Paper 2- Analytical response

 To what extent has an awareness of context enriched or enhanced your understanding of Things Fall Apart

After further exploring and enhancing my knowledge about the context of the novel ' Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe, all the themes and plots were made evident to me through the assistance of the Igbo people's traditions and culture. Due to Achebe's novel responding to the colonization of his country, he created a format in which he shared what his society experienced and underwent during the colonization. By choosing specific topics to further develop not only the context but also the culture, it really assisted in understanding Achebe's true intentions of what he desired to get across to the readers.

Due to the novel being set in a time era ( 1850's) prior to it being written, it truly emphasizes on the state of mind people where in. Throughout the years societies perspectives and attitudes towards certain subjects such as sexism and gender equality has drastically varied overtime, hence altering the readers awareness of Chinua Achebe true intentions regarding the novels message.

Without the basic information of the Igbo societies culture and traditions, it leads readers to posses various forms of perspectives of the novel, hence causing either misinterpretation or undesired opinion in regards to the novel. An example of a form of perspective would be the feminist lens, it assists in providing a new perspective to the novel. Some people tend to call the novel sexist, as they contemplate that the woman are undervalued by the men in the Igbo society. The feminist lens reinforces in providing the readers with a somewhat better conception of not only the woman’s views but also allows the readers to view the characters in a different light, along with establishing an alertness of social gender construction. During the novel it is mentioned that Okonkwo abuses his wives, he does so in order to demonstrate that he is a powerful respected resident of Umuofia. Alongside that Okonkwo presents that side of himself to insure not only himself but also his community that he will never be like his deadbeat father, a man who was viewed by their people as a weak and undetermined ' agbala'.

Overall one thing that must be regarded is that through his novel, Chinua Achebe is trying to balance his living and upbringing with his religious beliefs. Through his literature Achebe is trying to display the Igbo society through the lens of the colonized, where as in other texts such as ' Heart of Darkness' the perspective is portrayed through a colonizers point of view.

In conclusion after further exploring and enhancing my knowledge about the context of the novel 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe, all the themes and plots were made evident to me. As the readers it is our duty to an extent to be aware of the context in which the novel is set in, in order for us to consider the true meaning behind a novel.