Tone and voice in Things Fall Apart - Essay Example

Tone and voice in Things Fall Apart Published in 1958 to great critical acclaim at the height of African political independence movements, Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart is a watershed novel in which artistic achievement and cultural reeducation form a perfect balance. When it appeared in world markets and academic institutions, the novel was immediately recognized as a blueprint for budding novelists by African writers and critics, as a literary classic by Canadian and American critics, and (not unexpectedly) as a novel of protest by British critics and press. In spite of these divergent critical evaluations of the novel, the common point of agreement is that, in developing the character of his hero Okonkwo Unoka, Achebe combined the techniques of literary modernism, the socio-literary philosophy of naturalism, and Igbo story-telling devices to recapitulate the history and consequences of the late nineteenth-century African encounter with European colonialism, which marked the end of the sovereignty of African nation-states. Part of the immediate appeal of Things Fall Apart lay in the fact that until its publication, no other African novel contained such a wide range of both literary and historical references; nor had any other African novelist yet displayed the kind of craftsmanship Achebe exhibits in this novel, where he holistically interweaves Igbo customary activities, the people's worldview and beliefs, and their material possessions into a rich tapestry, thereby helping to demolish the cultural presumptions of European writers of novels about Africa. Instead of offering a stereotypical depiction of Africa as the "heart of darkness" and its peoples as "primitives" and "savages," Achebe delineates Umuofia as a human community of nine villages, and his characters as human beings who possess minds, a language, a religion, and a culture, with vices and virtues like other groups of people in the world. In that human community, readers find clan leaders such as the level-headed Obierika and his friend Okonkwo, who, although not as level-headed, is nonetheless as pious and nationalistic. In other words, despite Okonkwo's tragic flaws, the two men are able to work together for the common good of their community, their differences in character, temperament, and conduct notwithstanding. The following passage exemplifies Achebe's use of tone and voice in Things Fall Apart: "You say that there is one supreme God who made heaven and earth," said Akunna on one of Mr. Brown's visits. "We also believe in Him and call Him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other gods." (Achebe, Chinua, 1994) In addition, the author uses lesser symbols and images like foils alongside the dominant ones to weave the textual web so as to produce emotional and artistic effects. For example, Okonkwo's successful transformation through personal achievements, from the son of an agbala (poor and wretched man) to one of the lords of the clan is praised proverbially thus: "Age was respected among his people, but achievement was revered. As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders". And his obsessive desire to fight and conquer whenever the talking drums are beaten is metaphorically described: "Okonkwo cleared his throat and moved his feet to the beat of the drums. It filled him with fire as it had always done from his youth. He trembled with the desire to conquer and subdue. It was like the desire for women". (Achebe, Chinua, 1994) All told, both major and minor symbols and imagery are expressed, in the main, through proverbs: "Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten" (Achebe, Chinua, 1994) The literary analysis of Things Fall Apart reveals one of the novel's attractions: Chinua Achebe's technical style. While using the usual elements of fiction to unify all aspects of this first novel, Achebe gave them a unique quality of "Africanness" which makes his fiction a hybrid genre. He expertly combines Western narrative techniques with Igbo story-telling habits to put his message across to readers. The outcome of the style is that non-African readers can approach a seemingly "quaint" culture with relative ease, and the African readers are equally enabled to appreciate their culture and civilization with much enthusiasm, even though Things Fall Apart is written in a language foreign to them. Things Fall Apart has as much to say about culture conflicts between the Igbo (indeed Nigerians) and the Europeans of Achebe's own time as about the nineteenth century of his Igbo ancestors. Such conflicts are rooted in British colonial history, the people's traditional religion, educational system, rituals and ceremonies, worldview and beliefs, social institutions, social control and values, as well as political authority. The first whites to visit West Africa, the Portuguese navigators, had free commercial interests in mind, but soon those interests degenerated into slave raid and trade. However, those who thought that the Africans, whom the navigators branded "primitives" and "savages," could be Christianized sent missionaries to save the "benighted" African souls. On arrival, the missionaries found fault with African traditional religions, which they made little or no effort to understand. Instead, they condemned unconditionally all aspects of those religions, while making great efforts to convert the people to Christianity. Among the Africans especially the Igbo, in the case of the novel many pious and patriotic leaders and warriors resisted the alien religion. Unfortunately the fight was won by the missionaries, who requested and received the assistance of armed forces from their home countries, especially Britain. Once the missionaries gained a foothold, they built churches and schools in which they preached against anything African. Above all, the missionaries used the converts they made among the outcasts, the poor, the diseased, and twins and their mothers to fight their fellow Africans who could not fight back because it was an abomination to spill the blood of fellow clansmen and women. The established churches and schools necessitated the employment of foreign teachers and government agents such as district commissioners, courts, prisons, the police, and army garrisons. That development also created paid native manpower pools including court messengers, interpreters, catechists, and warrant chiefs. They teamed up with the Christian converts to fight on the side of the whites. Soon they became a formidable economic and social class. In romanticizing all aspects and ramifications of the conflicts in Things Fall Apart, Achebe maintained a historical approach and perspective, in the belief that an awareness of the weaknesses of their past can help the people of Africa to avoid such weaknesses in the future, provided they have the will and determination to change. Bibliography Achebe, Chinua, 1994. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books Read More