Thoughts on the Book: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The novel written by Chinua Achebe is a very interesting book. It is a book written about a man living in a very small village in Nigeria. The novel gives an account of what seems to be a well-thought story of the daily life of a village in Nigeria. The story was made in 1959 and it is mainly focused on a man called Okonkwo. According to me, Okonkwo is not a likable character although he is a charming person that someone would develop an interesting in knowing. He is a very strong man who defends his family despite being a child of a weak father. Okonkwo is a very popular man as stated in the book and he does not carry out his life orderly. He relies on their tradition and norms and he is controlled by the desire to have power over everybody in the village.

The book first discusses his early life when he is in the village until he commits a shameful act to the family forced him to leave and reside in another village. The rest of the book provides an account of the coming of Christian missionaries. This section of the book is very attractive as it presents the personal perception of missionaries and how they can be treated in the village. Based on the information I have obtained from the book, Achebe is a real novelist and in his book, things fall apart, I gained a lot of things that I should know about life. After going through the book, I attracted to the life of Okonkwo to the extent that I would not like to stop reading the book.

My initial thought when reading the book is the reason why most people want to read this book written by Chinua Achebe. This is a book that informs the World that Africans are backward by calling Africa as the heart of darkness. Achebe when writing this book, he introduced Igbo culture and norms. I also like the way Achebe wrote the book. It was written in a simple and a clear manner that even non English speakers can understand. To be specific, I love the way the author chose formal language that was symbolizing the other side of Africa

Another interesting thing that I thought about in this book is the themes. In this book, there are different themes that I could identify when reading it. From this book we see Okonkwo trying to resist political, cultural and religious changes. This gives us different themes such as the theme of religion, tradition, and politics. The theme of masculinity is also is in the book because when reading the book we see Okonkwo did not want to be seen as weak as a woman like his father was when he was young. When I completed reading this novel, I also developed the same feeling I had when I was beginning to read the same book. I was attracted to it and I was not only happy about one thing. This book is very long and wide. It is not easy to finish when committed to other things. Even though I do not like some characters in the book, I am still not able to stop reading it. In my conclusion, things fall apart by Chinua Achebe is a very interesting book that I would recommend for someone to read and narrate to other people. I am now looking forward to going through all the chapters of this book. Thank you.