“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe (post 2): An un-novelistic novel with almost nothing indicative of multiple personality

The novel’s description of its particular ethnic group in Nigerian history is interesting, but not flattering. For example, it is mentioned in passing that they kept “slaves” (1, p. 40).

And for a highly praised novel, it has surprisingly little character development or plot:

Character development: Okonkwo, the protagonist, is happy when he can be manly, but unhappy when he is prevented from acting manly.

Plot: Okonkwo accidentally kills someone from his community, and is banished for seven years. After his return, he impulsively kills a colonial messenger, after which he commits suicide.

One thing in this novel that I thought might be relevant here is that Okonkwo’s (and the author’s) people killed all infant twins. And twins in literature are often a metaphor for multiple personality. But nothing psychological is made of this religiously dictated practice. And whereas the author’s Nigerian people killed twin babies, another Nigerian people honored twins (2). So the infanticide of twins, like the keeping of slaves, is just a cultural practice.

The only thing in this novel that is probably relevant to multiple personality is that the community’s oracle seemed to become like another person when she became oracular. So she may have had multiple personality, but I don’t see that as a reflection on the author (unless he had a tendency to become oracular).

In short, I found this novel to be not very novelistic in its meager character development and plot. And aside from the oracle, I found nothing indicative of multiple personality.

1. Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart [1958]. New York, Everyman/Knopf, 1992.

2. James Adewumi. https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2014/03/twins-in-west-african-culture-and-society-of-the-iron-age/