Review of "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

Why it feels relevent today

I wanted to read more about African experience in Africa from an African writer. This led me to the first of a three novel trilogy by Chinua Achebe. It was an easy enough read. The majority of the book was focused on sharing the culture of a particular tribe in Nigeria in the late 19th Century (?) just before European colonization. The last 20% of the book was the interaction of first the Church missionaries and then the European government. 

The culture of the tribe was hierarchal, agrarian and patriarchal. Favor was shown for elders, successful farmers and those who had succeeded in battle. The number of titles and wives one had was a sign of prestige. There was a culture of killing twins as it was deemed an evil omen. They believed in multiple local Gods.  I point these out as I assume the author did to show that cultures have similarities and differences. 

There was a lot of background laid for the end of the book.  There were stretches of the book that left me wondering what the point was. Such as the oracle taking the sickly child from town to town and the protagonist’s exile from his community for seven years. Perhaps it was to show the commitment of the protagonist to follow the oracle even when forbidden to. Perhaps his exile showed how one mistake and the absence of a leader can impact the future of a community. Had he been there, would things unfolded differently? I think the end of the story would have been the same with or without these vignettes. Or perhaps I am not seeing it deeply enough.  

At times it seemed a bit tedious, where I was left wondering how does this part fit into the great story and  where the story was leading to.  Perhaps that is just my cultural preference for stories having a certain arc to them (I imagine that is part of it). 
The intersection of the Christian missionaries and the local tribe at the end of  the story is what I found most interesting. At first the missionaries were assimilationists. Connecting local culture with Christian practices. It is easy to see how in this patriarchal violent community why Christianity was accepted by those who were weak and did not have power in the community. Once Christians had a foothold though a new Christian Leader became more rigid and used strength of violence to overcome the local tribe. 

The story whetted my appetite to read the next two books. 

The whole ending felt rushed. Instead of focusing so much on his exile, I would have liked to hear more about the interactions and thought process of dealing with the first Christian colonialists. There was debate by tribesman about whether to leave the Christians alone or strike them before they became too strong. It shows inequality within communities can lead to a dividing of communities. It shows how power corrupts. It shows how indecision can lead to destruction. It shows how sacrificing for the greater good is sometimes necessary. The ending was understandable albeit sad. 

The author quotes the first four lines of the following poem at the beginning of the book. 

Yeats excerpt from "Second Coming"
"Turning and turning in the widening gyre 
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere 
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst 
Are full of passionate intensity."

I cant help but feel how relevant that is today.  We see those with the worst of intentions coming to power . The ceremony of innocence is gone. We were never innocent. Just like the tribe, we have our faults. Still we had a system that was working to improve things. Or we pretended we did. The innocence of that assumption is gone. We dawdle while those with passionate intensity run roughshod over the land and the people. We are divided and thus powerless to withstand it. This will lead to more inequality. As inequality and injustice rise, anarchy will be let loose as people lose faith that the government will protect them.  The moral fabric is ripped apart. The only way to put things back together is to build power. Otherwise we will be subsumed into and become slaves to those in power. Perhaps we already are and have been and just haven’t realized it. 

I am looking forward to the next book in the series. So I guess that makes this a worthwhile read.