ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Things Fall Apart and Imperialism 37893 Views
Share It!
Description:
Books become classics because they either reflect on or influence the world around us. As was the casewith Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Of course, a book can also become a classic because its author does something crazy like try to assassinate a world leader, but those are really fringe cases.
Transcript
- 00:04
Things Fall Apart and Imperialism, a la Shmoop. When Chinua Achebe <<chin-you-ah ah-cheb-ay>>
- 00:10
wrote Things Fall Apart...
- 00:11
...he wasn't just upset about that papier-mâché bookshelf he got at the craft fair last fall.
- 00:17
Although... that was disappointing, too. Rather, Achebe was concerned about some stuff
- 00:23
that was happening in his world...
Full Transcript
- 00:24
...and he was hoping to enact some real change by writing this novel.
- 00:28
So... what was Imperialism?
- 00:31
What effect did it have on Africa, and how did our author feel about it?
- 00:35
And... how do we as a Western culture feel about it?
- 00:39
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries...
- 00:41
...European powers swooped into Africa and decided to divvy it up amongst themselves.
- 00:46
Never mind that quite a few people were already living there.
- 00:50
It is referred to as a period of New Imperialism...
- 00:54
...or the Scramble for Africa...
- 00:56
...which isn't as delicious as it sounds, and was notably lacking in chunks of breakfast
- 01:01
sausage. By the time the imperialists had had their
- 01:03
way...
- 01:04
...the continent had been divided up like this: Aside from demonstrating a complete indifference
- 01:10
with regard to the cultures and boundaries recognized by Africa's existing residents...
- 01:15
...they were making it exceedingly difficult for anyone to play a simple game of Risk.
- 01:23
Why did all these Europeans think they could just hop across the pond and snatch all that
- 01:27
land away from its inhabitants?
- 01:31
Because at the time, all Africans were viewed as savage and unsophisticated.
- 01:36
From the imperialists' point of view, it was more like they were displacing a bunch
- 01:40
of animals than human beings. Obviously, this mindset infuriated and frustrated
- 01:46
Achebe...
- 01:47
...and he decided to write a book that would reveal the true nature of tribal cultures...
- 01:51
...and hopefully open people's eyes as to how poorly they had been treated...
- 01:55
...and how unfairly they had been disregarded. Achebe strove to show that, no matter what
- 02:01
the outside world may think...
- 02:03
...the values of any society are valid within that culture.
- 02:07
We here in the states may assume we've got it all figured out...
- 02:10
...but someone in a tribal culture might be appalled at how we ship our elderly off to
- 02:15
retirement communities...
- 02:16
...rather than taking them into our homes and caring for them ourselves.
- 02:21
Or, at the very least, sitting down with them once in a while to watch 60 Minutes.
- 02:25
Rather than write an essay about the issue, Achebe wanted to write a fictional story...
- 02:30
...so that, rather than feeling lectured at...
- 02:32
...we could enter the lives of just a handful of fleshed-out individuals...
- 02:35
...and really get a sense for their day-to-day trials and tribulations.
- 02:39
But most importantly, he wanted us to see that they were human beings...
- 02:43
...and not just inanimate objects that could be moved around when it suited the whim of
- 02:47
another...
- 02:48
...as if they were merely redecorating an apartment. Was Achebe successful?
- 02:53
Did you feel for the plight of the characters in his novel...
- 02:56
...or are you on your way to Africa now, to put in your claim for Botswana?
Up Next
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Related Videos
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
