Message vs. Style in Things Fall Apart

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Message vs. Style in Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

“The message is more important than the style”. I totally disagree with this statement in the context of Things Fall Apart as I believe that in this particular work, the message is of equivalent importance to the style; to have a particular writing style whose sole purpose is found in informing readers as to the purpose to the message, and then to NOT have a message, would be useless, whereas having a message to tell readers, WITHOUT such a writing style as is necessary to allow them to absorb the purpose, would again be useless- therefore the message and writing styles are equally important in this story, as one cannot do without the other. In this case, the central message of Things Fall Apart, that African culture is complex, can only be absorbed by readers if Achebe’s writing style, which incorporates the use of dialogue, conflict, proverbs, diction and setting, allows them to develop such recognition of cultural complexity- the author cannot merely instruct the reader to believe that the culture is indeed complex, and still expect the reader to believe as such without question.

Firstly, Achebe makes ample use of dialogue as a component of his writing style to carry forth the message of a culturally complex society. For example, Okonkwo’s conversation with Obierika as to the Oracle’s desires in Chapter Eight introduces significant cultural elements to the readers. Okonkwo argues that his participation in the murder of Ikemefuna was justified, but Obierika contends otherwise, declaring that Okonkwo’s actions are of the kind for which the earth goddess, Ani, “wipes out whole families”. In the conflict between their different views we see the strong influence exerted by their religion on each person, and also acquire recognition of significant religious elements, namely the Oracle and the earth goddess. That Okonkwo and Obierika should have differing opinions about the Oracle’s religious intentions indicates the presence of complex perceptions of the same religion. This complexity in religious perceptions then implicitly suggests to readers an inherent complexity in the religion itself, for without such complexity differing religious perceptions would not occur. Religion is a core component of culture, as clearly the culture of a society must not contradict the religious views held by that same society, and having a complex religion as a component of culture in turn suggests that the culture of the society must be complex as well.  Dialogue thus serves to carry forth Achebe’s message that African culture is complex. At the same time, in the suggestions of complex culture found in dialogue, we see how Achebe’s style of writing encourages readers to gradually reach a perception of his central message on their own, which is important in that the readers must themselves perceive such cultural complexity through development of their own thoughts on the issue- exactly as Achebe intended. To have a dialogue without any inherent message would also make such dialogue purposeless, as Achebe could not possibly describe an overarching purpose to that conversation. This shows how dialogue as a component of the writing style gives such a writing style an importance equal to that of the message; without dialogue being employed as such, readers cannot acquire knowledge of the message, whereas if there was no message, then dialogue would have no purpose. Dialogue as a component of the writing style thus creates a situation where the style is of equal importance to the message.

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Secondly, traditional African proverbs, a significant element of Achebe’s writing style, are used to highlight cultural complexity. An example would be Okonkwo’s declaring that “a child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm” in defence of his participating in the murder of Ikemefuna. He argues that he did as such due to the Oracle declaring that Ikemefuna would have to be killed. That proverbs can be casually used in dialogue to illustrate various points, such as the above proverb serving as a defence for one’s actions, is an indication of ...

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