The Anthropocene in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart has received different critical and theoretical interpretations that examined and reexamined the novel within the context of different social realities. This study therefore is an eco-critical reading of how the ecology is one of the "things that fall apart" in the novel. Through the eco-critical approach, the study interrogates and reveals the cultural orientations that induce environmental mistreatment and consequent ecological problems in the novel. The ecological problems manifest as both implacable forces and uncanny reactions. The discovery is that the characters subdue the environment with various socio-economic activities as the environment consequently reacts to the actions of the characters. The patterns of oppression and subjugation of the environment are traced, revealing the culpability of the characters in the environmental problems that threaten their existence. The study advances the process of rethinking African literature and criticism as it also advances the frontiers of the emerging discipline of environmental humanities.