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Contextual Purpose in Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe’s, ‘Things Fall Apart,’ was written in 1958, prior to Nigerian independence, however, the book itself was based before and during the arrival of the colonial administration. The story is based on the life of an Igbo man named Okonkwo, and through this character, Achebe is able to base the text heavily on the Igbo tribe values, tradition and functionality of their system prior to Okonkwo’s exile and the British colonization. The purpose of this is to display a system that they based their lifestyle on, which differed heavily from the European powers, which was a functioning way of society that they were able to maintain without colonization, years before it occurred. In the time leading up to Nigeria’s independence, after the British empire gave up its colonization in Igbo land, the tribe was unsure of which values to maintain from their tradition and whether they should instil some of the British influence or not. Showcasing the Igbo values before colonization was Achebe’s way of informing the Nigerian people of their past traditions and functionality in order to display them with principles that they shouldn’t forget nor lose when it comes to the new governing system in their independence. 
However, Achebe, being from Igbo descent and also Christian, wants to showcase some of the values that the British colonization introduced to their people, in order to neither forget or lose them in the independence of Nigeria. By placing Things Fall Apart at the time of British colonization, Achebe is able to display how Christianity came to be on their land and also why it is valued and should be kept in Nigeria. This exploration of his hybrid identity as both proud Igbo and as Christian gives reasonings behind the setting in prior to and during British colonization, as it displays the cultural crossroad that he is at and wants to pursue in independent Nigeria.

Furthermore, the European powers justification of the slave trade and mistreatment in colonization was produced into the literature that inaccurately depicted Africa and Africans. The British empire rationalized their greed for Africa’s resources and slavery by displaying the Igbo people as uncivilized and as savages; and without their colonization, the people would be barbaric and inhuman. Achebe’s purpose in placing the book in this time period reflects how the Igbo people had a functioning system existing hundreds of years before colonization. Producing Things Fall Apart, challenged western society’s preconceived and inaccurate notions of Africa & Africans and displayed a society that was neither barbaric or savage.

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