Presentation - M.A. Program - Semester 4 - paper 14 - African Literature.

1. ‘Things Fall Apart’
- Culture depicted
by
Achebe.

2. HELLO!
This is Bhumi Dangi.
Roll no.8
Sem. 4.
Paper 14 : African Literature.
Unit 4 : “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe
Submitted to -
The Department of English,
MK Bhavnagar university.

3. ‘Achebe’ at a glance.
Chinua Achebe
 Born: 16th Nov. 1930 (in Ogidi, Nigeria.)
Died: 21 March 2013
 upbringing: Multicultural.
 Education: 1) Government College,
Umuahia,
2) University College, Ibadan.
 Occupation: Writer, Professor.
 Nationality: Nigerian.
 Notable Works: ‘thiNgs Fall apart’ ,
‘arroW oF god’
 oNe oF the FouNders oF ‘NigeriaN
literary momeNt’ upoN “traditioNal oral
Culture oF its iNdigeNious peoples.”

4. Quick
Reaction..
› 1959, published novel ‘Things Fall
Apart’ – a response to novel ‘Heart
of Darkness’.
› Tierd of reading white men’s accounts of how primitive, socially
backward, and most important, LANGUAGE-LESS NATIVE AFRICANS were.
› Achebe sought to convey a fuller understanding of African culture.
› By doing so, gave a voice to an underrepresented & exploited colonial
subject.

5. Heart of Darkness
1] Works upon basic idea-
People who work labour have no
powerful mind.
2] Depicts Africa as Darkest of the
dark area as its title suggest.
And that is metaphoric – inside as
well as outside.
- A picture ’ The way Africans were described’.

6. -- African Literature
Introduction
- Long, literary
tradition
- Little of that were
written down till 20th
century.
Oral Traditions
- Prose, verse &
Proverb, Epic
- folklore, verbal art,
oral literature, Orature
Literatures in
African
Languages
- Sotho, xhosa,
zulu, Amharic,
Somali Swahili
Anglophone
African
Literature
- It is more extensive
than African
Literature in other
European languages.
Francophone
African
Literature.
- African Literature
written in French

7. CHI in Things Fall Apart
›Hermeneutic Understanding of Symbol.
›Etymology
›Derived from Greek word “hermeneia” which is
related to name of god ‘Hermes’ & verb
‘hermeneuin’ – means ‘-to express’, ‘-to explain’,
‘-to translate’ in brief, ‘to bring understanding’.
›The philosophic examination of chi symbolism in Igbo context is hinged on
fictional text of the great Igbo novelist and thinker, the Igbo biographer
Chinua Achebe.

8. … Cont.
›.. Day break
›.. Personal God
›.. Metaphysical understanding of person.
›- chi can be approached from largely cultural
perspective, that also suggest some deep
coherence.
›- it goes with account to understand Okonkvo’s
character in novel.

9. IT’S ALL ABOUT CULTURE,
LANGUAGE, LAND, RACISM.
›Attacks with that there is a single god.
Christ.
›Regional people sees everything in context
of god. They cannot believe in idea of single
God.

10. Euro centricity
 “There is only the history of europians in Africa. The
rest is darkness – and darkness is not the subject of
history”
-- this is what the Oxford Professor of History says even
after Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.
 Where Europian Counterpart suffers from an
Alienated image.
 “Language as a theme in No Longer At ease.
Afro cenricity
 African Fiction is seized with traumatic experiences
the scars of which are left behind by coloniialism.
 It is in position to debunk many schools of criticism
specially “Art for Art’s sake”.
 More than any African Writer, Achebe recceived
maximum critical attention.
 Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ in term of “CULTURAL
NATIONALISM” IS INSPIRING NATIONAL MOVEMENT IN
IRELEND AND AFRICA.

11. ..Conclusion..
what novel is doing is “Decentering
the center” and makes remark on
“deconstruction” theory given by
derrida.
And raising the voice of subaltern
who cannot speak.

12. Credits
› “CHI SYMBOLISM IN ACHEBE’S THINGS
FALL APART: A HERMENEUTIC
UNDERSTANDING” by Edward Okora
› “Eurocentricity vs. Afrocenricity”
› “Return to the roots ‘Things Fall Apart’ and
‘The River Between”
› WISDOM AND AGE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S
“THIGS FALL APART”
› “A Post Colonial Study of Chinua Achebe’s
Things Fall Apart” by Dr. Shuchi Agrawal

13. THANKS!
Questions are best with Google.
Discussions are welcomed.
You can find me at:
bhumidangi7405@gmail.com