With the publication of Things Fall Apart (1958) Nigeria had the classic book that would serve as a point of reference and comparison for future writing. The novel was not only more competent than anything that had preceded it, but it also introduced techniques that liberated future African novelists from having to imitate the conventions of a western literary genre. The omniscient narrator of the opening paragraphs is representative of the voice of the community and introduces the story with simple, somewhat repetitive sentences in an approximation of a story-teller, thus associating the novel with Igbo traditional oral literature. In contrast to the literary device of a first-person narrator which makes us see events through the eyes of the individual speaker, Achebe's narrator makes us part of the awareness and vision of a small, apparently self-enclosed community of nine villages. We are immediately introduced to the traditions of the community, its history and myths, its arts and crafts…. (p. 65)
The apparent simplicity of [the opening] passage is deceptive. It is artistry of a radically different order from those … who later tried to write novels of village life limited to repetition and simple sentences. Achebe's purpose is to situate the reader within a community governed by a rich tribal culture which, being a living culture, is undergoing changes, and the continuity of which will be challenged by the intrusions of Christianity and the white man. If his purpose is to show the dignity of traditional African culture, his job as a writer is to make the Igbo village as richly textured with manners and mores as any local community in the novels of Jane Austen or George Eliot. Indeed Achebe's Igbo village novels resemble those of Eliot or Thomas Hardy in showing the tragedy of individuals resulting from the clash between their own strength of character and the unstoppable forces of historical change. Achebe's heroes gain their stature by their excessive virtue in attempting to oppose fate. This is in contrast to the rest of the village community, which changes its ways under pressure and which may be said to illustrate the importance of communal survival in Africa. The rigidity with which Okonkwo upholds traditional values makes him heroic, but such excesses bring self-destruction because temperance and the ability to accept change are necessary with the coming of the powerful Europeans.
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