Chinua Achebe
In Things Fall Apart Okonkwo fought heroically to defend a way of life and a religion that was an integral part of that lifestyle. The coming of the white man was the birth of a new period in the history of Nigeria, but Achebe's novel suggests that birth and death are a duality, imposing the anthropologically described pattern whereby the old-year king must be defeated by the new-year king before the latter can insure a good harvest in an agriculturally oriented community, such as the Ibo were before the white man intruded.
The introduction of new cultural elements may constitute a birth, then, but it also means the death (i.e., destruction) of certain conflicting or less forceful traditional elements. Achebe is well aware of the kind of paradox that preoccupied John Donne and which is at the base of much Eastern philosophy and religion-life can only come from death and vice versa. (Chinua Achebe, 1994)
Since Achene’s narrator employs Ibo words and uses proverbial material, since he fills his tale with details of daily life in the village and in the culture, it is interesting that the narration is done in the third person. This technique allows for an Omniscient Observer. An omniscient observer is one who knows everything, as opposed to a first-person narrator who can speak only from his or her own immediate point of view.
While there may be some diminishment of emotional content, the use of an omniscient observer permits the author to present his material with more authority for he is not speaking for himself; instead he is merely reporting what he sees. It also allows Achebe to present several different points of view on an equal basis and to incorporate details that he could not have included if the narrator were Okonkwo.......
