Show how and to what effect Achebe makes use of myth, legend or other stories and tales.
The central aim of Things Fall Apart was to write against the colonial oppressors and upset the imbalance of 'storytelling power' through providing an African narrative that readers from all over the world can identify with. One of the central ways author Chinua Achebe achieves this is by presenting the audience with an African cultural experience that fully immerses the reader in the fictional world of Umuofia.
Before we can understand the effect of myths, legends, and tales in the Umuofia community, we need to understand a bit more about the Igbo culture. We have seen thus far that it is primarily an oral culture, where wisdom and education are passed down verbally. The myths thus take on a greater significance, as they form a core part of African culture. It is also important to recognize that without this strong background of African culture, the novel would consist just of a bare plot line, and would lose much of the richness and significance that gave it the significance and prestige it holds in literary circles today.
In order to explore the specific ways in which myths, legends, and other stories are used within the novel, I will focus on three examples which each accomplish Achebe's aims.
One of the first instances of a myth was in Chapter 7 where Achebe describes to us the internal conflict within Okonkwo's son Nwoye, over preferring his mother's tales but wanting to please his father, "Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and violent" (p.53). Following this, one of Nwoye's favourite myths is recounted, allowing the reader to learn about the quarrel between the Earth and the Sky. As we mentioned earlier, the primary aim that myths like these serve is creating a richer environment for the audience to immerse themselves in.
Aside from this general aim, however, it is also interesting to note that this particular myth serves the additional purpose of representing femininity. There are many elements within the language of the myth that imply this, for example "Vulture was sent...to soften his heart", "the sons of men", "rain wrapped in leaves of cocoyam." (cocoyam is a 'woman's' crop). This works hand in hand with the fact that these stories were told by the mothers to their children to imply that femininity forms a strong part of Igbo culture. It also reinforces the theme of balance, and gives the Igbo women a quieter form of control over the community as purveyors of their educational system. This could serve as foreshadowing that a character as unrelentingly masculine as Okonkwo will not survive and flourish in a culture like this.
Within Things Fall Apart, Achebe uses myths more than just directly through stating them. He also relates them as part of explaining the significance behind proverbs, which occur throughout the text and add to the cultural authenticity of the novel. Proverbs do this by acting as condensed pieces of wisdom that constantly inform the reader on the cultural values and norms of the Igbo. An example of a proverb that does this very well occurs in Chapter 4, "when a man says yes his chi says yes also". It was used in the context of explaining Okonkwo's success despite his meager start in life, and enriches the novel by revealing the cultural values of the Igbo that allowed Okonkwo to succeed for the first part of his life.
Like all elements of Igbo culture that are revealed to the audience, this proverb has a very deliberate function aside from the overarching purpose of enriching culture. The values expressed here are those of independence and self-sufficiency, and they are very impactful especially at the end in Okonkwo's suicide, because they imply that it was his own choices that led him to that plight. Contrarily, however, Okonkwo is often considered by western audiences to be a tragic hero, but this differs from Igbo tradition in that tragic heroes are often fated to an unfortunate end. By providing this proverb to audiences who would likely associate Okonkwo with the tragic hero (he has many other hallmarks, such as hamartia) Achebe further provokes them into questioning how much of Okonkwo's downfall was his own doing and thus engages them in the text. This also plays a role in the ambiguity of Okonkwo's 'goodness'. It is hard to decide whether he is a good or bad character, adding to the multivocality of our understanding of the text and protagonist.
The final example of myths and stories that we will consider are those in the forms of songs. These are sprinkled throughout the text, and provide the audience with another form of culture to associate with the Igbo. The songs serve a slightly different function than the stories, since they are common in most cultures (even when education isn't mainly verbal). This would allow a more diverse group to identify with them. The act of including lyrics without accompanying tunes or music, however, can perhaps also be interpreted as a comment by Achebe on the integrity of his text. It's almost as if he is reminding us that no matter how much we sing or read these songs, there is still an element of Igbo culture that has been irreparably lost due to colonization. This is represented symbolically via the medium of his novel: as a book we cannot include a song within it, and books embody civilization and education (which the colonizers 'brought' to the African people).
One memorable instance where a song is related occurs in Chapter 7, where Ikemefuna sings a song (p.60) in his head before the men close in to kill him. The song is purely in Igbo, and the audience is not provided with any additional context of what it means. Igbo songs such as this one strongly contrast the language of the narrative: English. They act as a marker, reminding us of the African culture behind this text, providing the audience with raw 'culture packets' that even though we can't understand, we are trained to accept. Our understanding of the other events going on at the time songs like these come up also add to our acceptance of these songs.
In conclusion, Achebe uses different forms of myths, tales, and stories to add to the richness of African culture. Within these examples, his usage also adds depth to the events going on in the novel at that time. Links back to western literary structures also further engage the audience in the text. His usage is especially significant since the majority of his readers may not as detailed a knowledge of Igbo culture as he does.
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