Open Access
American Research Journal of English and Literature
ISSN (Online): 2378-9026
DOI: 10.46568/arjel
Chinua Achebe’s Objective Stance in Depicting Socio-Cultural Issues of the Igbo in the Novel Things Fall Apart
Abstract
In Chinua Achebe’s magnum opus Things Fall Apart we see an authentic and objective presentation of the Igbo society. The
ethnographic depiction of the Igbo life in the novel indicates that Achebe has tried to maintain his objective standpoint
in dealing with various socio-cultural issues of the Igbo society. He has depicted these issues from the perspective of both
an unbiased observer as well as an unprejudiced critic. The present study has shown to what extent and in which aspects
has Achebe maintained his objective stance in depicting the pre-colonial Ibo society in respect of various socio-cultural
mechanisms in the novel. To do so, firstly, this paper has presented the socio-cultural aspects like social administration,
justice, respect for the elders, social status, rituals, communal harmony and unity etc. of the Igbo people in their real
life already put forward by various researchers and anthropologists without considering the presence of their related
contents in Things Fall Apart. Then, these real issues and their parallel presence in the novel have been presented side
by side to see to what extent the scholars’ claims about various socio-cultural sides of the Igbo life are either agreed or
refuted in the novel. Finally, these issues are thoroughly dealt with to discuss Achebe’s objectivity. The results show that
the scholars’ claim about the socio-cultural realities of the Igbo possesses close proximity with those of the novel. The core
idea of the findings is that Achebe maintains objectivity in presenting various socio-cultural sides of the pre-colonial Igbo
society in Things Fall Apart without spoiling any literary grandeur of the novel.
