Chinua Achebe Influences

Chinua Achebe was a one of the towering figures in literature. He was the father of modern African literature who had opened up the eyes of the public to the life of African culture. Growing up in the Igbo society in Nigeria, Achebe was influenced by the many aspects of his culture, his family, and the people that surrounded him. The many aspects of his life growing up in African culture influenced Chinua Achebe in his literary works by being a great believer of peace and equality. Chinua Achebe was born on November 15, 1930, in Ogidi, Nigeria. He and his family belonged to the Igbo tribe and was one of six children. Early in his childhood, a representative of the British government that controlled Nigeria had convinced his parents to abandon their traditional religion and follow Christianity. His parents then named him Albert, after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Chinua attended the Church Missionary Society’s school where the primary language for the first two years was Igbo. He started learning English around age eight. Learning English at a later age brought out great cultural pride and appreciation for his hometown that would not have been cultivated if he had been raised in a solely English environment. He had grown up reading in his father’s library while still hearing his mother and sisters telling traditional Igbo society. Chinua Achebe was an extremely successful student and excelled in his work both in and out of school. At age fourteen, Chinua was selected to go to the Government College in Umuahia. He excelled in his studies and graduated at eighteen when he was then immediately accepted to study medicine at the new University College at Ibadan. Since Chinua Achebe was a rare Nigerian that had received such a high education, he was likely to enter a high rank of civil service. With growing nationalism rising in Nigeria, he dropped his English name, Albert and changed it to an Igbo name, “Chinua,” short for Chinualumogo that translates into “my spirit come fight for me.” After graduation with a BA in 1953, Chinua jointed the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation as a producer for different radio talks. He moved to London in 1956 to attend the BBC and then submitted the manuscript for Things Fall Apart. From that point on, Achebe had acclaimed nothing but fame. He moved back to Nigeria and became the Voice of Nigeria and had started to develop more national identity and unity through radio programs that focused on Nigerian affairs and culture. From 1966 to 1972, Achebe was in the middle of turmoil by the Nigerian army. A coup of non-Igbo officers overthrew the government and had targeted Achebe for persecution, being that his beliefs were unsympathetic to the new regime. He had fled to Europe and America and spread his ideas through the world. Like many other writers, Chinua believed that literary and artistic works must deal with the major problems of society. He believed that “any good story, any good novel, should have a message, should have a purpose.” ***** After having his novel published by Heinemann, Achebe published four other novels: No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, and Anthills of the Savannah. In almost all of his works, he talks about the problems that the Nigerians and other newly independent African nations. He often blames the nation’s lack of leadership since becoming independent. He believed that the …show more content…
In Things Fall Apart, Chinua talks about an African culture that is being forced to respond to the changes of the European colonization. Okonkwo is a warrior of the Igbo tribe who holds a high position in society. He struggles to adapt to the environment of white men imposing a new culture on their culture. As British men and Christianity progress in Igbo communities, the men became more and more fed up; a lot of Igbo leaders began to abandon their many ways and were too afraid to rise up against the white man (Brucker). This submissiveness was recognized as a weakness of the tribe and led Okonkwo to kill a court messenger representing the District Commissioner. After the murder of the court messenger, it did not take long to find out that Okonkwo had hanged himself in a