Things Fall Apart: A Cultural Reverberation of Pre Colonial African Culture of the IboIgbo

Aim: To establish that the novel Things Fall Apart, gives cultural accounts of the Ibo tribe. Important
matters of life like birth, death, religion, wedding, etc. are discussed in details.
Our task is to compare it with the historical accounts and factual narratives to conclude that it is more of a
historical novel.
The word culture according to a dictionary means ‘customs’ or ‘the way of life of a society or a group’
. There
may be end number of things that might come under the customs of a particular society; hence we focus on
a few important components such as marriage, religion, birth, inheritance, etc. of the Ibo tribe.
Although nowhere specifically indicated in the novel, Things Fall Apart takes place in the late 1800s and
early 1900s, just prior to and during the early days of the British Empire’s expansion in Nigeria.
Throughout the book, we learn details about the life in that place and period in an African culture and
Tradition much different from our own; the culture of the Ibo people, specifically. We learn this from the
first mention of the Ibo people-
“Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and
proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.