Interview with Achebe

1) What was the most meaningful takeaway from today’s discussion relating to the cultural or literary context of Achebe’s work? 

The context in which a story is written is often undermined or overlooked in novels, however, it is inevitably important to be able to identify the context in which a text lies. Today's discussion provided insight on Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe and the first African literature work published where countless perky questions were raised and their responses have highlighted a lot of the factors that influenced Achebe's literary work. Many connections between the historical, cultural and political contexts with Achebe's writing style were made. This is because the interview examined how successful the author was in intertwining a Historical context to his literary novel which mainly tackled pre- and post-colonial life set prior to and during the arrival of the colonial administration in Nigeria as opposed to during the context of composition, in 1958. Achebe's canvas was intentionally painted this way to showcase the transition Nigeria has experienced whereby the colonized groups were conquered and to an extent, completely divided. Throughout his Novel, he inspires preserving the cultural identity and diversity of his own people in addition to challenging western or more specifically, British hegemony. Achebe also suggests withstanding the abandoning of that true cultural identity and refraining from adapting to an unjust framework that was forced onto his indigenous people by the British. Achebe was successful in substantially doing so where rhetoric is used effectively.

"Writers are influenced by their context,(time in which they live, place in which their write or families from which they come), which all ultimately contributes to the context of composition and thus the composition of their literary works."

2) Select a specific quote from the interview or a general idea from the discussion and write a brief reflection
“wherever something stands, something else will stand beside it.”- A proverb from the interview which resonated with myself and I believe is worthy of being selected.

When applying a critical lens, it’s easy to establish that there’s a duality grounded in different parts of two undisputedly divergent yet juxtaposed cultures, where some specific contexts very much overlap. This reflects the period of time after WW2, where a mass wave of independence took place in Nigeria. In addition to Nigeria, many other colonized countries in Africa have gained independence during that time from the colonization of European forces. However, the process of decolonization is unique to Nigeria as there was not only one charismatic or single rebellious leader in Nigeria; but more so like a multitude of voices, and Achebe was one of the individuals who contributed to developing a strong nationalistic ideal and resistance therewithal. This overall reflects the transitional period that Nigeria was experiencing documented in a culturally authentic voice. Moreover, it paces the way for providing the projected audience with an understanding of how context is significant and how Achebe's novel “Things Fall Apart” has become an artifact of its particular context and a quintessential representation of post-colonialism.