I read Things Fall Apart many years ago and remember Achebe’s first novel as strong message against colonialism (published in 1958) and cultural imperialism. The role of christianity in the destruction of traditional societies is a common motif throughout Achebe’s work and he became a symbol for anti-colonial literature around the world, including indigenous peoples here in Canada. Achebe died this morning in Boston at the age of 82.
I suggest, if you have the desire and the time, to read this book in conjunction with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) to see the opposing visions of sub-Saharan Africa, one through the eyes of the colonizer, the other, the eyes of the colonized.
Peace.