THINGS FALL APART – NARRATIVE WRITING STYLE - SOME NOTES
There are a number of key narrative features in Things Fall Apart. When we consider narrative we are looking specifically at the voice of the narrator. We can assume an implicit sympathy for the Igbo culture and tradition but does not exaggerate or romanticise – Achebe is aware of its limitations.
Third person omniscient/restricted narrator – free to move from one characters thoughts/perceptive to another. Author shows a variety of viewpoints.
The third-person modes are usually categorized along two axes. The first is the subjectivity/objectivity axis, with "subjective" narration describing one or more character's feelings and thoughts, while "objective" narration does not describe the feelings or thoughts of any characters.
The second axis is between "omniscient" and "limited," a distinction that refers to the knowledge available to the narrator. An omniscient narrator has omniscient knowledge of time, people, places and events; a limited narrator, in contrast, may know absolutely everything about a single character and every piece of knowledge in that character's mind, but it is "limited" to that character—that is, it cannot describe things unknown to the focal character.
· E.g. The District Commissioner in Chapter 25
· Ekwefi following Ezinma in Chapter 11
Voice is from the people themselves – not a western perspective.
· E.g. Obierika tells the story of Abame and its destruction – he does not translate or explain the story for us. ‘Iron horse’ page 101/2 chapter 15
· E.g. shift of perspective to DC in chapter 25
Non judgemental – avoids rant or diatribe against the colonial rule. Readers respond emotionally to these facts.
· E.g. the killing of Ikemafona – chapter 7
· E.g. Okonkwo’s hanging – chapter 25
Tells tales in the old oral tradition
Dramatic episodes e.g. Ekwefi and Ezinma - chapter 11
Use of dialogue
· E.g. the trial - presented in a formal discourse / informal dialogue - Ezinma’s night journey / Oberika and Okonkwo after the death of Ikemafuna and Oberika's visit to Okonkwo in the second year of exile / Ritualistic dialogue used in Igbo ceremonies
Use of Foreign Language
Its function is to
· Create alien and different people – mystery
· Gives a sense of the difference from our own society, complex, sophisticated, intelligent, wise
· Give a sense of another place – realistic
· Forces readers to enter into Igbo culture and tradition
Language as a Sign of Cultural Difference
Language is an important theme in Things Fall Apart on several levels. In demonstrating the imaginative, often formal language of the Igbo, Achebe emphasizes that Africa is not the silent or incomprehensible country that books such as Heart of Darkness made it out to be. Rather, by peppering the novel with Igbo words, Achebe shows that the Igbo language is too complex for direct translation into English. Similarly, Igbo culture cannot be understood within the framework of European colonialist values. Achebe also points out that Africa has many different languages: the villagers of Umuofia, for example, make fun of Mr. Brown’s translator because his language is slightly different from their own.
On a macroscopic level, it is extremely significant that Achebe chose to write Things Fall Apart in English—he clearly intended it to be read by the West at least as much, if not more, than by his fellow Nigerians. His goal was to critique and emend the portrait of Africa that was painted by so many writers of the colonial period. Doing so required the use of English, the language of those colonial writers. Through his inclusion of proverbs, folktales, and songs translated from the Igbo language, Achebe managed to capture and convey the rhythms, structures, cadences, and beauty of the Igbo language.
Use of speeches
There are quite a number of speeches told throughout the novel. They are important features of the text. They are used to communicate the values and attitudes of the people of Umophia directly to us the readers. They are used as a way of identifying the character of Okonkwo in relation to the broader Igbo community
· E.g. Unchendu’s speech to Okonkwo chapter 14
· Okidao’s speech in Chapter 24
Use of foreshadowing
Events are often foreshadowed - the act of providing vague advance indications; representing beforehand
· E.g. Ikemefuna’s death and the locusts foreshadowing the arrival of the white man.
Use of flashbacks
Stories are not told from “beginning” to “end” but by using flashbacks a transition to an earlier event or scene that interrupts the normal chronological development of the novel.
e.g. the story of Ezinma
The readers are left to decide for themselves about the moral message of the story. Simon Gikandi called the narrator a “witness”.
Use of Proverb and story
The novel is full of proverbs and sayings. These are used to show the collective wisdom of the village. They are evidence of a complex, sophisticated, highly cultured community.
