Research Paper on:
Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”: A View of the Impacts of Imperialism

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
"Things Fall Apart" revolves around a multitude of social and political issues which consume modern-day Africa. The roots of these issues, however, reach well back into the history of  Africa, or more specifically into the history of Nigeria and the colonial powers who overtook her. Indeed the type of story Achebe relates predates the introduction of the written  word to Nigeria. It is the type of story that was initially passed from generation to generation through an oral tradition. Such was the case with many  African stories. As other cultures invaded African lands the native stories began to be recorded in a written format. This changed the stories at least to some degree  but it also introduced a number of interesting concerns. There was a constancy as well, however, in certain aspects of this tradition. Character development was one of the  constants. Almost always at play in these later stories, however, was some degree of abrasion between different cultures. Back in Europe there is much documentation as to why  exactly that was the case. When we consider writings such as Karl Marxs "Communist Manifesto", John Stewart Mills "On Liberty", and Pope Leo XIII May 15, 1891 "Rerum Novarum"  we see that the vast majority of the European peoples were not content in their current societal roles and, as a consequence, were pushing outward to interact more and more  with non-European cultures. The friction which resulted in Nigeria forms the basis for Chinua Achebes "Things Fall Apart". The Europeans who invaded  Nigeria and other regions of Africa found much that they wanted to change. This included even the mechanism through which information was transmitted in these so-called "primitive" cultures.