Achebe - Context

I think that Achebe chose to set his novel in this time period because it gave him a way to write about Africa from an African’s perspective. In the 50s, after World War 2, Nigeria was going through a cultural transformation, and Achebe, along with his contemporaries, joined the non-violent movement for independence. Achebe’s book was published before independence and it was a part of the political movement, since it was one of the first books published in English by an African author. The movement was mostly verbal, with legislations and protests, and it was completely non-violent. Artists and other authors like Achebe wrote books and papers, expressing their desire for freedom.  

Achebe wrote about a man in that time period, because he also wanted to humanize the colonized peoples of Africa. This contradicts many books written by Europeans and the western world about Africans that always portrayed them in a bad light. There was a history of literature written that way ever since slavery first took place. This literature has been used a way to justify slavery and colonization, since it establishes the ‘white man’s burden’, as it portrays Africans as uncivilized and in need of the European’s help. Achebe wanted to change the narrative that the Africans at the time of European contact needed western help. He wanted to show that the people at that time had a functioning society of their own, that they had a very rich culture and traditions

 He wanted to show that they were real people, and that it is possible to write a whole book on them. This kind of story acts in order to almost justify Nigeria’s desire for independence, because it shows that Africans were self-sufficient before colonization, that they don’t need colonization now.

Achebe himself was raised with both main cultures and identities that are portrayed in his book. He was raised with both Christian and Igbo culture. The time period in the novel could reflect that feeling two cultures, that are different, colliding. Since the novel takes place at the crossroads right when the Igbo people first encounter the British and their religion of Christianity. Achebe could be showing that he has the Igbo culture as his background and foundation, while his second culture, is Christianity. Although Achebe was raised with both, he grew up to reject Christianity, and fully immerse himself with the Igbo religion. Achebe's father was a convert, like Nwoye in the story. However, unlike Nwoye, Achebe's father didn't convert because of tensions between his father. The man who taught Achebe's father about the religion was a missionary named G. T. Basden. He is very similar to Mr. Brown in the book. Achebe based a lot of his descriptions of the rituals and traditions of the Igbo people, on Basden's books and experience. In the book Achebe also critiques the rituals of the Igbo people and doesn’t glorify them or the British.

Europeans brought individualism to the community-based culture of the Igbo people. The Igbo people didn't have autocratic chiefs, or singular rulers. Instead there was a consensus rule. one way that a person would become more powerful and respected in the village is with the ozo tiles. The titles were more than an honor, and with them a man would become essentially immortal. as a person takes more prestigious ozo titles, it required the distribution of greater wealth. This ensured that no one man would become too powerful. The British didn't understand the Igbo way of open discussion and collective rule. British colonization had long term effects on the mindset of the native African and Igbo people. during this time period many villages that the British tried to conquer did not know or care about the British and their power. In the book, a village named Abame was described to have been destroyed after the people didn't understand the power that the British had. This is based off the true story of a village named Ahiara. The story of Abame is supposed to explain why so few villages stood up to the British back then, and why they wanted to revolt against them now. The violent way that the British established power and authority in Nigeria, made them sacred and all powerful in the eyes of the colonized.  British government and their agents, such as the kotma were true individualists, that fully supported the British for their own gain, were considered sacred.