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Books become classics because they either reflect on or influence the world around us. As was the casewith Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Of...
All Okonkwo was asking for was a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Granted, swinging your machete around may not be the nicest way to ask, but still. The guy d...
Things Fall Apart and Imperialism 37893 Views
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Description:
Books become classics because they either reflect on or influence the world around us. As was the casewith Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Of course, a book can also become a classic because its author does something crazy like try to assassinate a world leader, but those are really fringe cases.
Transcript
- 00:04
Things Fall Apart and Imperialism, a la Shmoop. When Chinua Achebe <<chin-you-ah ah-cheb-ay>>
- 00:10
wrote Things Fall Apart...
- 00:11
...he wasn't just upset about that papier-mâché bookshelf he got at the craft fair last fall.
- 00:17
Although... that was disappointing, too. Rather, Achebe was concerned about some stuff
- 00:23
that was happening in his world...
Full Transcript
- 00:24
...and he was hoping to enact some real change by writing this novel.
- 00:28
So... what was Imperialism?
- 00:31
What effect did it have on Africa, and how did our author feel about it?
- 00:35
And... how do we as a Western culture feel about it?
- 00:39
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
- 00:41
...European powers swooped into Africa and decided to divvy it up amongst themselves.
- 00:46
Never mind that quite a few people were already living there.
- 00:50
It is referred to as a period of New Imperialism...
- 00:54
...or the Scramble for Africa...
- 00:56
...which isn't as delicious as it sounds, and was notably lacking in chunks of breakfast
- 01:01
sausage. By the time the imperialists had had their
- 01:03
way...
- 01:04
...the continent had been divided up like this: Aside from demonstrating a complete indifference
- 01:10
with regard to the cultures and boundaries recognized by Africa's existing residents...
- 01:15
...they were making it exceedingly difficult for anyone to play a simple game of Risk.
- 01:23
Why did all these Europeans think they could just hop across the pond and snatch all that
- 01:27
land away from its inhabitants?
- 01:31
Because at the time, all Africans were viewed as savage and unsophisticated.
- 01:36
From the imperialists' point of view, it was more like they were displacing a bunch
- 01:40
of animals than human beings. Obviously, this mindset infuriated and frustrated
- 01:46
Achebe...
- 01:47
...and he decided to write a book that would reveal the true nature of tribal cultures...
- 01:51
...and hopefully open people's eyes as to how poorly they had been treated...
- 01:55
...and how unfairly they had been disregarded. Achebe strove to show that, no matter what
- 02:01
the outside world may think...
- 02:03
...the values of any society are valid within that culture.
- 02:07
We here in the states may assume we've got it all figured out...
- 02:10
...but someone in a tribal culture might be appalled at how we ship our elderly off to
- 02:15
retirement communities...
- 02:16
...rather than taking them into our homes and caring for them ourselves.
- 02:21
Or, at the very least, sitting down with them once in a while to watch 60 Minutes.
- 02:25
Rather than write an essay about the issue, Achebe wanted to write a fictional story...
- 02:30
...so that, rather than feeling lectured at...
- 02:32
...we could enter the lives of just a handful of fleshed-out individuals...
- 02:35
...and really get a sense for their day-to-day trials and tribulations.
- 02:39
But most importantly, he wanted us to see that they were human beings...
- 02:43
...and not just inanimate objects that could be moved around when it suited the whim of
- 02:47
another...
- 02:48
...as if they were merely redecorating an apartment. Was Achebe successful?
- 02:53
Did you feel for the plight of the characters in his novel...
- 02:56
...or are you on your way to Africa now, to put in your claim for Botswana?
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