Ecohistorical Analysis of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God

In a bid to present a meticulous portrait of the Igbo society, before Colonialism, Chinua Achebe puts together Things Fall Apart (1958) and Arrow of God (1962). This Paper examined the relationship between intellectual history and culture and a relationship between literature and environment in the study of two typical Igbo novels. Apart from the atmospheric, hydrospheric and lithospheric degradations and pollution in the Niger Delta Region occasioned by the activities of various bodies, there is also colonial degradation brought about by the subtle invasion of the Europeans. This paper used new historicism and ecocriticism as theoretical frameworks in the study of the two novels of Achebe. It was discovered that the incursion of the imperialists put a knife on the cherished values, sacred cultures, customs and traditions of the Igbo people and Africa at large. It divided blood brothers and created “white men in black skins” who mimicked the appalling activities of their bosses. While the pre-colonial African society lived in an inviolate state of nature, colonialism opened the door for denigration of sacred orders held so dear by the African people and the exploitation of the environment.