Introduction
Chinua Achebe is one of Africa’s most celebrated novelists. He wrote various novels with incredible insights on different issues affecting African society, especially during colonial times. The writer agitated for different courses through his novels. Things Fall Apart is one of the many novels written by the legendary African author. The novel mainly discusses the struggle between change and tradition. In the novel, Achebe examines how Africans took sides during the colonial period. Some people supported the white man’s religion and culture while the other group vehemently opposed the white man, setting a conflict between tradition and change (Chinua, 1958).
Conflict Between Tradition and Change
Things Fall Apart explores how the perspective and authenticity of change influence diverse individuals as the plot focuses on a culture on the edge of transformation. The debate over whether change should take priority over tradition sometimes includes issues of personal status. As a result, this research aims to explain why Achebe’s portrayal of his African heritage is directed squarely at the Western audience.
When Achebe wrote the novel Things Fall Apart in the late 1950s, he mainly responded to the numerous European writers who had previously represented Africa as a dark continent plagued by superstition and savagery. Many European writers wrote different literature that portrayed the African culture as a backward culture that was inferior to the European culture and hence was to be abandoned. As represented by the missionaries in Things Fall Apart, most Europeans persuaded the Africans to abandon their culture and instead practice the European culture.
However, Achebe presented African culture as rich in values and meaning and should be protected. He describes the Igbo culture and heritage comprehensively for Western readers to understand. According to Achebe, the Igbo culture includes father-son inheritance, polytheistic religion, belief in evil spirits and farming customs (Chinua, 1958). The Igbo heritage is rich in values and offers effective guidance on all aspects of life; hence the Africans never needed the European culture introduced by the missionaries. Since the Africans fully understood Achebe’s heritage, the cultural representation mainly targeted Western readers.
Through his effective illustration of the African culture and continents, Achebe wanted to change the views of his audiences, especially the western audience, on Africa. Achebe vividly depicts an African society complete with religion, monetary system, governance, artistic heritage, and judicial system. Despite its lack of technical sophistication, the reader discovers the Igbo culture to be extraordinarily intricate. Achebe wants the reader to perceive Africa as a continent rich in culture and values that control the lives of its people after reading this novel. The different systems and structures in the African culture, as presented by Achebe, are enough to govern and control all aspects of life; hence there was no need to adopt the European culture as supported by the missionaries.
Techniques
The author deploys various techniques to communicate his message to the audience effectively. The main techniques used include; back-shadowing, side-shadowing, and foreshadowing. Back-shadowing and side-shadowing are most successful in reaching the Western reader as they extensively illustrate how beautiful and peaceful the African continent was before the coming of the white man. In contrast, side-shadowing techniques reach the western audience by showing the effects of the white man on the African culture. However, the fore-shadowing technique fails to reach the western audience as it predicts doom in the future for the western culture.
Conclusion
Finally, Achebe’s portrayal of his African heritage is directed squarely at the Western reader, who has been given distorted information about African culture for a long time. Things Fall Apart seems to be Achebe’s attempt to convey a distinct but accurate depiction of African culture from a just and impartial perspective. He does so to counteract dismissive views from Western authors such as Joseph Conrad, who claims that African culture is inferior to Western civilization. Even though his technique of fore-shadowing does not reach the intended audience, Achebe skillfully employs the techniques of back-shadowing and side-shadowing effectively to connect with his audience.
Work Cited:
Chinua, Achebe. “Things fall apart.” (1958).