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Culture in Things fall apart
Themes, settings and plot in chinua achebe's things fall apart
A theme of culture in chinua Achebe's things fall apart
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The author, Chinua Achebe once said “Igbo people say, if you want to see it well, you must not stand in one place.” This quote is significant because it shows that sometimes viewing something from of different angle can show you the goods and bads of what we are doing. But if we are not looking at something at a different angle, then we are destined to create trouble or easily miss something very important. Even when two people are viewing the same thing their interpretation may be different. When there are two different interpretations of the same thing is where there is conflict and miscommunication and people start treating people less like people. The author, Chinua Achebe in his book, Things Fall Apart uses realistic characters to show …show more content…
Early in Things Fall Apart the author Chinua Achebe, uses the classic father son conflict to show how much communication matters in not only their society but also in their family. The main character Okonkwo and his son Nwoye have a very poor relationship with each other. Okonkwo is a man of work and is very driven in his work and Nwoye is like …show more content…
One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness.” (Pg. 13) If Okonkwo hates his father so much then a boy who is very lazy is disapproved as well under Okonkwo’s household. Nwoye is very close to his grandpa in personality and so this Okonkwo and Nwoye contrast each other in the book. This makes their relationship not close in the slightest. Also Okonkwo was a man of tradition and when Nwoye was suspected of going to one these Christian meetings he choked Nwoye to try and prove his point but it just furthered their relationship even further. Towards the end of the book Okonkwo is told that the missionary “had just sent Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru. And he had hoped that Okonkwo would be happy to hear about
…the missionary had immediately paid him a visit. He had just sent Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru. And he had hoped that Okonkwo would be happy to hear of it. But Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again he would be carried out of it. (157)
Culture makes us who we are. Each individual has their own culture from their experiences in life and is developed from societal influences. The various cultures around the world influence us in different ways which we experience at least once in our lifetime. There are occasions, especially in history, where cultures clash with one another. For instance, the English colonization in Africa changed their culture. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrayed this change in the Igbo people’s society, especially through the character Okonkwo in the village of Umuofia; the introduction of Western ideas challenged him. In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe introduces to us Okonkwo whose character’s response to the
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.
“Then everything had been broken.”(Achebe, page 131). Things Fall Apart is a complex story with complex events. The white men were christians while the Igbo people had their own religion. When the white men came, problems arose between the two groups and between the clan itself. This cultural collision impacted many Igbo people but different characters reacted differently. Okonkwo, who recently returned from being exiled, tries to make up for his mistakes but falls into old habits. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe exhibits the ways that when met with a cultural collision narrow-minded individuals may respond with violence and fear through reactions of the protagonist.
In life people are very rarely, if ever, purely good or evil. In novels authors tend not to create characters with an obvious moral standing not only to make their novel more applicable to the reader, but also to make the characters more complex and dynamic. Chinua Achebe uses this technique to develop the characters in his novel, Things Fall Apart. The main character, and protagonist in the novel, Okonkwo, is very morally dynamic showing some sensitivity to his family and friends, but in an attempting to rebel against his father, Okonkwo also exhibits the tendency to lash out violently.
William James, a famous American philosopher, once stated, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives”. This quotation effectively illustrates how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives. This concept is clearly demonstrated throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, by establishing a connection through the development of its characters and the change in traditional African tribal villages seen in the Nineteenth Century. It will be established how various characters demonstrated by the author throughout the novel exemplify how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives addressed by William James’s quote above. First, by analyzing Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s character through his initial character description and the emergence of outsiders, it is evident that he is portrayed as an old fashioned character that is less responsive to change. Secondly, through examining Nwoye’s character, Okonkwo’s son, it becomes apparent that the youth in the novel are more open-minded, easily persuadable and more adaptive to societal changes. Lastly, uncovering the meaning behind the arrival of European missionaries, it becomes apparent that Achebe defines this group as being a “disease”, poisoning the society in which Okonkwo lives. The author look’s at individuals as being critical and influential figures in shaping the environment to which they belong, beginning with Okonkwo.
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story that opens the reader's mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930, perhaps this is why he writes a whole book on a Nigerian village and introduces to us the ways of life for the Nigerian people. From the first page of the book to the last, Achebe allows the reader to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the leader of his village and is very respected for his many achievements. Although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him has a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad "masculine" decisions he makes throughout the book.
In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the setting of the story is the Igbo tribe in Niger, which is located in southeastern Africa. There is a strong social and economical structure with the Igbo people. The villages have a solid set of traditional beliefs that they live their lives by, without stray of that tradition. The introduction of Christianity to the tribes brought changes to the social and religious lives of the villages. The novel provides a glimpse into the changes of how the colonialist changed the traditional roles of the economic and political lives of the villages of Niger. Tradition is set so cultures have a path to follow in their creation of family and life, in Things Fall Apart, the collide of the Europeans and the Nigerian cultures created a conflict and the introduction of Christianity and Colonialism set a path for change that was not welcomed.
Unfortunately, everything is not perfect. His son, Nwoye, seems not to be showing the characteristics of a real man. He prefers to stay with his mother, listening to women's stories, than to listen to his father's tales of battle and victory. Later, when missionaries come to the tribe, Nwoye is attracted to their Christian religion because of its unqualified acceptance of everyone, much like a mother's unqualified love. Of this, Okonkwo r...
What if a person’s relationship with his father determined if he lived or died, or if he would ever see his mother or siblings again? For the children of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart it did. Things Fall Apart takes place in Nigeria in the early nineteenth century. The novel focuses on the life of Okonkwo, a man famous for winning a wrestling match against the greatest wrestler in all the local villages, when he was just eighteen years old. Okonkwo’s family consisted of his three wives and ten children, they lived in a village called Umuofia. Okonkwo didn’t have very good relationships with most of his children, and most people in general. Okonkwo had different relationships with all of his children because they were all individuals, their relationships with their father constructed all of their futures in diverse ways.
Okonkwo, being a strong man and a man of mere instinct reflects poorly on his relationship with his son, Nwoye. Throughout the book, the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye continues to be rambunctious. This relationship continues going downhill, each small step shows the differences between the two characters. One difference being Okonkwo’s masculinity, the other Nwoye’s lack of masculinity. Okonkwo often times states, “‘I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is too much of his mother in him”’(Achebe 66).
Nwoye grows tired of his father and is called by the Christian faith and converts. Nwoye’s internal struggle with himself between change and tradition ultimately led him to convert against his father’s wishes. Okonkwo is extremely resistant to change, so he does everything in his power to prevent his family from converting; “‘If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck’” (Achebe 105). Okonkwo uses fear to keep his other children from the Igbo culture.
The constant change within the society is inevitable in every culture, ranging from traditional sense of social values to the law and condition of the land that people needs to obey by as time when on. And these changes within the culture can have significant impact on the perspective of the whole community and the mindset of an individual. We can see this in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” as the old Igbo culture clashing with the Missionaries’s ideals from the western world that leads to the dividing of the two culture and create this social barrier between them as one culture would often contradict with the other. This changes unfold to the reader through the eyes of the main character of the story, Okonkwo.
Two passages from the story Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, provide the reader with a more profound understanding of Okonkwo, and his son Nwoye. The two do not have a good relationship and it becomes worse as the story progresses. Throughout the book the two become increasingly distant and it is apparent that Okonkwo is very disappointed in his son. After the death of Ikemefuna, Nwoye begins to question many aspects of his life, especially religion. As the Christian missionaries spend more time with the members of the village, Nwoye becomes interested in this new religion. The first passage I have chosen discusses Nwoye’s feelings about Christianity.
When Nwoye converts to Christianity, Okonkwo immediately starts to yell, while his son just “stood looking at him and did not say a word” (Achebe 152). Achebe describes Nwoye as being “happy to leave his father” (152), which shows the two could never stand eachother. It is stated that the boy is weak and womanly, and as Okonkwo describes he is too similar to Unoka. The only time when he was truly satisfied with his son was when Ikemefuna came to stay, but after he died they reverted back to their former ways.