Essay on Things Fall Apart

Submitted By SuyaChima
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Albert Chinualumogn Achebe or, better known as, Chinua Achebe, was born in 1930 on the 16th of November in Nigeria. At an early age, he was educated in English and when he got older he attended a government college located in Umuahia. Later he graduated from Ibadan University College. After studying at college he gained a greater appreciation for his culture and so he traded his Christian name for his present name, Chinua. Today, Achebe has written a variety of: novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and children’s books. A lot of Achebe’s fans often wonder why he writes some of the books he writes and sometimes they can’t figure out the reason for writing them. However in one of his books titled “Things Fall Apart,” Chinua explains the reasons to his audience. Chinua Achebe wrote this book because he wanted to describe and share Nigerian culture with others. He used this book to explain the effects of European colonization, and respond to western misconceptions about Africans being very barbaric and uncivilized. First, Mr. Achebe wrote “Things Fall Apart,” for a couple of reasons, and one of those reasons was to describe Nigerian culture to the world. At that point in time and even now, people still don’t know about Nigerian culture. People didn’t know or understand what were their beliefs, behaviors, or even their norms. Unfortunately, as Nigeria started to get colonized by Europeans, poor, false information spread about African culture. Soon, people all over the world believed the rumors spread by the Europeans. Even a book was published that stated how culture and language-less Africa was. Chinua felt strongly about the harsh untrue words and wanted to prove to people that the Ibo culture was interesting and full of traditions; through his book. Additionally, Chinua Achebe wanted to explain the effects of the European Colonization. He wanted to share how Europeans had changed Africa and the African people. When a new unknown factor presents itself it will most likely change a culture in some way, and the change the Europeans enforced on the Ibo village changed them physically and
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