Language and Style Blog Post

‘A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.’  This quote by Mahatma Ghandi is the quote that resides with me when I look back at the novel of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. For the sole reason that I believe what Achebe was trying to do, was to portray his culture in a more realistic and less ‘ideal’ way. He wanted to stay true to his culture, traditions and nations beliefs. Even though the novel was originally written in English he uses poems, myths and stories to really display to the reader’s what the Igbo culture was really all about. For people from other parts of the world, where they might not have heard of the Igbo culture, they need tools for help in which they can further comprehend what is trying to be portrayed. Which is where Achebe’s unique style of writing with myths, traditions and stories come in to action.

The ‘oral tradition’ as it is called, is manifested in this novel through many aspects. For example: Song use. Achebe includes traditional songs in his novel. These songs are distributed throughout and give the novel a much more traditional African feel. Achebe uses both translated and un-translated songs in the novel which is quite compelling and interesting in the eyes of the reader considering that the entire novel was written originally in English. Therefore to have that mix between both languages shows the differentiation and diversity that Achebe has and uses in his writing. The first song that comes up in the novel is a children’s song: “The rain is falling, the sun is shining, / Alone Nnadi is cooking and eating”. The song combines cultural themes and traditions with imagery that helps the reader picture the story. The context of the song is “Gradually the rains became lighter and less frequent, and earth and sky once again became separate. The rain fell in thin, slanting showers through sunshine and quiet breeze”. There are other songs which are sung by people in the village and they have something to do with village traditions of wrestling, marriage, work, and even death.

Lastly, Achebe uses many folk tales in his novel to mainly exemplify the personality traits of the different characters. There are instances where folk tales are used to give complexity to certain characters’ inner thought process and psyche. In chapter seven, Okonkwo is defined as telling stories to his sons. He told them stories of the land—masculine stories for that matter, of violence and bloodshed. This is another example of how traditions are so highly worshipped in the Igbo culture, because this is clear evidence showing how stories were being passed down from generation to generation. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent, but somehow he still preferred the stories his mother used to tell, and which she no doubt still told to her younger children (here we see again the story telling through generations). This tales show both the traits of Okonkwo and Nwoye, and sets them up for the rest of the story, and supports the differences that these two main characters had.

In conclusion these are just a few samples of how Achebe makes use of myth, legend or other stories and tales, in the novel Things Fall Apart.