In the book Things Fall Apart it begins with introducing Okonkwo, who is a warrior of the clan of a Nigerian tribe which consists of 9 communities. There is an internal struggle with Okonkwo due to his issues with his father leaving the villages with many unsettling debts after his death. Okonkwo has one son, but he does not approve of him, and finds him to be very lazy and lives with the fear that he will end up just like his father, Unoka. He does get the opportunity to raise another boy, due to winning him in a settlement between another Tribe. He becomes very fond of the boy, and the boy begins to see him as a father figure. This results in Okonkwo being placed in a situation where he has to choose to show his power to his village which requires him to kill Ikemefuna, the settlement son. 

The Week of Peace, Okonkwo is still dealing with having to kill his “son” and takes it out on his wife and accuses her of negligence, and starts to beat her during this time where this is forbidden. This takes a toll on how the village sees him, and it leads to them to feel this is out of his character. Some time later there is a celebration of death for Ogbuefi, during this time the gun that Okonkwa fired exploded killing a clansman, which is forbidden, and he was forced to leave the village with his family to where his mother lived. During a two year time span, information is given to Okonkwa that villages have been taken over by white men, and people have come in and began to preach to the villagers that what they believe is a sin. 

Overall, this book does a good job at explaining that life in Africa is not what most portray it to be, the common stereotypes are that the country and people are poor, which is shown throughout that this is not accurate, and that there are many who are wealthy. This relates back to the Ted talk that Adichie made, where she goes to example what life was like for her, and the stereotypes that she encountered her entire life. 

Adichie, C. N. (2009). The danger of a single story. TED. Retrieved September 26, 2021, from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.

Achebe, C., & James, P. F. (2010). Things fall apart. Clipper.