Text, Genre, & Structure

Chinua Achebe's novel "Things Fall Apart" falls under the genre of historical fiction as it depicts the tradition and culture of the Igbo tribe before pro-Independence Nigeria (pre-colonialism). Therefore, the genre is influenced by the context as the setting during this time of Igbo life as well as the social effect of the hegemonic attitude of the missionaries over this culture allowed for a correlation to be drawn between what was happening in the novel, and what was happening in the outside world. Additionally, this novel was written in a third person perspective as this point of view so as to have a non-subjective insight into the traditions and cultures of the Igbo tribe, as well as their colonization by the Europeans. As, although Achebe is a Christian, this clash of his own identity restricted him from being able to take a side when discussing the conflict, permitting the readers to garner their own opinion based on their own perception of the novel's contents. With this in mind, this narrative voice the author employs the reader to make their own conclusion as to what they think of the issue. Knowing this, the historical background behind this novel is not tainted with Achebe's own perception of it (where he leans towards only one side) and therefore he follows the genre of 'historical' more for its history than for a selfish agenda. As even at the end of the novel there is no conclusive statement as to was in the wrong, as neither side was the one telling the story. Furthermore, the structure is also influenced by the context as Achebe's non-linear story (of having multiple flashbacks and such) allow for the story to be more than just a narrative description of how the Igbo tribe fell apart after colonial dominance. However, the fact that there were multiple flashbacks  of certain characters (i.e. Okonkwo) and it often interrupts the storyline to discuss some of the Igbo traditions, this renders the structure less narrative as seeing as how the genre is historical, there is a necessity for explanations of certain aspects of the context of which the novel is set. For example, to explain the egwugwu ceremony where this was necessary to highlight its importance to the reader so that when it was violated by the Christians this event would create more of an emotional impact and therefore bring more meaning to the context.