Things
Fall Apart
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is an important text
to have read, understand, and be able to integrate into the classroom. One of
the most important reasons to be familiar with this text is to be able to
include it to help students understand how different the African culture is
from the culture that most students will encounter in the schools in the United
States. This text breaches several difficult topics including the purchasing of
humans, or the giving of humans as prizes, and domestic violence. While these
things are socially acceptable in some parts of Africa, most students in the United
States would be abhorred to read about these things taking place. Furthermore,
the ideas of pride and place in the African culture are highly emphasized, with
oracles giving instructions, village leaders being disappointed in their
subjects, and the idea of barter and trade rather than a standardized currency
that can buy everything. These social constructs are typically not present in
the day to day life of a student in the United States, and if they are, those
constructs are not nearly as important as they are to the African way of life.
Because
of some of the things that are described in the text, teachers must be aware of
things that are happening in the text in order to keep the classroom adequately
managed. Some students will be very frustrated, outraged, and shocked at some
of the events so classroom discussion will have to be closely monitored to make
sure that it doesn’t get out of hang. Also, students and parents both should be
prepared for the reading, so a unit outline sent home or attached to the
initial syllabus would be a very good idea.
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