Things Fall ApartBy Chinua Achebe

Picture taken from http://reader.homestead.com/Things_Fall_Apart.html

Summary• Okonkwo – Strong, respected, wealthy man of his tribe of Igbo

people in Nigeria (page 11)• Turn of the century

• Death of Ikemefuna (page 55)• Affect on Nwoye

• Okonkwo exiled for accidental shooting • Coming of the missionaries• Nwoye (page 133)

Plot

Positive• Different culture

• Sad story

Negative• Slow-moving at times

(character-driven)

• Full of flashbacks (sometimes confusing)

Characters

Okonkwo

• Positive• Very hard working• Self-made man• Both the protagonist and the

antagonist (person v. self)

• Negative• Violent (beating wives and

children)• Uncompromising (disowns

Nwoye, kills Ikemefuna)• Both the protagonist and the

antagonist (person v. self)

Others

• Obierika• Great friend to Okonkwo

(looks after his finances during Okonkwo’s exile)

• Gentler than Okonkwo

• Reverend James Smith• Very racist and

uncompromising in his relations with Okonkwo’s people (page 169)

Writing style

Positive

• Very descriptive (important because I’ve never been to Africa)• Uses simple language

and sentence structure• Uses Igbo words from

time to time (gives a better feeling for the culture)

Negative

• Doesn’t follow a typical linear plot progression (lots of flashbacks and side-plots)• Ogbanje and iyi-uwa (page

80)

Overall rating

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