Paper 2 Introduction

The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing. Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart.

 The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his or her writing. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart is an example of this influence. Achebe, a Nigerian writer has written his novel Things Fall Apart in 1958 towards the independence of Nigeria from years of British colonization. He tells a story of Okonkwo, a man from the Igbo community struggling to resist the changes in his society brought by the colonist. Meanwhile, Achebe, being a member of the first generation of Westernized Nigeria, has adapted to these changes through his father being one of the converts to Christianity, even though he is still patriotic of his Igbo identity. As a result, this has led to the writing of Things Fall Apart to revolve around the pre colonization and during the colonization of Nigeria. Achebe's complex duality and flexibility of change has influenced the meaning of his writing in Things Fall Apart by incorporating the contradicting Igbo and Western values where he highlights the need for duality in a world of constant change through Okonkwo's resistance to change. 

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