A Review of Things Fall Apart
I really enjoyed reading the book Things Fall Apart. Achebe did an excellent job of portraying the pre-colonial culture of the Ibo. This book was not only educational, but entertaining as well. His ability to focus mainly on one individual and still show the complexity of the entire clan's beliefs and self-governing tactics was incredible. It is hard to believe that he was able to show us so many aspects of the pre-colonial culture in so few pages. This book definitely left me wanting to learn more about their culture. Some of the areas, I feel, really stood out to show they were a civilized people included their social organization, their economic system, and their religious beliefs. The Ibo seemed to have a very structured social order. Everything from the way one attains status in the village to the way the people receive their guests leads me to believe this. The use of titles in the village to determine status demonstrates that they had a hierarchy of sorts in place, much like we have judges, mayors, senators, and a president. For instance, the egwugwu acted as judges b
Religion was also already in place in the pre-colonial times. The Ibo were deeply religious. It seems that everything they do is dictated by some religious belief. Religion was involved in the way they raised their families, the way they governed, the way they interacted, the way they decided on war and other issues, and even the way they farmed. They may have practiced what may be considered a ridiculous religion by outside standards, but it was a religion none the less. In fact, one of the things that struck me the most in this book was the conversation between Mr. Brown and Akunna. Throughout their conversation, at times they seemed to be saying the same thing. Akunna brought up some interesting points when he was comparing the religions. There were several similarities that would almost make it seem the Christian God and the God the Ibo worshiped were one and the same. Along the same lines, the way they interacted shows that they were a civil people. They seemed to try to settle everything peaceably, if at all possible. As Achebe pointed out, they believed that a "war of
Some common words found in the essay are:
Apart Achebe, Lower Niger, God Ibo, Akunna Throughout, District Commissioner, , achebe excellent job, excellent job, economy based, economic system, pre-colonial culture, leads believe, clan economy, achebe excellent,
Approximate Word count = 737
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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