Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart is the debut novel of Nigerian

author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958. It
depicts pre-colonial life in Igboland (modern-day
southeastern Nigeria) and the invasion by Europeans
during the late 19th century. It is seen as the
archetypal modern African novel in English, and one
of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a
staple book in schools throughout Africa and is
widely read and studied in English-speaking
countries around the world. The novel was first
published in the United Kingdom in 1958 by William
Heinemann Ltd, and became the first work published
in Heinemann's African Writers Series.
 Things Fall Apart

First edition cover.

Author Chinua Achebe

Country Nigeria

Language English

Publisher William Heinemann Ltd.

Publication date 1958

Pages 155
The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an influential
leader of the fictional Igbo ("Ibo" in the novel) clan of
Umofia, who is, among other things, a feared warrior
and a local wrestling champion. The work is split
into three parts, with the first describing his family,
personal history, his violent exterior and tortured
soul, and the customs and society of the Igbo. The
second and third sections introduce the influence of
European colonialism and Christian missionaries on
Okonkwo, his family, and the wider Igbo community.

Things Fall Apart was followed by a sequel, No

Longer at Ease (1960), originally written as the second
part of a larger work along with Arrow of God (1964).
Achebe states that his two later novels A Man of the
People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987),
while not featuring Okonkwo's descendants, are
spiritual successors to the previous novels in
chronicling African history.

Plot

Part 1

The novel's protagonist, Okonkwo, is famous in the

villages of Umuofia for being a wrestling champion.
Okonkwo is strong, hard-working, and strives to
show no weakness or fear, wanting to dispel his
father Unoka's tainted legacy of unpaid debts, a
neglected wife and children, and cowardice at the
sight of blood. Okonkwo works to build his wealth
entirely on his own, as Unoka died a shameful death
and left many unpaid debts. He is also obsessed with
his masculinity, and any slight compromise to this is
swiftly destroyed. As a result, he often beats his
wives and children, and is unkind to his neighbours.
However, his drive to escape the legacy of his father
leads him to be wealthy, courageous, and powerful
among the people of his village. He is a leader of his
village, Umuofia, having attained a position in his
society for which he has striven all his life.[1]

Okonkwo is selected by the elders to be the guardian

of Ikemefuna, a boy taken as a peace settlement
between Umuofia and another clan after Ikemefuna's
father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with
Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of him,
although Okonkwo does not show his fondness so as
not to appear weak. The boy looks up to Okonkwo
and considers him a second father. The Oracle of
Umuofia eventually pronounces that the boy must be
killed. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, warns
Okonkwo that he should have nothing to do with the
murder because it would be like killing his own
child – but to avoid seeming weak and feminine to
the other men of the village, Okonkwo disregards the
warning from the old man, striking the killing blow
himself. For many days after killing Ikemefuna,
Okonkwo feels guilty and saddened.

Shortly after Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go

wrong for Okonkwo. He falls into a depression and
has nightmares. During a gun salute at Ezeudu's
funeral, Okonkwo's gun accidentally explodes and
kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are exiled to his
motherland, the nearby village Mbanta, for seven
years to appease the gods he has offended.

Part 2

While Okonkwo is away in Mbanta, he learns that

white men are living in Umuofia with the intent of
introducing their religion, Christianity. As the
number of converts increases, the foothold of the
white people grows and a new government is
introduced.[2] The village is forced to respond with
either appeasement or resistance to the imposition of
the white people's nascent society. Okonkwo’s son
Nwoye starts getting curious about the missionaries
and the new religion. After he is beaten by his father
for the last time, he decides to leave his family
behind and live independently. He wants to be with
the missionaries because his beliefs have changed
while being introduced to Christianity by the
missionary, Mr. Brown. In the last year of his exile,
Okonkwo instructs his best friend Obierika to sell all
of his yams and hire two men to build him two huts
so he can have a house to go back to with his family.
He also holds a great feast for his mother's kinsmen,
where an elderly attendee bemoans the current state
of their tribe and its future.

Part 3

Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his village

changed by the presence of the white men. After a
convert commits an evil act by unmasking an elder
as he embodies an ancestral spirit of the clan, the
village retaliates by destroying a local Christian
church. In response, the District Commissioner
representing the colonial government takes
Okonkwo and several other native leaders prisoner
pending payment of a fine of two hundred bags of
cowries. Despite the District Commissioner's
instructions to treat the leaders of Umuofia with
respect, the native "court messengers" humiliate
them, doing things such as shaving their heads and
whipping them. As a result, the people of Umuofia
finally gather for what could be a great uprising.
Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about
following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises
any form of cowardice and advocates war against the
white men.

When messengers of the white government try to

stop the meeting, Okonkwo beheads one of them.
Because the crowd allows the other messengers to
escape and does not fight alongside Okonkwo, he
realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are
not going to fight to protect themselves – his
society's response to such a conflict, which for so
long had been predictable and dictated by tradition, is
changing. When the District Commissioner, Gregory
Irwin, comes to Okonkwo's house to take him to
court, he finds that Okonkwo killed himself because
he saw that he was fighting the battle alone and his
tribe had given up. Among his own people,
Okonkwo's actions have tarnished his reputation and
status, as it is strictly against the teachings of the
Igbo to commit suicide. Obierika struggles not to
break down as he laments Okonkwo’s death. As
Irwin and his men prepare to bury Okonkwo, Irwin
muses that Okonkwo's death will make an
interesting chapter - or “a reasonable paragraph, at
any rate” - for his written book, "The Pacification of
the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger".

Characters
Okonkwo, the protagonist, has three wives and ten
(total) children and becomes a leader of his clan.
His father, Unoka, was weak and lazy, and
Okonkwo resents him for his weaknesses: he
enacts traditional masculinity. Okonkwo strives to
make his way in a culture that traditionally values
manliness.
Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife. Although she
falls in love with Okonkwo after seeing him in a
wrestling match, she marries another man
because Okonkwo was too poor to pay her bride
price at the time. Two years later, she runs away
to Okonkwo's compound one night and later
marries him. She receives severe beatings from
Okonkwo just like his other wives; but unlike
them, she is known to talk back to Okonkwo.
Unoka is Okonkwo's father, who defied typical
Igbo masculinity by neglecting to grow yams, take
care of his wives and children, and pay his debts
before he dies.
Nwoye is Okonkwo's son, about whom Okonkwo
worries, fearing that he will become like Unoka.
Similar to Unoka, Nwoye does not subscribe to the
traditional Igbo view of masculinity being equated
to violence; rather, he prefers the stories of his
mother. Nwoye connects to Ikemefuna, who
presents an alternative to Okonkwo's rigid
masculinity. He is one of the early converts to
Christianity and takes on the Christian name
Isaac, an act which Okonkwo views as a final
betrayal.
Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. His
father murders the wife of an Umuofia man, and
in the resulting settlement of the matter,
Ikemefuma is put into the care of Okonkwo. By
the decision of Umuofia authorities, Ikemefuna is
ultimately killed, an act which Okonkwo does not
prevent, and even participates in, lest he seems
feminine and weak. Ikemefuna became very close
to Nwoye, and Okonkwo's decision to participate in
Ikemefuna's death takes a toll on Okonkwo's
relationship with Nwoye.
Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite daughter and the
only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma, the Crystal
Beauty, is very much the antithesis of a normal
woman within the culture and Okonkwo routinely
remarks that she would've made a much better
boy than a girl, even wishing that she had been
born as one. Ezinma often contradicts and
challenges her father, which wins his adoration,
affection, and respect. She is very similar to her
father, and this is made apparent when she
matures into a beautiful young woman who
refuses to marry during her family's exile,
instead choosing to help her father regain his
place of respect within society.
Obierika is Okonkwo's best friend from Umuofia.
Unlike Okonkwo, Obierika thinks before he acts
and is, therefore, less violent and arrogant than
Okonkwo. He is considered the voice of reason in
the book, and questions certain parts of their
culture, such as the necessity to exile Okonkwo
after he unintentionally kills a boy. Obierika's own
son, Maduka, is greatly admired by Okonkwo for
his wrestling prowess.
Chielo also called the "Oracle of the Hills and the
Caves", is the priestess of Agbala (a deity). She has
a double life, both a woman of Umofia and a
priestess, this brings her independence because
she has a symbolic role. Chielo symbolises Fate
throughout the novel.
Ogbuefi Ezeudu is one of the elders of Umuofia.
Mr. Brown is an English missionary who comes
to Umuofia. He shows kindness and compassion
towards the villagers and makes an effort to
understand the Igbo beliefs.
Mr. Smith is another English missionary sent to
Umuofia to replace Mr. Brown after he falls ill. In
stark contrast to his predecessor, he remains
strict and zealous towards the Africans.
Background
The title is a quotation from "The Second Coming", a
poem by W. B. Yeats.

Most of the story takes place in the fictional village of

Iguedo, which is in the Umuofia clan. The place name
Iguedo is only mentioned three times in the novel.
Achebe more frequently uses the name Umuofia to
refer to Okonkwo's home village of Iguedo. Umuofia
is located west of the actual city of Onitsha, on the
east bank of the Niger River in Nigeria. The events of
the novel unfold in the 1890s.[3] The culture depicted,
that of the Igbo people, is similar to that of Achebe's
birthplace of Ogidi, where Igbo-speaking people lived
together in groups of independent villages ruled by
titled elders. The customs described in the novel
mirror those of the actual Onitsha people, who lived
near Ogidi, and with whom Achebe was familiar.

Within forty years of the colonization of Nigeria, by

the time Achebe was born in 1930, the missionaries
were well established. He was influenced by Western
culture but he refused to change his Igbo name
Chinua to Albert. Achebe's father Isaiah was among
the first to be converted in Ogidi, around the turn of
the century. Isaiah Achebe himself was an orphan
raised by his grandfather. His grandfather, far from
opposing Isaiah's conversion to Christianity, allowed
his Christian marriage to be celebrated in his
compound.[3]

Language choice
Achebe wrote his novels in English because the
written standard Igbo language was created by
combining various dialects, creating a stilted written
form. In a 1994 interview with The Paris Review,
Achebe said, "the novel form seems to go with the
English language. There is a problem with the Igbo
language. It suffers from a very serious inheritance
which it received at the beginning of this century
from the Anglican mission. They sent out a
missionary by the name of Dennis. Archdeacon
Dennis. He was a scholar. He had this notion that the
Igbo language—which had very many different
dialects—should somehow manufacture a uniform
dialect that would be used in writing to avoid all
these different dialects. Because the missionaries
were powerful, what they wanted to do they did. This
became the law. But the standard version cannot
sing. There's nothing you can do with it to make it
sing. It's heavy. It's wooden. It doesn't go anywhere."[4]

Achebe's choice to write in English has caused

controversy. While both African and non-African
critics agree that Achebe modelled Things Fall Apart
on classic European literature, they disagree about
whether his novel upholds a Western model, or, in
fact, subverts or confronts it.[5] Achebe continued to
defend his decision: "English is something you spend
your lifetime acquiring, so it would be foolish not to
use it. Also, in the logic of colonization and
decolonization it is actually a very powerful weapon
in the fight to regain what was yours. English was
the language of colonization itself. It is not simply
something you use because you have it anyway."[6]

Achebe is noted for his inclusion of and weaving in

of proverbs from Igbo oral culture into his writing.[7]
This influence was explicitly referenced by Achebe
in Things Fall Apart: "Among the Igbo the art of
conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs
are the palm-oil with which words are eaten."

Literary significance and

reception
Things Fall Apart is regarded as a milestone in
Anglophone African literature, and for the
perception of African literature in the West. It has
come to be seen as the archetypal modern African
novel in English,[3][6] and is read in Nigeria and
throughout Africa. It is studied widely in Europe,
India, and North America, where it has spawned
numerous secondary and tertiary analytical works.
It has achieved similar status and repute in Australia
and Oceania.[8][3] Considered Achebe's magnum opus,
it has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide.[9]
Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100
Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.[10]
The novel has been translated into more than 50
languages, and is often used in literature, world
history, and African studies courses across the
world.
Achebe is now considered to be the essential novelist
on African identity, nationalism, and decolonization.
Achebe's main focus has been cultural ambiguity and
contestation. The complexity of novels such as
Things Fall Apart depends on Achebe's ability to
bring competing cultural systems and their
languages to the same level of representation,
dialogue, and contestation.[6]

Reviewers have praised Achebe's neutral narration

and have described Things Fall Apart as a realistic
novel. Much of the critical discussion about Things
Fall Apart concentrates on the socio-political aspects
of the novel, including the friction between the
members of Igbo society as they confront the
intrusive and overpowering presence of Western
government and beliefs. Ernest N. Emenyonu
commented that "Things Fall Apart is indeed a
classic study of cross-cultural misunderstanding and
the consequences to the rest of humanity, when a
belligerent culture or civilization, out of sheer
arrogance and ethnocentrism, takes it upon itself to
invade another culture, another civilization."[11]

Achebe's writing about African society, in telling

from an African point of view the story of the
colonization of the Igbo, was noted at its publication
in Europe and America to help combat the systemic
Western misconception that African culture was
savage and primitive. In Things Fall Apart, western
culture is portrayed as being "arrogant and
ethnocentric," insisting that the African culture
needed a leader. As it had no kings or chiefs,
Umuofian culture was vulnerable to invasion by
western civilization. It is felt that the repression of
the Igbo language at the end of the novel contributes
greatly to the destruction of the culture. Although
Achebe favours the African culture of the pre-
western society, the author attributes its destruction
to the "weaknesses within the native structure."
Achebe portrays the culture as having a religion, a
government, a system of money, and an artistic
tradition, as well as a judicial system.[12]

Influence and legacy

The publication of Achebe's Things Fall Apart helped

pave the way for numerous other African writers.
Novelists who published after Achebe were able to
find an eloquent and effective mode for the
expression of the particular social, historical, and
cultural situation of modern Africa.[5] Before Things
Fall Apart was published, most of the novels about
Africa had been written by European authors,
portraying Africans as savages who were in need of
western enlightenment.

Achebe broke from this outsider view, by portraying

Igbo society in a sympathetic light. This allows the
reader to examine the effects of European
colonialism from a different perspective.[5] He
commented: "The popularity of Things Fall Apart in
my own society can be explained simply ... this was
the first time we were seeing ourselves, as
autonomous individuals, rather than half-people, or
as Conrad would say, 'rudimentary souls'."[6]
Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka has described
the work as "the first novel in English which spoke
from the interior of the African character, rather
than portraying the African as an exotic, as the white
man would see him."[13]

The language of the novel has not only intrigued

critics but has also been a major factor in the
emergence of the modern African novel. Because
Achebe wrote in English, portrayed Igbo life from
the point of view of an African man, and used the
language of his people, he was able to greatly
influence African novelists, who viewed him as a
mentor.[6]
 External videos
Discussion on the 50th anniversary on Things Fall
Apart featuring Achebe, March 24, 2008 (https://www.c-sp
an.org/video/?199928-1/things-fall-apart) , C-SPAN

Achebe's fiction and criticism continue to inspire and

influence writers around the world. Hilary Mantel,
the Booker Prize-winning novelist in a 7 May 2012
article in Newsweek, "Hilary Mantel's Favorite
Historical Fictions", lists Things Fall Apart as one of
her five favourite novels in this genre. A whole new
generation of African writers – Caine Prize winners
Binyavanga Wainaina (current director of the Chinua
Achebe Center at Bard College) and Helon Habila
(Waiting for an Angel [2004] and Measuring Time
[2007]), as well as Uzodinma Iweala (Beasts of No
Nation [2005]), and Professor Okey Ndibe (Arrows of
Rain [2000]) count Chinua Achebe as a significant
influence. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the author of
the popular and critically acclaimed novels Purple
Hibiscus (2003) and Half of a Yellow Sun (2006),
commented in a 2006 interview: "Chinua Achebe will
always be important to me because his work
influenced not so much my style as my writing
philosophy: reading him emboldened me, gave me
permission to write about the things I knew well."[6]

Things Fall Apart was listed by Encyclopædia

Britannica as one of "12 Novels Considered the
'Greatest Book Ever Written' ".[14]
The 60th anniversary of the first publication of
Things Fall Apart was celebrated at the South Bank
Centre in London, UK, on 15 April 2018 with live
readings from the book by Femi Elufowoju Jr,
Adesua Etomi, Yomi Sode, Lucian Msamati, Jennifer
Nansubuga Makumbi, Chibundu Onuzo, Ellah
Wakatama Allfrey, Ben Okri, and Margaret
Busby.[15][16]

On 5 November 2019 BBC News listed Things Fall

Apart on its list of the 100 most influential novels.[17]

Film, television, music and

theatrical adaptations
A radio drama called Okonkwo was made of the
novel in April 1961 by the Nigerian Broadcasting
Corporation. It featured Wole Soyinka in a
supporting role.[18]

In 1970, the novel was made into a film starring

Princess Elizabeth of Toro, Johnny Sekka and
Orlando Martins by Francis Oladele and Wolf
Schmidt, executive producers Hollywood lawyer
Edward Mosk and his wife Fern, who wrote the
screenplay. Directed by Jason Pohland.[19][Filmportal 1]

In 1987, the book was made into a very successful

miniseries directed by David Orere and broadcast on
Nigerian television by the Nigerian Television
Authority. It starred several established film actors,
including Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh, and Sam Loco
Efe.[20]

In 1999, the American hip-hop band the Roots

released their fourth studio album Things Fall Apart
in reference to Achebe's novel.

In 1999, a theatrical production of Things Fall Apart

adapted by Biyi Bandele was performed at the
Kennedy Center.[21]

The lyrics of the 2019 song "No Holiday for Madiba", a

song honoring Nelson Mandela, include the phrase
"things fall apart" in reference to the book's title.

Publication information
 Achebe, Chinua. The African Trilogy. (London:
Everyman's Library, 2010) ISBN 9781841593272.
Edited with an introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie. The book collects Things Fall Apart, No
Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God in one volume.

See also
Heart of Darkness

Citations
1. Irele, F. Abiola, "The Crisis of Cultural Memory in
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart" (http://asq.africa.
ufl.edu/files/ASQ-Vol-4-Issue-3.pdf) , African Studies
Quarterly, Volume 4, Issue 3, Fall 2000, pp. 1–40.
2. Smuthkochorn, Sutassi (2013). "Things Fall Apart".
Journal of the Humanities. 31: 1–2.
3. Appiah, Kwame Anthony (1992), "Introduction" to the
Everyman's Library edition.
4. Brooks, Jerome, "Chinua Achebe, The Art of Fiction
No. 139" (http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/1
720/the-art-of-fiction-no-139-chinua-achebe) , The
Paris Review No. 133 (Winter 1994).
5. Booker (2003), p. 7.
6. Sickels, Amy. "The Critical Reception of Things Fall
Apart", in Booker (2011).
7. Jayalakshmi V. Rao, Mrs A. V. N. College, "Proverb
and Culture in the Novels of Chinua Achebe" (http://w
ww.postcolonialweb.org/achebe/jvrao1.html) ,
African Postcolonial Literature in English.
8. "Chinua Achebe" (https://www.bookofdaystales.com/c
hinua-achebe/) . BOOK OF DAYS TALES. 16 November
2015. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
 9. THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe |
PenguinRandomHouse.com (http://www.penguinran
domhouse.com/books/565351/things-fall-apart-by-chi
nua-achebe/9780385474542/) .
10. "All-TIME 100 Novels| Full list" (http://entertainment.t
ime.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/all/) ,
Time, 16 October 2005.
11. Whittaker, David, "Chinua Achebe's Things Fall
Apart", New York, 2007, p. 59.
12. Achebe, Chinua (1994). Things Fall Apart (https://archi
ve.org/details/thingsfallapart00ache_ldx/page/8) .
London: Penguin Books. pp. 8 (https://archive.org/det
ails/thingsfallapart00ache_ldx/page/8) .
ISBN 0385474547.
13. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education 2001,
pp. 28–29.
14. Hogeback, Jonathan, "12 Novels Considered the
'Greatest Book Ever Written'" (https://www.britannic
a.com/list/12-novels-considered-the-greatest-book-eve
r-written) , Encyclopædia Britannica.
15. Murua, James, "Chinua Achebe’s 'Things Fall Apart'
at 60 celebrated" (http://www.jamesmurua.com/chin
ua-achebes-things-fall-apart-at-60-celebrated/) ,
James Murua's Literature Blog, 24 April 2018.
16. Edoro, Ainehi, "Bringing Achebe’s Masterpiece to
Life | Highlights from the 60th Anniversary Reading
of Things Fall Apart | Eddie Hewitt" (https://brittlepap
er.com/2018/04/fall-60th-anniversary-reading-london
-15th-april-2018/) , Brittle Paper, 24 April 2018.
17. "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts" (h
ttps://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50302
788) . BBC News. 5 November 2019. Retrieved
10 November 2019. "The reveal kickstarts the BBC's
year-long celebration of literature."
18. Ezenwa-Ohaeto (1997). Chinua Achebe: A Biography
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p. 81. ISBN 0-
253-33342-3.
19. Moore, David Chioni; Analee Heath; Chinua Achebe
(2008). "A Conversation with Chinua Achebe".
Transition. 100 (100): 23. JSTOR 20542537 (https://ww
w.jstor.org/stable/20542537) .
20. "African movies direct and entertainment online" (ht
tp://www.africanmoviesdirect.com/product_info.ph
p?products_id=43036) .
www.africanmoviesdirect.com. Retrieved
10 December 2017.
 21. Triplett, William (6 February 1999). "One-
Dimensional 'Things' " (https://www.washingtonpost.
com/archive/lifestyle/1999/02/06/one-dimensional-thi
ngs/39e446c0-9e2b-4ebb-83b5-2f85d9a6310f/) .
Washington Post. Retrieved 14 September 2020.

Grouped citations

1. Filmportal. "Things Fall Apart" (https://www.filmpor

tal.de/film/things-fall-apart_ff604e3712e24a2987759e21f
fb7f519) (in German).

General and cited sources

"Chinua Achebe of Bard College". The Journal of
Blacks in Higher Education. 33 (33): 28–29.
Autumn 2001. doi:10.2307/2678893 (https://doi.org/1
0.2307%2F2678893) . JSTOR 2678893 (https://www.jst
or.org/stable/2678893) .
Further reading
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York:
Anchor Books, 1994. ISBN 0385474547
Baldwin, Gordon. Strange Peoples and Stranger
Customs. New York: W. W. Norton and Company
Inc, 1967.
Booker, M. Keith. The Chinua Achebe
Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
2003. ISBN 978-0-325-07063-6
Booker, M. Keith. Things Fall Apart, by Chinua
Achebe [Critical Insights]. Pasadena, Calif: Salem
Press, 2011. ISBN 978-1-58765-711-5
Frazer, Sir James George. The Golden Bough: A
Study in Magic and Religion. New York: The
Macmillan Company, 1942.
Girard, Rene. Violence and the Sacred. Trans.
Patrick Gregory. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1977. ISBN 0-8018-1963-6
Islam, Md. Manirul. Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall
Apart' and 'No Longer at Ease': Critical
Perspectives. Germany: Lambert Academic
Publishing, 2019. ISBN 978-620-0-48315-7
Rhoads, Diana Akers (September 1993). "Culture in
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (https://www.js
tor.org/stable/524733) ". African Studies Review.
36(2): 61–72.
Roberts, J. M. A Short History of the World. New
York: Oxford University Press, 1993.
 Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An
Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics.
Lincolnwood, Illinois: NTC Publishing Group, 1994.
ISBN 978-0-8442-5765-5

External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Chinua
Achebe (Author).
Chinua Achebe discusses Things Fall Apart (http
s://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_
archive_new/page2.shtml) on the BBC World
Book Club
Teacher's Guide (http://www.randomhouse.com/hi
ghschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385474542
&view=tg) at Random House
A "New English" in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall
Apart (https://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/new-
english-chinua-achebes-things-fall-apart-common-
core-exemplar)
Study Resource for writing about Things Fall
Apart (http://www.paperstarter.com/thingsfallapa
rt.htm)
Study guide (http://www.gradesaver.com/classicno
tes/titles/things/)
Words present in the novel used in past SATs (http
s://web.archive.org/web/20080910005034/https://se
cure.layingthefoundation.org/english/vocab/novel
s/Things%20Fall%20Apart.pdf) . Includes
definitions, words in order from the book, and
three different tests.
Things Fall Apart Reviews (http://www.shvoong.co
m/tags/things-fall-apart/)
Things Fall Apart (http://wikisummaries.org/Thin
gs_Fall_Apart) on Wiki Summaries
Things Fall Apart (https://web.archive.org/web/20
090421031225/http://www.shmoop.com/intro/literat
ure/chinua-achebe/things-fall-apart.html) study
guide, themes, analysis, teacher resources
Things Fall Apart Igbo Culture Guide, Igbo
Proverbs (http://www.igboguide.org)
Things Fall Apart Summary (https://artscolumbia.
org/literary-arts/prose/things-fall-apart-summary
-42656/)

Portals: Nigeria 1950s Novels

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