“Kwame Anthony Appiah said, “It is the theme of his historical fiction that provides the third basis of Achebe’s appeal. For in exploring the moment at which European culture and military power began to take over the world of his own ancestors, Achebe is examining a crucial moment in modern human history, a moment whose importance is particularly compelling for readers in the post-colonial worlds of Africa and Asia. Throughout history cultures have been overtaken by other cultures, either militarily or peacefully, but the process and the outcome are similar in all cases. There are those who welcome and embrace change in their own world and realize that change is inevitable no matter who you are or where you live, and there are those who resist it like the cold rain in their face. Hence why the process is always the same; there are those who will rebel for the sake of preserving their traditions and way of life, and some do succeed. Eventually the change overwhelms them and more people begin to realize that change is necessary as the world expands. I am not stating by any means that change is always a good thing, or it is brought forth for the right reasons or by the right force, but has occurred in all corners of the world since the beginning of time. The moment at which the Europeans began to take over Achebe’s homeland is important, as Appiah stated, because it gives a much less biased account of the events that took place than many of the European writings. This essay will analyze the major historical and cultural themes presented in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart by looking closely at the lives of the main characters and the choices they made during the European takeover of their land and culture. This novel gives us a better understanding of the events and the culture of this ancient land.