Thesis Statement and Outline

Prompt: The personal history of an author can have a significant influence on the way meaning is constructed in his/her writing. Comment on specific instances of such influence in Things Fall Apart.

Thesis Statement:

 In Things Fall Apart, Achebe's historical background significantly influences the construction of his writing as he uses secondary foil characters, his personal experience and the depiction of Christian missionaries arriving to the Igbo community to ultimately drive his purpose of renegotiating a relationship to traditional Igbo Society

Topic Sentence 1: Achebe's aim of reconnecting to his roots enables Achebe to use secondary foil characters like Mr. Brown and Smith in order to reinforce how the cultural values of the Igbo people coincides with the British missionaries.

Topic Sentence 2:  Furthermore, Achebe's background as a devout Christian influences the way he represents the arrival of missionaries of which, is manifested through an unbiased perspective in order to develop his purpose.

Topic Sentence 3: Throughout the novel, Achebe is able to critically take advantage of being an African author at that time in order to re-negotiate a relationship to traditional igbo society as he looks back to reciprocate and be critical of colonisation.