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28 Days of Literary Blackness With VSB Day 13: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/28-days-of-literary-blackness-with-vsb-day-13-things-1832589330?utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=vsb_theroot_
It’s been a good and long while since I’ve read Things Fall Apart. I remember reading this in college, not for any particular class, but because it was suggested by one of my professors who was really big on writers of the African diaspora as he felt that in order to fully embrace our blackness, we needed to understand what the rest of the black world looked like.
The book is about a lot of things: Nigeria (first and foremost), family, tradition, masculinity, violence, white colonialism, religion and the introduction of Christianity, resistance versus acceptance, death, etc. It’s one of those books, for me, where the title of it couldn’t be more apropos. My favorite scene in Disney’s Pocahontas is when Pocahontas’ father tells his tribe to stay away from the white man, saying, “These white men are dangerous.” This novel is what happens when they show up in Nigeria instead of Virginia.
Because of its resonance in the canon of world literature, there’s not a lot of convincing needed on whether the book is worthy of a read. Chances are that you already know this. I will say that I’m a lover of quotes, and simple but super effective ways to form phrases, and I have always remembered one particular line about a character in the novel who was described as “a man who thought about things.” That stuck with me for years because it sounds so profound yet so simple. And mostly, this is how I think of myself after I drink Hennessy. The book also is the title of The Roots’ best album, which includes my favorite of their songs, “Act Too (The Love of My Life).” Things fall apart, indeed.
The book is about a lot of things: Nigeria (first and foremost), family, tradition, masculinity, violence, white colonialism, religion and the introduction of Christianity, resistance versus acceptance, death, etc. It’s one of those books, for me, where the title of it couldn’t be more apropos. My favorite scene in Disney’s Pocahontas is when Pocahontas’ father tells his tribe to stay away from the white man, saying, “These white men are dangerous.” This novel is what happens when they show up in Nigeria instead of Virginia.
Because of its resonance in the canon of world literature, there’s not a lot of convincing needed on whether the book is worthy of a read. Chances are that you already know this. I will say that I’m a lover of quotes, and simple but super effective ways to form phrases, and I have always remembered one particular line about a character in the novel who was described as “a man who thought about things.” That stuck with me for years because it sounds so profound yet so simple. And mostly, this is how I think of myself after I drink Hennessy. The book also is the title of The Roots’ best album, which includes my favorite of their songs, “Act Too (The Love of My Life).” Things fall apart, indeed.
"Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them."
--Unoka from "Things Fall Apart"