Things Fall Apart
The novel Things Fall Apart is rather heavily involved with the many aspects that shape a certain culture. One can assume that the incorporation of tribal legends and stories, the songs and traditions all serve as a basis for the story. Without them, there would be no plot as dramatic and worthy and no climax as fitted to the story line. The novel examines the conflict that has formed with the clash of two paradoxical worlds, being the Igbo tribe and the British colonisers. Clearly the British's practical invasion of the Igbo people has a considerable effect on them and evokes many distraught reactions and opposing thoughts. This was a new concept to the Igbo people as they very much depended on the silence and cooperation of each other to remain one as a people.
Igbo tales and stories are what illuminated their culture and kept the people tied to it, in a sense attaching them to their culture through emotion and implied threats, perhaps, as they are viewed with a grain of salt ; yet they carry in them the purpose of intimidation. The story of the tortoise that was told by Ekwefi to soothe Ezinma in her ill state serves as an example. The story discussed a feast that would take place high up in the sky for all the birds, clearly not the appropriate location for a tortoise. The tortoise, however, persuades the birds to lend him their feathers as wing substitutes with his charming behaviour in order to attend the feast and , in that sense share their privileges. The tortoise is one with a cunning mind, thus also persuades the birds to take new names for the feast , incorporating a new custom for his own benefit. He changes his own name into "All of you", as when he asks the hosts for whom the feast is prepared they reply :"for all of you." He then proceeds to tasting the best parts of the food and wine, leaving mere scraps for the birds. This leaves the birds filled with resentment and him without wings. Once again the tortoise persuades a bird to deliver a message to his wife , asking her to cover their compound with all of their soft things so that he may land safely. This time, however, the bird uses the tortoises trust to his advantage and asks the wife to bring out all the hard things, causing the tortoises shell to break. He is forced to have the shells being put back together by a medicine man which is why tortoise's shells aren't smooth. Although one can't establish a link as to why Ekwefi would tell her daughter a story as such, Achebe effectively weaves in the Igbo values of honesty and revenge with a traditional story. Although the moral of the story may appear to be that this would be the reason why tortoise shells aren't smooth, in the context of the novel it carries a much heavier meaning. Through imagination and an abstract story line Achebe manages to entertain the reader , while subconsciously implementing the mentality of the igbo people , which is to take back what has been stolen from them. In the story of the tortoise, the main character has used the birds trust to his advantage and misused it. This causes them to not only strip him off his wings, meaning to say that he no longer has their privileges (In Igbo culture that would mean the extraction of titles and social status as well as land and crops.) ; they also avenge themselves by misusing his trust, causing his weapon of defence leading to his own literal downfall.
As the Igbo people were completely illiterate , it was of great importance to them to find a way of recording their traditions, cultural views, religion and knowledge embedded within their society. All of that was done orally in the form of songs and mostly stories. They created fictional stories and real songs for the major occasions such as death, marriage, titles, honourable acts and shameful acts. By telling each other those stories and categorising their importance, they created a reliable system of keeping track of their history. The younger ones would remember all those easily as it was one of the main forms of entertainment they had access to, and would effortlessly carry on their tribes legacy.
No comments:
Post a Comment