Achebe: Enganging with the composition

Things fallen apart by Chinua Achebe, one of the most interesting novel that I have came across. This is a post-colonial novel that was written in 1958. As I started reading the novel I was quickly engaged in the way the novel distributed its information about each one of the characters. This was quite interesting to me only to engage myself into the reading. As I continued on reading the novel I soon noticed the way the content of the novel was written it would throw me of. Quickly asking myself why type of narration could this be? Figuring this out before continuing on reading could make it much easier for me to understand the narration. 

            Reaching half ways through chapter two I understood there was quite a bit going on in the book already, only have I read one and half chapters and lots of very important things have already happened in the novel. For example, in the first chapter we get introduced to Okonkwo, a young boy who was very well respected because of his victorious win against Amalinze, who was nicknamed “cat”, as stories say cat was given that name because his back has never touched earth. Okonkwo who defeated a seven year champion soon became very famous, talented, wealthy, successful as he owned his own farm of yams, was married to three wife’s with eight kids and supporting every single one of them in their own hut. As the narration continues in third person mainly focusing on Okonkwo and his successes though out his young life it also shows how Okonkwo struggles to be as different from his now dead father. He thinks he father to be weak, effeminate, lazy, embarrassing, and poor. He showed only how to be strong, masculine, industrious, respected, and wealthy. There is lots of skipping from characters to characters. This is done throughout the novel as it jumps from character to character to detail the thoughts and motives of various individuals that have a small but important part of the novel such as Okonkwo’s father and his motives influencing his son Okonkwo.

            The novel only continues to show Okonkwo struggles to keep from being like his dad, he then finds out that one of his sons is also lazy and beats him afraid that he will end up like his father Unoka.