Things Fall Apart

A powerful novel about the impact of colonialism on traditional Igbo society in Nigeria, giving voice to the African experience and challenging Western literary traditions.

Okonkwo is a respected warrior and leader in the Igbo village of Umuofia in the 1890s. Driven by fear of appearing weak like his father, Okonkwo has built his life around the traditional values of his people—strength, honor, and adherence to ancestral customs. But when white missionaries and colonial administrators arrive, they bring changes that will ultimately destroy the world Okonkwo has known.

Achebe's genius lies in his ability to present Igbo culture from the inside, showing its complexity, richness, and internal logic rather than treating it as exotic or primitive. The novel reveals a sophisticated society with its own systems of justice, religion, and social organization—a direct challenge to colonial narratives that depicted African societies as backward or chaotic.

The arrival of the Europeans creates a crisis that goes beyond simple cultural conflict. Some villagers, particularly those who have been marginalized by traditional society, are attracted to the new religion and its promise of equality. Achebe shows how colonialism works by exploiting existing divisions within colonized societies, turning people against each other.

Okonkwo's tragedy is that his very strengths—his dedication to traditional values, his refusal to compromise—become liabilities in a rapidly changing world. His inability to adapt leads to his destruction, but Achebe presents this not as a personal failing but as the inevitable result of cultural collision.

The novel's title, taken from Yeats's poem "The Second Coming," suggests that Okonkwo's world is not simply changing but disintegrating completely. Yet Achebe also shows the resilience of African culture and the ways that it survives and adapts even under colonial pressure.

Things Fall Apart is widely considered the most important African novel ever written, launching the careers of countless African writers and establishing the foundation for postcolonial literature.