Things Fall Apart: A NovelThe most widely read book in modern African literature tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around a fearless Igbo warrior in Nigeria in the late 1800s, before and after the European colonization of the continent. “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni Morrison The first of these stories traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world in which he lives, and in its classical purity of line and economical beauty it provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict between the individual and society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, and which elevates the book to a tragic plane, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world through the arrival of aggressive, proselytizing European missionaries. These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized, and they are modulated by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. THINGS FALL APART is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience as seen from within. Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read. |
Contents
CHAPTER ONE | |
CHAPTER TWO | |
CHAPTER THREE | |
CHAPTER FOUR | |
CHAPTER FIVE | |
CHAPTER SIX | |
CHAPTER SEVEN | |
CHAPTER EIGHT | |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN | |
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | |
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN | |
CHAPTER NINETEEN | |
CHAPTER TWENTY | |
CHAPTER TWENTYONE | |
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO | |
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE | |
CHAPTER NINE | |
CHAPTER TEN | |
CHAPTER ELEVEN | |
CHAPTER TWLEVE | |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN | |
CHAPTER FOURTEEN | |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN | |
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR | |
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE | |
A GLOSSARY OF IBO WORDS AND PHRASES | |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | |
ALSO BY CHINUA ACHEBE | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abame Agbala ancestors Aneto beat began broke brothers brought buried called cam wood cassava Chielo child CHINUA ACHEBE Chukwu church clan cooking court messengers cowries crowd darkness daughter District Commissioner drums earth egwugwu Ekwefi elders Evil Forest Ezeudu Ezinma farm father fear feast fire foo-foo goatskin gods hand happened harmattan harvest head heard Ikemefuna in-laws iyi-uwa Kiaga killed king of crops kinsmen knew kola nut looked machete Mbaino Mbanta medicine missionaries morning mother’s hut neighbors Nigeria night nine villages Nwakibie Nwoye Nwoye’s mother Obiageli Obierika ogbanje Ogbuefi Okagbue Okonkwo’s compound Oracle palm palm-oil pot of palm-wine priestess rain replied returned rose round salute season silence silk-cotton tree soon soup spirit stood story talking tell things thought told took Tortoise tree Uchendu Unoka Uzowulu voice walked white man’s wife wine wives woman women yams young