Comparing King's Crown And Things Fall Apart

“Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction” (Fromm). This quote relates to Okonkwo from the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, who is a tragic hero with his major flaw being his greed. There are some traits and beliefs found in King’s Crown by P. C. Lloyd and Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe that help display the African culture and ethnic identity including tribal status, influence of religion and tribal justice system. Tribal status displays African culture and ethnic identity in both works to help the reader to learn how the status of the different characters impacts how they live their lives. Influence of religion is also shown in both

Tribal status is shown in the novel Things Fall Apart and helps the reader understand the status of different characters and how it impacts how they live their lives. In the Ibo culture, the men make all of the decisions and prosperous men had multiple wives. In this culture, there is not a single leader and the elders lead the tribe. In this culture, titles are not inherited but they are earned. For Okonkwo to be successful he wanted to be the opposite of what his father was like. Unoka was seen as lazy, weak, and passive while Okonkwo strived to be strong, wealthy and successful. Okonkwo had feared of being weak so chose not to show emotions to others and he also killed Ikemefuna for the same reason. In the novel, Achebe writes, “ He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father, they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Okonkwo did not want to kill Ikemefuna and was not happy that he had done that. Okonkwo was so bothered about killing Ikemefuna that he did not eat for a few days. This could have been avoided if Okonkwo was not so concerned about his fear of looking weak in front of others. Tribal status is also shown in the folktale King’s Crown through a Yoruba king’s crown. The Yoruba king’s crown gives the king the power to interact with the spirit world in order to help benefit

Religion is shown in Things Fall Apart and helps the reader understand how important religion is to the Ibo people and how the imperialist trying to spread Christianity had a negative impact on the Ibo people. In the novel, the missionaries try to describe their religion to the people of Mbanta when Achebe says, “The white man was also their brother because they were all sons of God. And he told them about this new God, the Creator of all the world and all the men and women. He told them that they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone. A deep murmur went through the crowd when he said this. He told them that the true God lived on high and that all men when they died went before Him for judgment” (Achebe 145). This shows the first time that the people of Mbanta are being told about the white man’s God. The speaker tells the people of Mbanta that their gods do not exist and can not help them or hurt them. Many people had questioned what the speaker was saying and believed that he was mad. King’s Crown had religion passed down from Olorun the sky god to his descendants. In the novel, the author writes “He planted the palm nut, which grew into a proud tree with 16 branches, symbolizing the 16 sons and grandsons of Oduduwa” (Lloyd). The 16 descendants became rulers and divine kings to teach about their religion and enforce the rules. This is how the