Paper 2 Practice

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe indicates that in Igbo cultures, proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten. A proverb, is a phrase which briefly yet strikingly expresses some recognized truth or observation about practical life which has been preserved by oral tradition. Achebe makes use of the proverb to provide a 'grammar of values' to which the protagonists can be measured to. Therefore, it reminds the audience of some of the motifs in the novel such as importance of status and the value of achievement; and reiterate themes. In chapter one, the proverb “He who brings kola brings life” is used to show the audience the value and the tradition of passing the kola nut for fellowship and alliance in Igbo culture. Many of the proverbs refer to animals in the bush to make a cultural point. The proverb, "Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break” uses natural imagery to compliment the process of making (or breaking) covenants, in this case between Nwakibie and Okonkwo. Some of the proverbs use local myths or mythical characters to illustrate a point. Nwakibie also uses a proverb to describe his wise and careful attitude toward those who would borrow from him. He says, “Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching". Achebe also uses proverbs and sayings to describe his characters especially Okonkwo. He is described by an old man thus: “looking at a king’s mouth one would think he never sucked at his mother’s breast”. Such a proverbial descriptor defines Okonkwo as being proud as a king but also very self supporting and having a quick rise to fame and fortune. The proverb makes his character so much more vivid and alive than any other literary device.

Achebe also includes traditional songs scattered throughout his novel. Many of the songs combines cultural themes and traditions with imagery that helps the reader share the Igbo's vision of their world. In addition, Achebe translates the villagers’ songs into English but leaves Okonkwo’s song in its original language. Since a majority of the village later becomes Christian and colonized, their songs could be written in English to show the “shiftiness” of their hearts and their inevitable surrender to English occupation and rule. However, Okonkwo is never subdued by the English or Christianity so his mind and heart is unreservedly African. Perhaps that is why Achebe leaves his thoughts un-translated.

Myths represent a society's perception of the deepest truths. Myths have their roots in the primitive
folk beliefs of a people or a nation and generally present supernatural episodes as a means of interpreting natural events in order to concretize or particularize a special perception of man
or his cosmic view. Myths tries to explain away the origin of creation, the origin of life and death, and tries to account for natural phenomena and the great forces found in nature. In Things Fall Apart a memorable folk tale is told Ezinma by her mother Ekwefi. It is the story of the birds

and the tortoise who accompanied the birds to a great feast in the sky. The simple tale of Tortoise and the birds is a parallel for the entire novel. It is the story of the sudden rise and fall of Tortoise, just as Things Fall Apart is the story of the rise and fall of Okonkwo. The story says that the birds lent Tortoise their feathers so he could accompany them to the sky. This is similar of the massive communal support given to Okonkwo by his people that enabled him to be Umuofia's proud and imperious emissary on a mission of war to Mbaino where he "was treated with great honour and respect" just as the hosts in the sky took Tortoise "as the king of the birds". After Okonkwo's elevation to membership in the highest decision-making body in the land, he is exiled to Mbanta , abandoned even by his closest friends who took part in destroying his compound. After Tortoise is elevated to the highest place in the sky, he is exiled there abandoned by all the birds, his former friends. Tortoise, finding himself deserted in the sky, sent word to a woman, his wife, to arrange for his survival. This parallels Okonkwo's flight to his maternal land and kin for survival. The folk tale tells us that when Parrot misinstructed Tortoise's family, he fell and "his shell broke into pieces." This reflects Okonkwo's return from exile only to find Umuofia "breaking up and falling apart". Now, the folk tale says that a great medicine man gathered all the bits of shell and stuck them together to give Tortoise his rough "skin." After Okonkwo's suicide, the tribe, though broken, was held together and stuck together by the sheer resilience of collective will, after, according to Obierika, the white man has "put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart". Tortoise survives, a patchwork of himself, just as Igbo clanship survives.

In many ways, Achebe uses Igbo folk ways to enrich his narrative, to give it form and structure, and from there, to inoculate it with meaning. This is the tradition he has established in the African novel.