Things that would not fall apart: appraising Igbo tradition in Achebe’s culture – specific narratives

Abstract

With the translation of Chinua Achebe‘s novel Things Fall Apart into several languages, scholars have been more preoccupied with investigating how the colonial intrusions affected those cultures. The general assumption is that the customs of the Igbo people have all fallen apart, and perhaps beyond repair. However there are reasons to begin to re-appraise these standpoints. In Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God, the reader perceives how Achebe explores the celebration or performance of certain aspects of the Igbo culture. In the first novel, Things Fall Apart, before the incident considered to be the falling apart interface, the socio-political and religious lives of the people which are part of the human intercourse are highlighted. But much more, they are explored in further thematic intensity in Arrow of God. This is considered to be Achebe‘s objective which is significant in pointing to those Igbo cultural practices which might have been caught in what the author sees as the 'crossroads', yet they are less prone to crumble. It is pertinent to interrogate these elements of culture so as to also provide a yardstick for measuring what may be considered as the patterns of Igbo life which Achebe celebrated.

Keywords: Things fall apart, Arrow of God, Igbo cosmology, Culture