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The themes in things fall apart
Symbolism in things fall apart essays
The themes in things fall apart
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Change. Change is not easy to handle, let alone accepting it, letting change eat at you and your culture. The book, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a gripping novel about an African tribe thad tries to overcome or accept change. When people already have something imputed into their brains, it’s a major challenge to change that with an alienated culture nothing like their own. When Okonkwo dealt with change in his life, he was pushed off of the edge, and was willing to fight for what he believes in. Fighting for your culture is a noble and right thing to do, and here 3 reasons why. When people try to force their culture onto an already flourishing culture, that creates harsh conflict and is very immoral. When 2 cultures try to overcome each other, let’s say America’s culture and Saudi Arabia’s culture, thing start to get mixed up and very confusing. Weddings start to change, living styles will change, etc. When the Christians brought their culture, it severely messed up the culture of Okonkwo’s clan, and bringing the downfall of Okonkwo’s life. “It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land.”, unlike Christian culture, where …show more content…
If there was a very violent person who is doing something, and some people try to take that away and replace it with another, how would you expect him to react? He would probably fight back and try to keep his item he is doing something with. The same goes with Okonkwo and his culture.When the Christians try to take their culture away from such a primitive tribe, people know that it will not be ok, and the Christians should have known that. Of course Okonkwo would stand up for his fun and barbaric tradition . “...he felt a strong desire to take up his machete, go to the church and wipe out the entire vile and miscreant gang.” which shows his primitive
Imagine if you would, to be in another culture, and someone who is unwanted, unwelcome has come into it and has caused it to crumble. You and your family are plunged into failure and your life is falling apart. These people, the missionaries, arrived from England to colonize Africa during the colonial period. There were many problems faced by the native people, most of whom were not about to drop all of their beliefs to adopt a foreigners customs. Such beliefs existed in the protagonist, Okonkwo, and are the roots of the challenges faced by Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, in which the author, Chinua Achebe, writes of the challenges to Okonkwo's sense of identity. Western ideas have clashed with his sense of family, his ideas of gender, and position of leadership within the clan, which influences and forms the meaning of the book.
After Okonkwo gets banished from the tribe it undergoes a drastic cultural change. Okonkwo does not. Upon his return he discovers that his tribe has been partially converted by the Christian missionaries. He is appalled and rejects the idea.
We eventually see the ideas of another clansman who comes to terms that they are too late to fight off the new influence when he tells Okonkwo, “ “pg. ( ) we are seeing that men of the old way have realized that they can’t do anything about the white man’s influence because due to their customs it is one of the worst crimes to kill a clansman. And with this, that is why Okonkwo was banished in the first part, the accidental murder of a clansman. We see that the flourishment of one culture snuffs the life out of another and we see that today in areas like Israel Palestine that two different culture groups cannot live together because they will want to shove their culture down the throats of others/ have to prove that theirs is right. Much like the missionaries did with the Ibo when they came and told them about their false god
He hadn't realized he had his people in front of him until they were gone. In the page of 171 paragraph 1, it quotes “The clan was like a lizard, if it lost its tail, it soon get out another.” The quote defines that Okonkwo lost so many people and he wanted to restore them, the changes effected him dramatically from what the missionary was doing. In page 171 paragraph 2 quoting “Okonkwo knew these things. He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan.” This evidence is explaining that Okonkwo lost his position, people who had admired him changed, he quickly lost his power. This made Okonkwo devastated which resulted badly for him as he was
...uble-crossing his own people like the rest of the tribe starts to do. “Everybody in the assembly spoke, and in the end it was decided to ostracise the Christians. Okonkwo ground his teeth in disgust” (159). Okonkwo’s inability to change and cope with his feelings ultimately made him the woman in the end by killing himself.
He was in great conflict with the ideas of the white men and the missionaries. Okonkwo saw that their beliefs had not only changed the daily life of the Ibo, but it also changed the people themselves: “He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). The author uses strong diction to compare the men before and after colonization. This quote also portrays Okonkwo’s opinion towards the cultural collision. He values strength and masculinity immensely because of his fear of appearing weak like his father Unoka. When he describes that the men of Umuofia changed to be soft like women, this shows how much he dishonors the Western ideas and how it has taken over the village. He made an attempt to get rid of the Western influence by urging the tribe to fight like men, but they refuse to. He was determined and still attempted to furthermore encourage the people of Umuofia to revolt against the new culture. He realizes that his attempts to return the village back to the way it was before were futile. He knew that Christianity was tearing his people apart, but knew he was incapable of making change to help his people. Okonkwo then starts to feel hopeless and abandoned by his clan, which causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself: “Obierika… turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men
In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, the protagonist Okonkwo struggles between tribal tradition, his internal conflicts with his own beliefs, and the arrival of European missionaries to Africa. Okonkwo’s own perspective is limited to a heavily masculine praising mindset, driving him to be rash and violent at times, but his own tribe has a variety of traditions and personalities. Immediately, Okonkwo sees these missionaries as a threat to his place in society, their beliefs are frowned upon by most of the tribes and people of power. Missionaries see African tribes as animalistic and primitive. Okonkwo’s perspective was valid considering all the damage missionaries would eventually cause in the long run. A loss of culture and the
...iety. When members of his tribe convert to Christianity, he considers them "unmanly." When the tribe does not take forceful action to expel the Christians, Okonkwo condemns them as effeminate. In psychological terms, he wants the tribe to do what he has done himself: to suppress homosexual impulses. His rage stems from the fact that he has done this himself, at a considerable cost, but they will not do the same. (Of course, Christianity is not evidence of homosexuality; Okonkwo is "projecting" his fears onto the community.)
Unfortunately, the clash of the cultures that occurs when the white man's missionaries come to Africa in an attempt to convert the tribal members, causes Okonkwo to lash out at the white man and results in his banishment from the tribe. Okonkwo had a bad temper which he often displayed: Okonkwo ruled 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. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear of failure and of weakness.
...ung lazy and reliant on the whites. When Okonkwo's own son joins the church he must have felt a great sadness that his son was weak in mind, and would become softened by the white culture. Feminine versus masculine traits is the controversy in this instance. Okonkwo has built his whole life on the masculinity of the tribe. The masculinity is what helps the tribe survive.
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. When the structure of Umuofia began to change, Okonkwo found himself incapable of adapting like the rest of the villagers. He was determined to live a life that could not survive the changing world, and his dreams crumbled down. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society.
Humans’ natural instincts are to deny a new aspect and stick to older ones. Nevertheless, old and new aspects are intertwined. Traditions and change are ever present in society, without them society would not prosper. Traditions are the foundations of society. However, just like any other foundation, sooner or later it must be altered or changed, even in the most miniscule way. The Umuofia Tribe, though prosperous only knew traditions. When change is mentioned and brought to the tribe, the tribe is dumbstruck, most do not know how to respond, while other embrace the change with open arms. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, traditions and change are depicted as equally beneficial to society.
Achebe shows us a culture that is on the verge of change. Within the story we find out how the reality of change is brought upon several characters, and what their actions follow. Just like how African’s resisted the white’s over taking their country in reality, Achebe implements the same idea with the use of several characters. Okonkwo, for example, is completely opposed to the new political and religious upbringing that has come upon his clan. He feels that a real man does not change his views and beliefs for another mans views and beliefs. He see’s it as a sign of weakness. As we see throughout the novel, Okonkwo’s fear of losing his title and status, drives him further away from the idea of changing and adapting to the new religion. Achebe shows us how there will always be those that fight against the change, but in the end the stronger religion will over take and turn the others. Unfortunately for him, Okonkwo finding out his clan is converting is heart aching and he finds complete weakness in his clan. Achebe ties both themes of change and masculinity very well, and both themes support each other in every way. In reality, many Africans resisted the colonizers trying to destroy their religion, but the colonization wasn’t as severe as Achebe presented in her novel. “Groups strongly resisted the coming of European
"Mankind has many different faces. Although fear and anger are reactions that all men have, if left unchecked, they will consume all one has worked for and ultimately destroy everything that one holds dear" (Anonymous quote). Okonkwo not only lost his tribe, his family and his religion; but he also lost himself along the way. Aristotle once said that "Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all". Change should not rule someone's life. It is something that is inevitable, and once it is truly accepted one can be at peace.
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