If One Finger Brought Oil - Things Fall Apart Part 1: Crash Course Literature 208

In which John Green teaches you about Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart. You'll learn about Igboland, a region in modern-day Nigeria, prior to the arrival of the British Empire. Achebe tells the story of Okonkwo, an Igbo villager who has worked his way up from life as a sharecropped and become a respected leader in his community. Okonkwo has a tragic fall and is exiled. And then the trouble starts. British missionaries arrive and change everything. Things Fall Apart has a lot to say about colonization and even something to say about decolonization.

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[MegaDAgr]

Should've done an open letter to yams. 'Cause that was half the book.

[ifiehill]

I'm an Ibo girl so I can relate strongly to this book. I love Chinua Achebe's book for many reasons:

1. Things Fall Apart is the most inspiring and enlightening depiction of Igbo life and customs. Achebe skilfully portrayed the book in an eloquent manner, while still incorporating our great Ibo rituals and customs. He even uses idioms that are drenched in wisdom, showing the Ibo man's extra ordinary intellect. The Igbo tribe is probably the only ethnic group in Nigeria to not have a monarch, we use a democracy. The traditional ruler system came only when the British landed. They needed to govern the state using indirect rule so kings or 'eze' was put in place. This is however a recent addition and has no linkage to Ibo philosophy. We believe strongly in hard work,  free will and speech, probably why the British found us a troublesome lot. People in power don't like being questioned, especially when they are unfairly taking your resources. Another important topic anyway.

Most people assume that all Africans are the same. This is just ignorance. Its like referring to all Europeans as the same, when we know its not true. Geography is not the same as sociology. Just because we all live on the same continent, does not mean we don't have diverse cultures.

2. He did justice to black people especially by depicting Africans in a more humane manner, like we all are. Other books written by Europeans downplayed our humanity arrogantly, as though African's had no culture or history before they arrived, portraying the black man as an untamed savage needing colonisation (how I hate the word). Like Achebe mentioned in his last book 'There was a country' he stated that there is nothing more arrogant than to say to someone my culture is better, use mine. That's arrogance to the upmost.  

3. The book makes me very proud to be Igbo. In spite of the trouble faced in Nigeria now, I can at least appreciate the culture that my people had before the Biafra War and Colonisation. Nigeria would have been so successful if not for the Biafra war that claimed so many lives of the Ibo, more than 6 million, greater than the Holocaust of the Jews. The Biafra story is downplayed more than ever in Nigeria, which is unfortunate when injustice occurred. After the ethnic cleansing, the Ibo have been marginalised considerably ever since, much like the Rwanda crisis.

Chinua Achebe is a literature Hero. His book as been published in so many languages and appealed to many people who have experience colonisation or the ripping away of culture. He remarkably touched the hearts of so many, tapping into one of Africa's historical episodes and trashing the belief that Africa has no soul or culture.

Nice work John Green. Love your videos.

[dramafacilitator]

Okonkwo beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo, during the Week of Peace. He beats his second wife, Ekwefi, during the Feast of the New Yam and tries to shoot her. Two separate incidents. Otherwise, great work!!!

[megankeel]

"You can't drink a bottle of strawberry wine without vomiting" : Looking for Alaska reference. *that moment when your favorite author makes a reference to his own book*

[nicolealexis]

Watching to put off finishing reading the book. Productive procrastination?

[patchworkpapers]

When I first read Things Fall Apart, I absolutely hated it. All the qualities that I valued in a person were absent in Okonkwa, and all I could see in him was a monster. However, when I reread the book I came to realize exactly where my hatred was stemming from. Chinua Achebe is such a talented author, that he allowed even me, opposite in ever possible way from Okonkwa, to relate and sympathize to him. The fact that I could see myself in Okonkwa wasn't a pleasant experience, and lead me to hate the story. Things Fall Apart has honestly been the most formative pieces of literature that I have ever read. It has helped me to understand other people in a way I was unable to before. 

[augusttierney]

I just realized, it was genius of Achebe to make Okonkwo stubborn.Achebe is trying to show people Africans had a culture of their own. This is an idea that a lot of people would not accept because it's a new idea, but by making Okonkwo stubborn, and not capable of changing his ideas, Achebe could make people connect with Okonkwo and see that Africa truly had their own culture.  

[BabeWithTheFame]

He doesn't try to shoot his third wife during the week of peace, he tries to shoot his second wife Ekwefi. After he's beaten her for taking leaves off of the banana tree she makes a snide remark about his hunting ability so he aims at her and fires.

[CarolineBay]

My friend titled this book: "Yams and Wives"

[harrison]

As a schoolkid I hated assigned reading mostly because I was already an avid reader on my own and I didn't enjoy being forced to put down something of my own choosing to slog through an assigned text. But this was one of the first assigned books that I really fell in love with.

[averyjohnson]

Hey John Green, I'm doing a report on this book and I noticed that you actually got some stuff wrong. Okonkwo did beat his wife Ojiugo during the week of peace but he didn't shoot at her, that was his wife Ekwefi a few days before the Yam Festival. Ekwefi made a sly remark about him not being able to shoot anything, which pissed him off so he tried to shoot her and missed. If you wanna check for yourself, the Week of Peace incident is in chapter 4 and the Yam Festival incident is in chapter 5. I use these videos to help study for exams and I'm willing to bet other people do too, so if you could please fix this for the sake of others I would greatly appreciate it.

[amandoatashili]

Hey John as a nerdfighter from Nigeria i just want to say thanks. Awesome episode read this when i was a child and never really appreciated its message till now.

[crashcourse]

In which John Green teaches you about Chinua Achebe's 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart. You'll learn about Igboland, a region in modern day Nigeria, prior to the arrival of the British Empire. Achebe tells the story of Okonkwo, an Igbo villager who has worked his way up from life as a sharecropped and become a respected leader in his community. Okonkwo has a tragic fall, and is exiled. And then the trouble starts. British missionaries arrive, and change everything. Things Fall Apart has a lot to say about colonization, and even something to say about decolonization.

If One Finger Brought Oil - Things Fall Apart part I: Crash Course Literature 208

[TheFireflyGrave]

'Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it was the emotion of anger.'

And even in our modern western world, so many men learn exactly the same thing.  This is going on my 'to read' list.

[patrickonwe]

Chinua Achebe was a great Igbo man that portrayed our Igbo culture well in his internationally recognized book "THINGS FALL APART". I read "Things Fall Apart" from the first page to the end over and over again. "Things Fall Apart" was intelligently and skillfully written by Chinua Achebe; the Author of great repute. The late Achebe left a good legacy that will make the world remember him for a long time.

[ashleycarroll]

"...sad on like 82 different levels. That's what makes it so good." -YAS
The depth and complexity!!

[DKlarations]

This is the first time that you've talked about a book that I haven't already read.
I blame public schools in the 90's.

[ChrisSudlik]

This was one of my favorite books among required college reading back then. It really spoke to me in many ways. 

[AdanniaUfondu]

there is a lot of 'deeper meaning' that you try to explain here- some that while reading the book i never thought of. However, i cant help feeling that a true sense of the book and the real essence of the book was left out. A true meaning that can only be grasped by a REAL understanding of the Igbo culture, an understanding that is not limited to, and certainly not focused on the 19th century. Ikemefuna's death was not only the breaking point for Okonkwo, it signified the innate weakness he possessed. i would go into more details but that would require an entire lecture on Igbo culture!! thanks anyways!! i've got somethings to ponder about!!

[NeidaTeresa]

I read this book in the 7th grade and I love it so so much. And as a person coming from a colonized area of east Africa, I rarely ever see African literature get represented. Just this video existing really just makes my life. Thanks so much