Building one's own Trojan Horse: An in-depth analysis of the roots that lead to Umuofia's downfall

Achebe's Things Fall Apart portrays real Igbo culture in a distinctive way that leaves almost no question mark in mind regarding the customs and life in Umuofia. With the novel's unconventional narration, Achebe enables the readers to explore the characters' deeds against colonialists and towards their own clanspeople. No matter how unnatural the narrative is, Things Fall Apart provides unique facts and information regarding the clan's culture. People of Umuofia, primarily the leaders, are bound to follow the doctrines that were formed and shaped by their ancestors and left in the clan as a trojan horse to bring about the demise of the culture. Being consisted of two books -Things Fall Apart and No Longer at Ease- the story depicts what has changed in Igboland during the process of colonialism. As it is accepted as the reason why things fell apart, colonialism helped the general growth of Nigeria in the meantime. The clan's irrationality in the novel, its obedience to the superstitious traditions, and the fact that people refuse to change in any manner pave the way for nothing but the collapse of the culture. The culture's structure and the results of it in pre, during, and post-colonial period will be explored and analysed in the light of new historical approach which values the literary text as a historical and culture document alongside cultural criticism which anticipates the fact that a culture must be in constant evolution for it to reach the contemporary modernism.