Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart Essay -- Author Literary Analysis

As a man of great wisdom, knowledge, tradition, and culture, Chinua Achebe is a promoter of education and tradition who is well versed in both his African roots and Christian religion (Loveday). He has won awards like the Man Booker and Commonwealth Poetry Prize for his novels, short stories, essays, and children’s books and was thrust into fame after publishing Things Fall Apart. Born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, in colonial Ogidi, Nigeria, he is the son of missionary teachers Isaiah and Janet Achebe. He was born on November 15, 1930 to a devout Anglican family; however, his parents still allowed Achebe to experience his tribal tradition as well (Telgen 262). He left Ogidi to go to school at Government College, and from there he went to the University College of Ibadan where he studied English, theology, and history. There, he earned his BA and departed from his British name to embrace the name Chinua. From 1953 to 1966 he was a writer for a Nigerian broadcasting company. Soo n after, he became a diplomat for the Biafran government during Nigeria’s Civil War. Eventually Achebe became a professor at the Universities of Nigeria, Nsukka; Massachusetts, Amherst; and Connecticut. In more recent years, he unfortunately became a paraplegic in a car accident in 1990 and was exiled from Nigeria until 1999. He currently teaches at Bard College in New York, yet he still directs an educational book company and a bilingual magazine in Nigeria. Achebe’s work comments on the changing political and social conditions of Africa and especially on the change that colonialism brought to his home country. He is noted for keeping his ideas fair and understanding, unlike others, for he learned both English and African points of view (Petri and Pesonen)... ...graphies. 6th ed. EBSCOHost, 1 Dec. 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. . Liukkonen, Petri, and Ari Pesonen. â€Å"Chinua Achebe (1930-) - in full Albert Chinualumogu Achebe.† Kirjasto. N.p., 2008. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. . Loveday, Veronica. Chinua Acehbe. 2005. N.p.: Great Neck Publishing, 2005. 1-2. Our Leaders: Africa. Student Research Center Biographies. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. . â€Å"’Things Fall Apart.’† Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 262-263. Print. Novels for Students.