Comparing Chinua Achebe 'And William Butler Yeats' Things Fall Apart

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Fear can cripple a person physically and mentally. Fear can destroy everything in it its path because of the magnitude it can reach. Both authors Chinua Achebe and William Butler yeats suggest that fear is a catalyst for destruction. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe employs motif, characterization and conflict while William Butler Yeats reveals through setting. Masculinity and the role of men in the Igbo tribe is a recurring motif. Okonkwo’s firm belief regarding how men must behave overemphasizing masculinity and does not allow for self-reflection or change for Okonkwo. It is the fear of looking weak ,or feminine that hastens his own destruction after his return to Umuofia. Okonkwo, upset by the changes by the white people but also “he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (183). The idea of extreme masculinity reveals how much his village and clan have change. He believes that as soon as the men stop acting masculine, they are failures and the clan collapses. However, Achebe suggests that this overemphasis on masculinity can lead to destruction. This also shows the way Achebe characterizes Okonkwo in the novel …show more content…

In the exposition of the novel, Achebe directly reveals that Okonkwo’s “whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness”(13). This fear is the catalyst for okonkwo destroying Ikemefuna (61). Both directly and indirectly, Achebe suggests that fear drives Okonkwo. Not only does he and the life of an innocent boy but also, he destroy his own peace of mind in the short term and in long term he begins the destruction of the relationship of his eldest son Nwoye. Achebe use of characterization also affects the conflict that arise in Things Fall

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