dried his body."
("The Role of the Writer in a New Nation")
According to Chinua Achebe, the African writer must help African peoples and others realize that Africans had a viable and intact culture before the Europeans ever came to Africa. The African writer's job is to recognize and celebrate that culture so that all African peoples can begin to reclaim their dignity. As a teacher it's my job to present Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, in such a way that my students don't fail to recognize and celebrate that cultural perspective as well. To facilitate that understanding I need to not only make the text accessible to my students, many of whom are reluctant or limited readers, but also to provide some historical and cultural context as well. Since I want my students to make the appropriate text-to-text, text-to-world, and text-to-self connections, I need to use a wide variety of geographical, historical, cultural and literary resources. These resources will help my students understand what happens to Ukonkwo, his community, and his culture. They will draw on these resources and recognize that Achebe has created a literary work that has revised African history. After finishing the novel and the unit, my students will know just how civilized the African peoples were and just how systematically the European imperialists and missionaries annihilated native African communities for their own selfish reasons.
Now some may question why this novel or why this unit, and as an experienced teacher I can answer confidently. First, I have been with the New Castle County School District at Delcastle High School for sixteen years and I helped write the English Language Standards for the District. What I will have my students do with the reading will be aligned with the standards for English 12 and will be assessed with a required writing portfolio assignment. Just reading the novel alone will provide my students the opportunity to examine and evaluate some very sophisticated literary techniques and to review all the literary components of the novel. The fact that it is set in Africa and written by an African writer makes it world literature and quickly provides the required different cultural perspective. More importantly, however, is the element of challenge it will provide. This novel and this unit should challenge the way they look at the world around them.
Almost everything my students read and write during English 12 addresses the idea of change. As Frodo, the main character in The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien, discovers once he embarks on his journey to destroy the ring, the world can be an extremely different and dangerous place once a young person leaves the comfort and security of his home community. My students are about to embark on new journeys themselves. They are about to make the transition from high school to either work or college, and their lives and lifestyles are about to undergo some very serious changes. I want to prepare them for these changes and that means challenging the way they look at the world and even how they view their place in the world. Like it or not we are moving into a more global society and that means change. More and more people of different cultural backgrounds immigrate to the United States at a time when the United States finds itself more actively involved in a variety of global issues and concerns. I believe my students need classroom opportunities where they can safely begin to question information, cultural perspectives, and ideas and this unit will be one of those opportunities. As they progress through the various activities they will make connections between what they read and what they know about the world around them.
Content
Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, tells the story of an Igbo warrior, Okonkwo, and his ill-fated attempt to take a stand against the spreading British influence and control in his community. Okonkwo is a proud and powerful man whose personal strength literally flows from the heart of his Igbo culture. Through him we learn the cultural heritage and traditions of the Igbo people who reside in the fictional village of Umuofia and share in their personal joys and sorrows. Although he sometimes suffers the consequences of his own ambitious nature, Okonkwo is a good man who works hard to improve the life and wellbeing of his family and his community. We experience his shame and frustration when an accidental cultural transgression forces Okonkwo to return to his Motherland of Mbanta where he must remain for seven years. During his time there we learn, like Okonkwo, the importance of familial and cultural ties and the ever growing presence of the white missionaries who continually test the spirit and authority of the traditional Igbo deities and the beliefs that support them. Sadly, it is upon his return to Umuofia that Okonkwo witnesses the changes wrought by British influences. Although some villagers appear to benefit from the spread of commerce and education, these changes come with a growing administrative authority that challenges their own. When he and other Umuofia leaders attempt to meet with the District Commissioner, they are held captive and humiliated by the new Imperial authorities. Though many in Umuofia do not want to submit to this new authority, it is only Okonkwo who is willing to physically attack their authority and ultimately sacrifice his life and eternal rest for his cultural heritage. Through Okonkwo's life and death we see a man of dignity, a man who recognizes that his community and culture are worth preserving. In reading this book my students will note many of the similarities between African cultural traditions and their own and appreciate a truly African telling of the effects of British colonialism is Africa.
Before my students begin reading Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, they need to know why it was written. Whenever there is any literary discussion of the novel, I have often found some form of this African proverb cited: "until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story" ("African Proverb of the Month"). I want my students to understand that the novel was written so that readers would learn about the colonization of Africa through a completely African voice. In his essay, "The Novelist as Teacher," Achebe writes, "I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past - with all its imperfections - was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God's behalf delivered them" (Hopes and Impediments: Selected Essays 1965-1987, 45). To make sure my students fully comprehend that idea, I will provide them with some historical and geographical background on the European exploration and conquest of Africa. This information will help them question that Eurocentric view of the so-called "dark" continent of Africa.
I began my research on the exploration and colonization of Africa by reading The Scramble for Africa: White Man's Conquest of the Dark Continent From 1876 to 1914 by Thomas Pakenham. The book provided a detailed account of the exploration of central Africa and the political brokering and intrigue that precipitated and continued its division and colonization. I learned that David Livingstone's discovery of the Congo, four times larger than the Nile, created an easy route into the heart of Africa. This discovery and those of other explorers like Verney Cameron, Henry Stanley and John Speke opened the heart of Africa to commerce and Christianity. King Leopold II of Belgium, anxious to expand his country's territorial and economic holdings, held the first geographical conference on Central Africa in 1876. This event started to reshape African history by triggering a scramble for additional land in Africa. Again Africa was seen as the perfect opportunity to extend European markets, promote European ideas of civilization and morality, and satisfy the European need for power and dominion over all they saw.
As I reviewed the maps in both the book and various websites, I learned what many Europeans may have seen when they looked at Africa - large expansions of land crying for development. Other than the colonies that outlined the coastal trade routes, some maps included few details other than lakes or rivers required for trade. Since the maps were created by European explorers and map makers, the maps included only what the Europeans considered important. Explorations of the African interior were generally funded by European governments or private investors for specific reasons. Those reasons and the maps they generated often expose some of the imperialistic and stereotypical attitudes Europeans had when they view the vast continent of Africa. In fact, Pakenham notes that King Leopold II referred to Africa as cake and different areas as a pear or a plum. Africa would definitely feed the European appetite for growth and power.
Since maps often illustrate a particular point of view, my students need to examine a variety of African maps, pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial maps. I want to use maps so my students and I can explore how various forms of information conveyed through maps may have colored our understanding of Africa and its peoples. Do the maps help or hinder our understanding? Answering that question may be an excellent way to explore what they believe the maps reveal about the physical, social, and economic make-up of the continent. I intend to use the Imperial Federation Map, a map of Africa before the scramble: indigenous and alien powers in 1876; a map drawn to show the parts of Africa that had adopted Christianity and those that had not; a map of ethnic groups in Africa; a map of Nigeria at the time of Independence, and additional maps that highlight the routes of particular explorers and earlier names of a variety of territories in Africa (see teacher resources). Through careful deconstruction and discussion, I want my students to realize just how much information and misinformation maps can convey if they are examined without some attention to social, political or historical context.
In addition to examining maps I want my students to take a closer look at some of the explorers whose interests and discoveries fueled the scramble for Africa. Who were these men and why did they sacrifice their lives to chart this foreign territory? Did they seek gold, glory, or God? Did they exploit the native Africans or enrich them? Although many students may recognize the names Stanley and Livingstone, they may not know why they went to Africa or what they accomplished by going there. I want my students to enhance their physical and political knowledge of Africa by doing some independent research on other explorers like Cameron, Burton, Speke, Baker, Grant, and de Brazza. I want some to even research European and African leaders like King Leopold II and King Cetshwayo. In learning more about these individuals, they will learn more about the physical details of Africa, its economic resources, and the political and social factors behind its eventual colonization. Armed with this background information, students will see how and why the Europeans pushed their way across Africa.
Once my students and I have reviewed the European point of view, it will be time to introduce the African point of view. It should come as no surprise to anyone that there is a distinct difference between European and African storytelling. Even though Achebe has adopted the European written narrative, he has definitely embedded the African oral tradition within it. To understand this Nigerian viewpoint, my students will need to know some of the uniquely African literary devices that Achebe uses in his narrative. First, and foremost, is the use of proverbs to convey meaning. Since "proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten" (Things Fall Apart 7), my students will need to know the definition of a proverb and the literary role they play in African Igbo discourse. Before they even begin reading the novel, my students will need to explore some of the proverbs found in the first few chapters. This will give them the opportunity to discuss what they might mean and how they could figure into the story. One proverb they will find worthy of discussion is the one found at the end of chapter one - "if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings" (8). Many young people need to separate themselves from parents or family to find their own success and students will have little trouble making this cross-cultural identification with Okonkwo. After their initial introduction to both Okonkwo and his father Unoka in chapter one, students will see that Okonkwo would never find success if he patterned his life after that of his father. Later, in chapter three, they will learn that Okonkwo, like many of them, helped to support his parents as he struggled to build a name and life for himself. The proverb lets us know that Igbo culture values a young person who successfully makes his own way in the world.
Storytelling is another important device Achebe uses in his novel. African storytelling, part of the griot tradition, has always played an important role in African society and my students will read and listen to some traditional folk tales taken from the book West African Folk Tales by Hugh Vernon-Jackson. Several of them will feature the tortoise, an animal character that appears routinely in many African tales. Since African storytelling is seamlessly woven into the narrative, my students not only need to recognize this literary device and its purpose, but actually see how it contributes to an African perspective rather than a traditional European one. They need to recognize that Achebe has Ekwefi tell her daughter, Ezinma, the story of the tortoise and the birds in chapter eleven for a reason. The chapter begins with a glimpse of a very warm and loving period in the evening where Ekwefi and Ezinima are passing the time by sharing traditional Igbo stories. Not only does this snapshot of mother and daughter reinforce the close relationship parent and child, but it also captures the importance of storytelling as a method of instilling traditional Igbo values within the community. The folktale addresses the consequences of greed and I believe it is included by choice rather than chance. Not only does Achebe take the opportunity to legitimize a purely oral tradition as a means of authenticating and preserving African culture, but he also emphasizes an African view toward greed. These two techniques are literary, not visual, but these literary turns, when read and understood, generate very tangible images. I don't want my students to overlook their significance simply because the devices were lost in translation.
Construction and culture are also areas I need to address with my students before, during, and after our reading of the novel. Achebe organizes this literary work into three parts and I want my students to consider why he does it. Part One is a very significant section in the book because he not only introduces the characters and the conflicts but his African culture as well. It is in these early chapters we learn just how civilized Igbo society was. We learn about Igbo family life and community life. We learn about Igbo values and traditions. We not only learn about the Igbo religion and the role it plays in every aspect of tribal life, we learn about the judicial system as well. The characters in this novel are men and women, husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends and enemies. They feel deeply about the things that matter most to them. They are not careless and they are never needlessly cruel or violent. In fact, in the character of Obierika we see the model of a man who is unafraid to think deeply and compassionately about all that happens around him. My students need to make those connections. Part Two covers Okonkwo's exile and it too is quite purposeful. Set in the motherland, it is in this section we hear the words and advice of Uchendu, a man who has lived long enough to remember what life was like for Africans before circumstances and men began to change. Finally, Part Three marks Okonkwo's return to Umuofia. Of course, the white missionaries and government have usurped most of power within his village and Okonkwo cannot bear the effect it has had on his community and his place in it. Life has changed and Okonkwo is too proud to change with it. This part is purposeful and so is that last paragraph where the District Commissioner first states that when he writes a book about his time in Africa he will address a chapter to Okonkwo and then only a reasonable paragraph. The power of the European pen diminished Okonkwo and his story. In constructing his narrative, Chinua Achebe has written Okonkwo back into history.
With their growing appreciation for African storytelling, students should have little trouble using more literary maps to document their understanding of setting, character, plot, and theme as they progress through the novel. As we read I will have my students use Venn diagrams to compare and contrast the characters of Okonkwo and Unoka, Okonkwo and Obierika, and Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. Early in the novel, I will have the students use an interactive website like the "Village of Umuofia" to help them visualize what a real African village could look like and this will assist them when it comes time to create their own maps of Umuofia and its surrounding villages. Drawing pictorial maps of the physical environment and the chain of events that lead to the eventual devastation of that environment will help my students understand how the growing presence of European missionaries and government officials changed the life and the culture of the Igbo people of West Africa and other African tribes across the continent. After we finish the novel I can have my students complete a mind map of the entire work as an overview of all its literary devices and components. This would be excellent preparation for the evaluation paper they will write as an assessment piece and portfolio requirement.
After reading and writing about the novel my students should have a better understanding of African cultural history and African storytelling techniques. They should understand how maps can help or hinder our understanding of the world. Since the English Language Arts curriculum is portfolio driven, my students, with minimal instruction, should be able to successfully write a proposal using the required technical format and an evaluation of a literary work through the author's use of literary techniques or development of theme (see Appendix). My students should begin to realize that as we move toward a more global society, they need to recognize and appreciate other cultural viewpoints. And most importantly, my students should see that change is inevitable so they need to be open to new ways of looking at the world around them and new roles they can play in world in which they live.
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