Authority In Things Fall Apart

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For centuries, subordinate individuals have been burdened by the abuse of power and loss of freedom. Abusive authority figures limited the power of subordinate individuals by enslaving them and taking their freedom away. Subordinate individuals were abused by the authority and lost their freedom.The Berlin conference was a meeting between European nations to create rules on how to peacefully divide Africa among them for colonization (Chegg). During this time, the Europeans forced Africans to work long hours and in return received little pay. This shows that the Europeans misused their power and didn’t give the Africans any freedom (Oxford Reference). In addition to, Totalitarianism is a system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state. Stalin ruled in a stern way and if anyone got in his way of ruling he …show more content…

It is easy to see in the story, Things Fall Apart, that men are used as the authority figure while women and children have no say. Achebe states, “was a very strong man and rarely felt fatigue. But his wives and children were not as strong, and so they suffered. But they dared not complain openly,”(Achebe 13). This shows that Okonkwo had so much power over his family that they didn’t even dare to speak. Okonkwo scared his family into falling under his control Not only did Things Fall Apart have similar individuals that felt enslaved but Caged Bird did also. In the story, Caged Bird, a bird sings a song about a dream of theirs, saying how it wishes to be free. Angelou states, “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.” (Angelou, Pearson)This shows that the owner made the bird feel as if he were a slave, tied and clipped, not letting the bird get a feel for being

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