Ato Quayson – Realism, Criticism, and the Disguises of Both: A Reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart with an Evaluation of the Criticism Relating to It

This seems to be pretty cut and dry. What Quayson is trying to say is that there are a lot of different criticisms that have been developed for Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. The second quote that Quayson mentions describes the essay as a whole. He states an Akan Proverb saying “No matter how well the hen dances, it cannot please the hawk.” He is saying that there are so many critics that are trying to discover the true meaning of Things Fall Apart. Some of these critiques are very well put together receiving a good amount of support. No matter how good they may seem, they will not please “the hawk”. There will always be another critique that will find something flawed with another’s critique then they themselves will write a critique pertaining to that critique. I can this being a very frustrating process by trying to write something that has not already been said since 1958 and to have it not get thrown underneath the bus. For example Chantal Zabus describes the term “ethno-text” as a way to focus on every aspect of a culture. Things Fall Apart is a book that is dominated by men and the culture is the same way and this is reality.

“Gap that exists between the realist African text and the reality that it is seen to represent”. I found this quote interesting because I think this gap is the reason why everyone has a different critique on Achebe’s book. Every sees a different reality within the book so therefore they see different aspects of importance. This is unique that a book that is about 100 or so pages long has received so many translations. This would also be humbling and humorous to Achebe.

I agree that everyone has different critiques and that no one person cannot not get eaten up by the hawk. Although it might seem hard to come up with a new outlook on Things Fall Apart, it is not. It is nearly impossible to have the same view because the critique depends on not only what you read in the book, but also other critiques you have read, preconceived notions, morals, and etc.