Things Fall Apart

646 Words2 Pages

Things Fall Apart Holiday Work

Throughout Things Fall Apart, Achebe exemplifies the significance of storytelling and language within the Igbo society and shows how quickly the abandonment of the Igbo language for English can lead to the ‘desecrat[ion]’ of its cherished traditions. By embellishing the novel with folktales and ‘Ibo’ expressions, Achebe illustrates the complexity of the Igbo community and shows that their language is too delicate and elaborate for direct translation into English. The Igbo prize conversation as an art form and believe that ‘proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.’ The ‘palm-oil’ expressed in this metaphor is the cornerstone in which many foods are prepared with. Hence, Achebe suggests that proverbs are the basis by which conversations are constructed. Additionally, …show more content…

Through these translated proverbs, allegories, and songs, Achebe successfully captures and conveys the unique rhythms and cadences of the Igbo language and portrays how the ‘Ibo’ view their world.

The eradication of Igbo customs and the ensuing demise of Okonkwo is a result of the struggle between change and tradition. The impact of these alterations on different characters involves questions of personal status. Having been raised by a ‘lazy and improvident’ father who ‘could not bear the sight of blood’, Okonkwo knowingly adopts opposite ideals. He is adamantly averse towards anything that he perceives as ‘soft’, and thus his tragic flaw lies in his ‘fear of failure and of weakness.’ The man who ‘threw the Cat’ has a set of ‘bushy eyebrows and [a] wide nose [that gives] him a very severe look’, further illustrating his stern demeanour. Hence, Okonkwo refuses to be subdued by the new religious and political orders as he believes that

Tragedy in Chinua Achebe´s Things Fall Apart
590 Words | 2 Pages
Within the Obi tribe, Okonkwo is an important man, who has risen from nothing to a man of great wealth and social status. Okonkwo is obsessed with masculinity, and he has a very narrow view of “manliness”. Okonkwo's relationship with his dead father is the root of his violent and ambitious conduct. He wants to rise above his father's legacy of laziness, which he views as weak and therefore feminine. This drive and fierce pride made him a great man, but they are also the source of all of his faults.
Read More
Things Fall Apart
698 Words | 2 Pages
In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Mr. Brown, the first missionary in Umuofia, was a kind and respectful man. Not to say that Reverend James Smith was not, but his degree of kindness and respect were present in a whole different level. They both wanted to convert the lost, all those in Umuofia that were not in the church. Mr. Brown made friends with the clan and “trod softly on his faith,” (pg.178) while Mr. Smith told them how things were in a harsh voice and tried to force his religion on the people of Umuofia. The impacts the two had on the people and the church were exact opposites.
Read More
The Inflexibility and Hubris of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
957 Words | 2 Pages
Okonkwo's ferocity is demonstrated in the carrying out of his personal "dread" to the letter within his family, his community, and the invaders. His ferocity, born of fear, is his evil. During the Week of Peace, one of Okonkwo's wives, Ojiugo, has left the compound, ignoring her children and domestic duties, to "plait her hair."
Read More
Things Fall Apart
1974 Words | 4 Pages
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
Read More
The Power Struggle in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart
1198 Words | 3 Pages
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.
Read More
Things Fall Apart Diction Essay
607 Words | 2 Pages
The use of African words in Things Fall Apart helped emphasize the importance of Igbo culture, especially upon its extirpation. In addition to diction, Achebe, using symbolism, emphasized the relevance of the silk-cotton tree and the tenacity of Okika’s stories. During the final tribe meeting, when Okonkwo was looking for Oganwe, a man who Okonkwo saw as weak, Okonkwo found “him [Oganwe] sitting under the silk-cotton tree.” (Achebe 201) The placement of his seat was under the tree that symbolized the spirits of good children, who supposedly lived in the tree waiting to be born.
Read More
Things Fall Apart
1211 Words | 3 Pages
Okonkwo's moral ambiguity is not simply inherent in his character, but is developed by the situation he was presented with in life. Okonkwo's father Unoka, exhibited qualities during his lifetime that were not respected by his fellow clan members. During the beginning of the book the reader can relate to how Okonkwo would want to be respected and can be happy for his success. It is the simple tendency of the reader to be happy when the protagonist succeeds; therefore when Okonkwo defeats Amalinze the cat in wrestling the reader is satisfied with the outcome. Okonkwo's moral ambiguity is defined when it is made clear that Okonkwo simply discards his father, whose death was described as being very painful. Although Okonkwo's father was unsuccessful in life, the reader still pities him when he dies because he was a compassionate person. Even though Okonkwo appeals to the reader's own want to be successful, and is viewed positively for that reason, he is developed as a morally ambiguous character because of the lack of compassion he showed toward his father.
Read More
How Does Chinua Achebe Depict Ibo Culture In Things Fall Apart?
1510 Words | 4 Pages
Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by itself, in both a sophisticated and primitive light describing and discussing its grandeur, showing its strengths and weaknesses, etiquettes and incivilities, and even the beginning of cultural breakdown before the introduction of the missionaries. The collapse of the old culture is evident soon after the missionaries arrived, and here Achebe utilises two of the primary missionary figures, Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith, to once again depicts both sides of the Ibo culture between them, with Mr. Brown depicting the sophisticated and Mr. Smith depicting the primitive aspects.
Read More
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
865 Words | 2 Pages
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
Read More
Fate and Free Will in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
1240 Words | 3 Pages
It is important to note that Achebe was a product of both traditional Igbo society and the colonizing British culture. Therefore, the narrative is influenced by two strikingly opposed philosophies. The tragic hero, Okonkwo, may have been crafted to express, not only the Igbo philosophy of harmony, but the outsider interpretation of a seemingly paradoxical belief system. Achebe's representation of Okonkwo may symbolize the collision of these two conflicting philosophies.
Read More
Things Fall Apart Theme Essay
1621 Words | 4 Pages
Before the arrival of the Europeans, Achebe did a excellent job portraying how the life of Igbo was before they were forced to oppose their own culture. To support this theme, Achebe included detailed descriptions of social rituals within each family, the justice system, religious practices and consequences, preparation and indulgence of food, the marriage process and the distributing of power within the men. Achebe shows how every man has an opportunity to prove himself worthy to achieve a title on the highest level, based merely on his own efforts. One may argue that the novel was written with the main focus on the study of Okonkwo’s character and how he deteriorates, but without the theme that define the Igbo culture itself, we would never know the universe qualities of the society that shaped Okonkwo’s life. The lives of the Igbo people was no different to the actual lives of the Ibos people back in the early days of Africa. Just like in Things Fall Apart, in actual African tribes there was never a ruler. “Very interesting thing about these villages is that there is no single ruler or king that controls the population. Decisions are made by including almost everyone in the village” (AfricaGuide). Using the theme, Achebe educated readers on by mirroring real African life in her
Read More
Change And Tradition In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
723 Words | 2 Pages
Throughout Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, struggle between change and tradition is one of the most relevant issues. The Igbo villagers, Okonkwo, and his son Nwoye all experience this problem in many different ways. The villagers have their religion defied, Okonkwo reaches his breaking point and Nwoye finally finds what he believes in. People have struggled to identify and cope with change and tradition throughout history, and will continue to struggle with this issue in the
Read More
Things Fall Apart Failure
564 Words | 2 Pages
In the life of all people conflicts have occurred, but on the day of judgement over these problems people are not judged by the conflict that occurred, but by how the handled it. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a famous novel because it uses a complex story with complex characters, much like the real world. This book displays failure as much as it does success, and most of the failure and success is caused by a character's reaction to the conflict that they face. This leads to the observation that in Things Fall Apart, and in the real world when faced with a problem people tend to succeed by solving it and change the world around them, are changed by the problem for better or worse, or people are taken down by the conflict and do not recover leading to failure.
Read More
No Longer At Ease by Chinua Achebe
979 Words | 2 Pages
Well-acclaimed author, Chinua Achebe from Wes Africa, is recognized worldwide for his exquisite and intelligent usage of literary devices to bring to the limelight pertinent issues facing the African continent, more specifically Nigeria. He introduces the world to his main character Obi Okonkwo whom; through his eyes, a glimpse is given into the world of a Nigerian .In Things Fall Apart, his first of three novels, Okonkwo, upon his arrival from England is completely detached from his African heritage. From the novel, it is noticed that Obi Okonkwo slowly becomes a part of a dominant class whose corruption he finds repugnant. In an effort to choose between the acceptance of traditional values and the pleasures of a fast changing world, Obi finds himself in a tight fix .He is faced with growing pressures from the expectations of his family, his community, and the larger society around him. With unprecedented lucidity and a growing passion, Chinua Achebe’s No Longer at Ease remains till date a brilliant account of the challenges facing Nigeria today. This paper seeks to examine the representation of the colonial experiences of Obi Okonkwo in the fiction of Chinua Achebe.
Read More
Critical Analysis Of Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe
930 Words | 2 Pages
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.
Read More

Open Document

Wait a second!

Things Fall Apart

Tragedy in Chinua Achebe´s Things Fall Apart