THE CHILD BETWEEN TEMPORAL, SCRIPTURAL AND TRADITIONAL VALUES.

Abstract

he Mythical World of Childhood in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart introduces the reader into a mythical world of the traditional African society before and shortly after the European’s intrusion. In fact it is about the Igbo society, Achebe’s Kinsmen. He has chosen to narrate the social events in their actuality. This gives, undoubtedly, his novel an air of historical authenticity. The novel deals with the history of the Igbo society (its laws and its interdictions), and an enemy, more or less monstrous, symbol of transgression (of the instinctual satisfaction which is a source of violence). In a particular style which suits the story, Achebe shows indirectly that westernized African characters will never speak like European ones; they will not speak even like the elders of a given African tribe.