Structure in Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe as we all know is a proud Igbo and a devote Christian. He was a member of the Nigerian independence movement, and published the novel shortly before they gained independence. Having this information at hand, you can understand why he incorporated certain elements of structure into the novel. In the first part of the novel, he aims to educate his audience about the Igbo culture. An example of this would be in the first chapter when Okoye is talking to Unoka about the debts that he must repay him. The third person omniscient narrator mentions the fact that in Igbo culture, conversation is considered an art, where proverbs are respected, and one does speaks around the point their trying to make, rather than directly at it. This is reflected in the first part of the novel, as the story is told in a very circular motion, rather than linear. This is intentional, as it gives the novel a certain Igbo authenticity. In terms of the narrative voice, Achebe decides to use a third person omniscient narrator, in order to explore the changes occurring at the time from the perspective of more than just one villager and also from the perspective of the British. This gives the reader a more holistic story. Context influences this as the Nigerian independence movement is in full swing when Achebe writes this novel, and therefore giving them a detailed account of the events that took place can give the reader inspiration to fight harder, and understand why and what it is they are fighting for. Finally, this novel is considered to fall into the genres of Realist and Historical fiction. Achebe does this in order to give the novel a certain level of genuinity and authenticity, as the novel follows the history of the setting well, and creates realistic situations based on the time it takes place. This is done in order to make the readers feel like the emotions they feel towards the characters and the story-line is not forced, otherwise the purpose of the novel which is to inspire Nigerians to fight for independence cannot be achieved to a great effect, seeing as they will be running on fabricated emotions and misleading information.