shameful act but because he breaks the peace in the "Weak of Peace"
''The dual vision of Things Fall Apart is evidence ,at least at the narrative level,of things not falling apart''(Wright ,76 ).Wright concludes that the title is …show more content…
165), Uchendu says at Okonkwo’s feast, and another man adds: “We have come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so.” (p. 167). Achebe presents Igbo as a polygamous society. In its traditional culture it is required for a ''real'' man to wed two or more wives. The women of the clan are aware of this and accept this ritual. The White Missionaries are against polygamy because Christianity forbid such an act . In Umuofia society, a man’s success in farming, the number of wives and children he has, and the size of his obi , are important to his esteem and influence in the clan. The man of repute “wears title as signs of the authority and power that comes with prosperity” (Gikandi, 37). Achebe reports that “Age was respected […], but achievement was revered” (TFA,p. 8) among the Igbo people. Regarding to the women, they are presented as less valuable than men, where "female characters are not presented in the fuller public roles that they would have played in reality " (Daniels ,75) .Women are treated badly by their husbands. When Okonkwo hits his wife,he is punished not because hitting a woman is a shameful act but because he breaks the peace in the "Weak of Peace"