Chinua Achebe's *Things Fall Apart* explores the complexities of cultural memory within the context of colonialism in Africa. The novel follows Okonkwo, a respected Igbo leader, whose life unravels as colonial forces disrupt traditional values and societal structures. Achebe delves into themes of identity, loss, and the clash between modernity and tradition, making it essential reading for students of African literature and postcolonial studies. This analysis provides insights into the historical and cultural significance of the text, highlighting its relevance for contemporary discussions on cultural heritage and memory.

Key Points

  • Analyzes the impact of colonialism on Igbo culture in *Things Fall Apart*
  • Explores Okonkwo's tragic downfall as a reflection of cultural disintegration
  • Examines themes of identity, tradition, and modernity in African literature
  • Highlights the significance of cultural memory in postcolonial discourse
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African Studies Quarterly | Volume 4, Issue 3 | Fall 2000
Professor F. Abiola Irele, formerly Professor of French and Head of the Department of Modern Languages at the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria, is currently Professor of African, French and Comparative Literature at the Ohio State
University. Professor Irele’s publications include an edition of selected poems by the Senegalese writer and
statesman, Léopold Sédar Senghor, a collection of critical essays, The African Experience in Literature and Ideology, and
an edition of Aimé Césaire’s Cahier d’un retour au pays natal. He is the author of numerous articles on African
literature in English and French, and has also written extensively on francophone African philosophy, on which he
has contributed an entry in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. A new collection of his essays entitled The
African Imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora was published by Oxford University Press in 2001.
http://www.africa.ufl.edu/asq/v4/v4i3a1.pdf
© University of Florida Board of Trustees, a public corporation of the State of Florida; permission is hereby granted for individuals
to download articles for their own personal use. Published by the Center for African Studies, University of Florida.
ISSN: 2152-2448
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall
Apart
F. ABIOLA IRELE
If there is any single work that can be considered central to the evolving canon of modern
African literature, it is, without question, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The novel owes
this distinction to the innovative significance it assumed as soon as it was published, a
significance that was manifested in at least two respects. In the first place, the novel provided an
image of an African society, reconstituted as a living entity and in its historic circumstance: an
image of a coherent social structure forming the institutional fabric of a universe of meanings
and values. Because this image of Africa was quite unprecedented in literature, it also carried
considerable ideological weight in the specific context of the novel's writing and reception. For
it cannot be doubted that the comprehensive scope of Achebe's depiction of a particularized
African community engaged in its own social processes, carried out entirely on its own terms,
with all the internal tensions this entailed, challenged the simplified representation that the
West offered itself of Africa as a formless area of life, as "an area of darkness" devoid of human
significance.
1
Thus, beyond what might be considered its ethnographic interest, which gave the
work an immediate and ambiguous appeal--a point to which we shall return--Achebe's novel
articulated a new vision of the African world and gave expression to a new sense of the African
experience that was more penetrating than what had been available before its appearance.
The second factor contributing to the esteem in which Achebe's novel is held has to do with
the quality of his manner of presentation, in which the cultural reference governs not merely the
constitution of the novel's fictional universe but also the expressive means by which the
collective existence, the very human experience framed within this universe, comes to be
conveyed. For the novel testifies to an aesthetic project which consists in fashioning a new
language appropriate to its setting, serving therefore to give life and substance to the narrative
content and thus to enforce the novelist's initial gesture of cultural reclamation. As a
consequence, the manner of presentation became integral to the narrative development to a
degree that must be considered unusual in the normal run of novelistic writing. As Emmanuel
Obiechina has remarked, "the integrative technique in which background and atmosphere are
interlaced with the action of the narrative must be regarded as Achebe's greatest achievement"
2 | Irele
African Studies Quarterly | Volume 4, Issue 3 | Fall 2000
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[Obiechina, 1975, 142]. It is especially with regard to this close imbrication of language and
theme that Things Fall Apart can be said to have defined a new mode of African imaginative
expression, hence Kwame Appiah's description of the work as "the archetypal modern African
novel in English" [Appiah, 1992, ix].
2
The work has acquired the status of a classic, then, by reason of its character as a
counterfiction of Africa, in specific relation to the discourse of Western colonial domination, and
its creative deployment of the language of the imperium; it has on this account been celebrated
as the prototype of what Barbara Harlow has called "resistance literature" [Harlow, 1987].
3
The
ideological project involved in its writing comes fully to the fore in the ironic ending in which
we see the colonial officer, after the suicide of the main character, Okonkwo, contemplating a
monograph on the "pacification" of the Lower Niger. Okonkwo, we are told, will get the briefest
of mentions in the monograph, but we know as readers that the novel to which this episode
serves as conclusion has centered all along upon this character who, as the figure of the
historical African, the work endeavours to re-endow with a voice and a visage, allowing him to
emerge in his full historicity, tragic though this turns out to be in the circumstances.
Yet, despite the novel's contestation of the colonial enterprise, clearly formulated in the
closing chapters and highlighted by its ironic ending, readers have always been struck by the
veil of moral ambiguity with which Achebe surrounds his principal character, Okonkwo, and
by the dissonances that this sets up in the narrative development; as Emmanuel Obiechina
remarked in the course of an oral presentation I had the privilege of attending, the novel is
constituted by what he calls "a tangle of ironies." For it soon becomes apparent that Achebe's
novel is not by any means an unequivocal celebration of tribal culture; indeed, the specific
human world depicted in this novel is far from representing a universe of pure perfection. We
are presented rather with a corner of human endeavor that is marked by the web of
contradictions within which individual and collective destinies have everywhere and at all
times been enmeshed. A crucial factor, therefore, in any reading of Achebe's novel, given the
particular circumstances of its composition, is its deeply reflective engagement with the
particular order of life that provides a reference for its narrative scheme and development. In
this respect, one cannot fail to discern a thematic undercurrent that produces a disjunction in
the novel between its overt ideological statement, its contradiction of the discourse of the
colonial ideology, on one hand, and, on the other, its dispassionate and even uncompromising
focus on an African community in its moment of historical crisis.
I would like to examine here the nature of this disjunction, not only as it emerges from the
novel's thematic development but also as inscribed, quite literally, within the formal structures
of the work, in the belief that by undertaking a closer examination of these two dimensions of
the work and relating them to each other we are enabled to fully discern its purport. For the
moral significance of the work seems to me to outweigh the ideological burden that has so often
been laid upon it. I believe the implications of the work extend much further than the
anticolonial stance that, admittedly, provides its point of departure, but which, as we shall see,
eventually yields ground to issues of far greater import concerning the African becoming.
It is well to begin this examination with an observation that situates Achebe's work in the
general perspective of literary creation and cultural production in contemporary Africa. This is
to make the point that the most significant effect of modern African literature in the European
The Crisis of Cultural Memory in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart | 3
African Studies Quarterly | Volume 4, Issue 3 | Fall 2000
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languages is perhaps the sense it registers of the immediacy of history as a sphere of existence,
as a felt dimension of being and consciousness. Achebe's work is exemplary in this regard, in
the way he captures in his fiction the inner movement of transition on the continent from an
antecedent order of life to a new and problematic collective existence, this new existence
contemplated as the outcome of an implacable historical development. Beginning with Things
Fall Apart, his entire work seeks to measure, in its full range and import for Africa, what Molly
Mahood has called, in her study of the same title, "the colonial encounter" [Mahood, 1977].
Achebe's explicit concern with the cultural dislocations, provoked by the harsh circumstances of
this encounter, and their far-reaching consequences in human terms suggests at first sight a
limited point of view that appears to emphasize the primacy of an original identity owed to
cultural and ethnic affiliations.
We cannot but observe however that, as a writer, Achebe is in fact situated at the point of
intersection between two world orders, the precolonial African and the Western, or more
specifically, Euro-Christian, that impinge upon his creative consciousness. It is important to
recall this defining factor of the total cultural situation by which Achebe's inspiration is
conditioned, and to stress the directing influence of his Western education and its sensibility
upon his fictional reconstruction of the collective traumas enacted by his novels, and the
comprehensive process of self-reflection they imply. Thus, an attention to its various inflections
indicates that the narrative voice adopted by Achebe in his first novel has to be imputed in large
part to his status as a Westernized African, the product of Christian education. This is a voice
that speaks often, perhaps even primarily, from the margins of the traditional culture, as is
evident in this passage, which occurs early in the novel:
The night was very quiet. It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. Darkness held a
vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. Children were warned not to
whistle at night for fear of evil spirits….And so on this particular night as the crier's voice was
gradually swallowed up in the distance, silence returned to the world, a vibrant silence made
more intense by the universal trill of a million forest insects [7].
4
The passage suggests that the perspective that Achebe projects upon the traditional world
is that of an external observer, a perspective that implies a cultural distance from the
background of life -- of thought and manners -- that provides the concrete reference of his
fiction. We encounter the same stance in another passage where the narrator observes of the
community to which the work relates: "Fortunately among these people a man was judged
according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father" [6]. Of these and similar
passages, the Nigerian scholar David Ker has commented: "Umuofia is simultaneously `they'
and `we' and this subtle combination of detachment and participation helps Achebe to
manipulate point of view" [Ker, 1997, 136].
This is a plausible reading that brings the novel's content into functional relation with its
narrative codes, except that the personal testimony Achebe provides of his own education in a
Christian household indicates clearly that his identification with the indigenous heritage was a
later and conscious development. In other words, Achebe can be said to have undertaken the
writing of Things Fall Apart out of an awareness of a primary disconnection from the indigenous
background that he seeks to recover and to explore in the novel.
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FAQs

What are the main themes explored in Things Fall Apart?
The main themes in *Things Fall Apart* include colonialism, cultural identity, and the clash between tradition and modernity. Achebe portrays the impact of British colonial rule on Igbo society, illustrating how it disrupts traditional values and social structures. The protagonist, Okonkwo, embodies the struggle between maintaining cultural heritage and adapting to changing circumstances. Additionally, the novel addresses masculinity, fate, and the complexities of personal and communal identity within a rapidly evolving landscape.
How does Okonkwo's character reflect the cultural tensions in the novel?
Okonkwo is portrayed as a proud and ambitious leader who is deeply committed to traditional Igbo values. His fear of being perceived as weak, like his father, drives him to extreme measures, ultimately leading to his tragic downfall. This tension between personal ambition and cultural expectations highlights the broader conflicts faced by Igbo society as it encounters colonial forces. Okonkwo's struggles serve as a microcosm for the larger cultural crisis, illustrating the challenges of preserving identity in the face of change.
What role does cultural memory play in Things Fall Apart?
Cultural memory is central to *Things Fall Apart*, as Achebe emphasizes the importance of tradition and heritage in shaping identity. The novel illustrates how colonialism threatens the continuity of cultural practices and beliefs, leading to a collective sense of loss. Achebe's narrative serves as a reclamation of Igbo history, allowing readers to engage with the complexities of African identity. By highlighting the significance of cultural memory, Achebe encourages a deeper understanding of the past's influence on present and future generations.
What is the significance of the title, Things Fall Apart?
The title *Things Fall Apart* encapsulates the central theme of disintegration within Igbo society due to colonial influence. It reflects the breakdown of traditional structures and values as characters grapple with the changes imposed by external forces. The phrase suggests a broader commentary on the fragility of cultural identity in the face of modernity. Achebe's choice of title underscores the tragic consequences of this cultural upheaval, resonating with the experiences of many societies undergoing similar transformations.
How does Achebe depict the effects of colonialism in the novel?
Achebe depicts colonialism as a disruptive force that undermines the fabric of Igbo society in *Things Fall Apart*. The arrival of missionaries and colonial administrators introduces new beliefs and systems that challenge traditional values. This cultural invasion leads to conflict and confusion, as characters like Okonkwo struggle to adapt to the changing landscape. Achebe illustrates the profound psychological and social impacts of colonialism, emphasizing the loss of autonomy and the erosion of cultural identity.

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