Ready Reference Treatise: No Longer at Ease

By Raja Sharma

Guide books or book notes are primarily written to make students understand the original text better, especially from all those angles which are often overlooked by a casual reader.

But, in the recent years it has been noticed that a very large majority of the students, without reading the original texts, rely on the guide books or notes prepared by their teachers or others. This is definitely not a healthy habit because students do pass their exams with the help of such notes; they miss so many things which haunt them in their later lives.

I would strongly advise all students to read the original text once again even if you have already read it, after reading this short treatise. You will see that the same story, after reading this treatise, will begin to give many new meanings to you.

All the best

Raja Sharma

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Nov 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301835959

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

Book preview

Ready Reference Treatise: No Longer at Ease

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2012 Raja Sharma

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved

Preface

Guide books or book notes are primarily written to make students understand the original text better, especially from all those angles which are often overlooked by a casual reader.

But, in the recent years it has been noticed that a very large majority of the students, without reading the original texts, rely on the guide books or notes prepared by their teachers or others. This is definitely not a healthy habit because students do pass their exams with the help of such notes; they miss so many things which haunt them in their later lives.

I would strongly advise all students to read the original text once again even if you have already read it, after reading this short treatise. You will see that the same story, after reading this treatise, will begin to give many new meanings to you.

All the best

Raja Sharma

Chapter One: About Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe is one of the most celebrated African writers, best known for his all time best novel Things Fall Apart. It was published in English Language in 1958.

Things Fall Apart is the first African novel written in English and it received universal acclaim. The book is often seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English. It has been so successful that it has been included in course of studies in schools throughout Africa and in many of the other English speaking countries around the world.

The title Things Fall Apart is inspired by W. B. Yeats’s poem The Second Coming.

The story of the novel revolves around the life of Okonkwo; he is a popular person in Umuofia, one of a fictional group of nine villages in Nigeria. Okonkwo is a leader and a local wrestling champion. The area where he lives is mostly inhabited by the Igbo people called Ibo in the novel. The story depicts mainly his family and personal history, the customs followed by the Igbo. The story shows how the British colonialism and Christian missionaries influenced the lives of the Igbo people during the last part of the 19th century. It shows how one powerful culture, through modern means and superiority of knowledge, is able to overpower the ancient customs and