Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

About the Author  Born November 15, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria  Family belonged to the Igbo tribe  He was the fifth of six children  His parents were convinced by the British controlling Nigeria to give up their tribal religion and become Christians  He grew up a Christian, too, but was curious about the more traditional Nigerian faiths

About the Author  He wrote five novels, of which Things Fall Apart is the most famous  He became involved in politics and actively crusaded for help for those in his country suffering  He was involved in a car accident in 1990 and is now paralyzed from the waist down

About the Author  He was unhappy with books written about Africa by the British (like Heart of Darkness and Mister Johnson) because they were inaccurate and insulting  He wrote Things Fall Apart to combat this image. It is about a traditional warrior hero, Okonkwo, who is unable to adapt to the changing conditions under British rule.

About the Book  Published in 1959, written in English  The title comes from a poem by W.B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”  The language is simple, but dignified  The book questions both the tribal traditions of the Igbo and the influence of the white man in Nigeria

“The white man has put a knife in the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”