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Raye Cheng Things Fall Apart Summer Reading
August 3, 2015
1. In the culture of Okwonko's village of Umuofia, greatness is defined by various aspects of courage, endurance, and strength, which Okwonko strives to achieve throughout the novel. He plants yams, that are apparently only for men to plant, and is also a great warrior among the people, two very valued characteristics. Many aspects of this manhood that he strives to attain is evident through his efforts of the shaping of his children to become warriors, especially his sons. "Okwonko ruled his house with a heavy hand. . . Perhaps down in his heart Okwonko was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness" (13). When raising Ikemefuna and Nwoye, it is clear that Okwonko wishes that they become warriors like the Umuofia are. Through discipline, he teaches his children about the what being a person of Umuofia should be like. Okwonko's strengths include his desire of greatness, his motivation to work, and his deeply rooted religious beliefs. "During the planting
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season Okwonko worked daily on his farms from cock-crow until chickens went to roost" (13). As for his weaknesses, Okwonko fears being weak, cannot reason properly at times, and cannot express his feelings. However, Okwonko differs greatly from traditional Western heroes due to the fact that he is not portrayed as a perfect human being like Western heroes. He beats his children and wives and is portrayed to often have a conflicted state of mind. For these reasons, readers may not feel the same connection to Okwonko as they do to other Western heroes. 2. One of the obvious reasons for simply depicting customs, rituals, and ceremonies instead of explaining them is the fact that the book is written in the point of view of an Ibo man. Another reason for only depicting these events may be that Achebe wanted to portray these events as normal practices to the world audience, and not make the African culture seem like an alien culture. Achebe always depicts Okwonko normally as these various rituals and events are carried out. 3. Christianity and white men play a pivotal role in the outcome of the novel, and it is with reason that Chinua Achebe brought this into the book only in the last third. It is known that Achebe wrote this book in response to insulting stereotypes of Africans. By only bringing white men and Christianity into the novel in the last third, Achebe is allowed to use the first two parts of the novel in order to establish what normal life was like in these villages before the "invasion" of the white men. After Okwonko returns to Umuofia after his seven years in exile, he says that "Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years. . .Why have [our people] lost the power to fight" (174, 175). The entrance of white men only in the last third allows for readers to understand normal society in the first two parts and really understand the change that the society undergoes when Christianity and white men come into play. The founding of a Christian church in Mbanta made people question their own religion, and even made Nwoye, Okwonko's son, convert to Christianity. This put brothers against brothers in religious views. Many misunderstandings make the conflict between the Europeans and Africans inevitable, including the great difference in culture, and especially the want to convert Africans to Christianity by the Europeans. White men and Christianity definitely play a tremendous part in the outcome of the story. 4.
Written in an authentic African perspective, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe portrays the real feelings and emotions that the African people had toward the arrival of Christianity and white men. Though the beliefs of Christianity may seem normal to the white people, it was very confusing to those of African descent, and the novel highlighted the confusion that the Ibo had towards the Christian beliefs. It depicts the strangeness of the new religion and white people to the villagers of Umuofia. In Chapter 21, Akunna, a great man of the village, talked to Mr. Brown, the white missionary, about the differences and similarities of their own religions, which ultimately revealed the difficulty of each person understanding the other's point of view. Achebe wrote this novel to provide the world with what the Africans thought about the attempted conversion of their own
people. 5. The book that the District Commissioner intends to write, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger, provides a couple ironies for the readers. First off, the 'primitive' tribes, as the DC calls it, is purely based on perspective. To the Europeans, the Africans are not as advanced as they seem to be, because the white men have beliefs that they are superior to the Africans, a belief that is purely based on perspective. In addition, the "pacification" in this sense, forcing Umuofia to become "peaceful" was purely based off ill-will and force. The six men from the village were taken prisoner and would only be let go if fines were paid. They were even whipped in prison by the white men. The ironies in the title of the book are evident, and so are the DC's biased view of Europeans and Africans.
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a powerful novel about the social changes that occurred when the white man first arrived on the African continent. The novel is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, an elder, in the Igbo tribe. He is a fairly successful man who earned the respect of the tribal elders. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected member of the tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace graphically dramatizes the struggle between the altruistic values of Christianity and the lust for power that motivated European colonialism in Africa and undermined the indigenous culture of a nation.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of how one unified Umuofian community falls due to its own inner conflicts, as well as to the arrival of Christian missionaries. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to change the brutish image of Africa, for the Western world. The use of changing perspectives greatly aided Achebe in accurately portraying Africa as colorful, diverse and complex. For Westerners, viewing Africans as more than tribal and barbaric was a new concept, of which Achebe helped usher in. The story is told through the eyes of many Umuofians, which gives the reader a personal sense for the individuals within the tribe. When all the individual pieces of the story are brought together, the sifting perspectives creates a vast overview of the community, while also deepening the readers since for the tribe by allowing personal details to show through. Achebe captures the complexity of the Umuofia community by changing the perspective from which the story is being told frequently.
Things Fall Apart - White Missionaries Caused Umofia to Fall Apart Faith has always been a guiding force in man's life. Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is a story that describes the effects of a new Christian religion in a tribal village in Africa. The tribe has their own language, known as Obi, a dignified culture and a value system that has continued for many years as they traced back into their ancestry. Yet, the snares are still there.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a book depicting the life of a man named Okonkwo who had lost everything through a series of misfortunate events. The book begins by explaining Okonkwo’s Father and his beliefs. Okonkwo’s Father was a man who was always indebted to another and always sought the happiness of this world even if it cost him more than he could afford. His Father, Unoka, was not a respected official of the African tribe they were apart of and was looked upon as a fool who was weak for giving in to temptation of this world. Okonkwo had developed a fear of becoming weak as a result of his father’s terrible experience. I for one believe that the book was taken out of perspective and was written in a Postcolonial manner. As for
From an early age, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, Unoka, who was unable even to feed his family. The unpredictability of receiving enough food at a young age was enough to inspire fear and embarrassment in Okonkwo who associated this embarrassment with his father and was given further justification for these feelings when he went out into Umuofia, discovering that the other villagers held similar opinions of Unoka. When he was old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters […] And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” (25). Okonkwo’s self-reliance was admired, valued in the community where “age was respected […] but achievement was revered” (12); this admiration gave him feelings of security, and the respect of his peers pushed him towards greater self-respect, distancing him from his father. The security and respect became related in his mind as he viewed his acceptance in the community as his life’s goal and Okonk...
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe is able to express this embarkation with his division of the novel into two parts. The first part introduces Okonkwo along with his family’s beliefs and their origins, religions, etc. However, in the second part with the arrival of the Christian missionaries, the seeds of colonialism take root within the Ibo tribe and Okonkwo’s family, particularly in his son Nwoye. At the beginning, the missionaries are calm and peaceful. However, as time goes on they start to undergo their mission and start to denounce the Ibo’s gods as “false gods, gods of wood and stone.” At first, many are appalled and find their preaching laughable, but as they continue to thrive, people such as Nwoye begin to reach out. Because Nwoye is unable to forgive Okonkwo for his betrayal in killing his adopted brother, he converts to Christianity in an attempt to get back at his father for his crime. In addition, the missionaries’ hymn about brothers living in “darkness and fear,...
Ari Brace Mr. Liepa Honors Global Literature 4 May 2014 Adapting to Change Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life.
With the growth and contribution of Okonkwo, it makes readers believe hard-working person can get respect in this immemorial village. After the death of Unoka, Okonkwo becomes the man of tremendous promise in his family, and he is always strict to his family members even his young sons. In Umoufia, there is a clear division of labor between males and females. Yam is an important plant at that time, and it is the staple food at any season in a year, so Okonkwo and his clansman who are old enough to plant in farmlands never miss the best to prepare for seed-yams and sow seeds into soil, it usually takes several weeks. However, females like Okonkwo’s wives will not be asked to do heavy farm work, and they need to look after the whole family instead. “Okonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went to plait her hair at her friend’s house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal.” (Things Fall Apart, 21) It is the first time Okonkwo blames his wife with the reason that she did not achieve her duty. This kind of blame is not acceptable nowadays, but with the gender role at that time, Okonkwo would not be punished if he does not beat his youngest wife in the peace week. “Okonkwo rules his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.” (Things Fall Apart, 13) This is how author describes Okonkwo and how gender role works among a family and village. The clear division of labor makes Umoufia more stable, but it seems that defeat is also obvious under this
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel written to highlight the intriguing lives and misconceptions that are often identified with African culture. Achebe writes Things Fall Apart from the African view, a foreign perspective that sees westerners as the outsiders and Africans as the insiders. Focusing on a clan in lower Nigeria, Achebe profiles the clash of cultures that erupts when white Christians colonize and spread their religious ideals. Achebe is able to make his book so popular to the entire world because of his expert use of symbols like drums, locusts, and fire. These common symbols in which drums represent the beat of all civilization, locusts represent invasion by an outsider, and fire represents destruction, all aid Things Fall Apart in making it a novel for the ages that applies to all humanity. Achebe accomplished this by frequently using drums, locusts and fire to better outline loss of culture, the white men coming, and the destructive societal ramifications that follow.
There are many themes evident throughout Things Fall Apart, but one of the most prominent is the struggle between change and tradition, in the sense that some people change, but others don’t. Nwoye’s callow mind was greatly puzzled” (Achebe 89). Nwoye finds the missionaries hymn soothing, but it leaves him more confused about what he believes. Nwoye finally finds the courage to convert after a violent encounter with Okonkwo, “He went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write” (Achebe 93).
In 1958 Chinua Achebe published his first and most widely acclaimed novel, Things Fall Apart. This work-commonly acknowledged as the single most well known African novel in the world-depicts an image of Africa that humanizes both the continent and the people. Achebe once said, "Reading Heart of Darkness . . . I realized that I was one of those savages jumping up and down on the beach. Once that kind of enlightenment comes to you, you realize that someone has to write a different story" (Gikandi 8-9); Achebe openly admits that he wrote Things Fall Apart because of the horrible characterization of Africans in many European works, especially Heart of Darkness. In many ways, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart can be seen as an Afrocentric rebuttal to the Eurocentric depi...
In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a unified village in Nigeria called Umuofia. However, when the missionaries arrive on their land looking to promote their religion, this clan transforms and eventually falls apart. One day, Okonkwo, the center character of the story, accidentally kills a man and is banished from his homeland for seven years. During the seven years, the outcasts and even Nwoye, his eldest son, in Umuofia convert to Christianity, resulting in permanently divided families and a lack of unity in the society. This novel illustrates how Christianity both direct and shatter Umuofia.
Okonkwo is a self-made man. He achieves greatness through his own hard work and determination. Okonkwo started his life without the benefits that other young men had. His father, Unoka, was a lazy man. He had acquired no honorary titles. When Unoka died, Okonkwo did not inherit any barn, title, or young wife. He merely acquired his father’s debts. Therefore, Okonkwo sets about to make a name for himself and to achieve greatness in his community. He diligently plants and harvests his yams, building a farm from scratch. He builds a large commune for his family. He marries three wives; one of them was the village beauty. He acquires two titles. Okonkwo is not a failure, like is father was. In Umuofia, “achievement was revered”, and Okonkwo’s achievement was immense (8). He was “clearly cut out for great things” (8). To the Igbo people, Okonkwo epitomizes greatness and success.
...dea of what these people were like before British colonization. Without this insight into their culture, the reader would not have a full understanding of the changes and eventual downfall of the lbo. The scenes of cultural misunderstanding, and the mistreatment of women and outcasts, help to understand the conflicts that arise between the lbo and the British missionaries. Things Fall Apart is an excellent piece of literature. Achebe paints a picture of a people that most Westerners would otherwise never understand. He takes the reader right into the community of Umuofia. Achebe gives such a wonderful understanding of the conflict and strife of the lbo people at the time of colonization. The historical significance of Things Fall Apart is immeasurable. Achebe simply gives the world a look at the end of a traditional way of life caused by the specter of imperialism.
In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the author poses many perspectives for literary criticism and review. This work emphasizes many different cultural aspects that were considered controversial at the time of publication in both African and American culture. This novel’s focus on feminine roles, religion, and cultural norms give readers a glimpse of life in the village of Umuofia while allowing them to think critically about the thematic topics posed.