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Things Fall Apart Analysis
Things Fall Apart Analysis
Analysis of things falling apart
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Achebe is one of few to explore a dozen of ideas, by the use of simplistic words. He pictures words, and gives us tons of ways to interpret them. His first book, Things Fall Apart, is an strange and wonderful novel that curves/changes words into fascinating and strong messages. The book examines the Ibo society, and shows the progression of the characters. The Ibo society is an unusual intriguing civilization, though it lacks a structured system, we see that it develops through amongst other things by learning from mistakes. Once one person does something wrong, he/she is alerted and punished if the mistake is big. There’s also a superb communication going on within the people. When someone needs help, they always seek for help from others. This helps the people to socialise and develop, which is ideal in such system. By the usage of communication the society has established proverbs, stating a general truth or piece of advice. People use the proverbs to either direct or remind each other about the fatal truths about the world. They’re like medicine that cures the contradictions of the Ibo society. In Things …show more content…
The nature can be a vast danger, if there’s no precautions taken.: “A toad does not run in the daylight for nothing”(P. 20, ll. 19-20). A toad will not run out in the daylight, as it can’t see during the night. In the proverb, we understand that the Ibo people recommends to follow the order of the nature. When it’s dark they don’t go out, as it’s not possible to see, and there’s all kind of creatures. It also signifies - everything in nature happens for a reason. This teaches us that the Ibo people believe in reasonings behind everything that occurs. In similar fashion, this could relate to us by the laws in the society. We accept and apply the laws that are given, or else it’s going to affect us the most. Achebe attempts to guide the Ibo society through displaying the laws of
American culture is mixture of many things. Which makes it comparable to the Igbo culture in the novel Things Fall Apart. In the novel, their culture is very different from ours in America. They have different gender roles, beliefs, and how they live.
Okpewho, Isidore. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.
A uncivilized place or society is somewhere that the rules are unfair. And a place that the way of life is biased over one gender or race over another. Or bad events or acts that have happen or is happening to the the people in the society. The Igbo society can be classified as an uncivilized because of their way of life.the uncivilized way of life is from the gender roles that take place, the unfair government trial system, and the evil beliefs that the society has.
He demonstrates the necessity for cultures to truly understand each other, as opposed to trying to prove their superiority. Achebe embraces the beauty of humanity while simultaneously addressing its flaws. With his ability to contemplate conflicting perspectives, Achebe illustrates the benefits of cultural relativity. Achebe does not target religion or even the colonizers; he addresses people universally, encouraging global consideration and individual reflection. To accentuate the forcefulness of the colonizers, Achebe contrasts it with his own temperateness—he portrays his characters without generalization, he presents his opinions with a carefully restrained perspective, and remains calm in his writing, never resorting to hatred.
Achebe illustrates the depth of the Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart to prove that hindered and unreliable communication causes conflict.
Achebe grew up in the Igbo-speaking region of Nigeria in the town of Ogidi where he proved himself to be an outstanding student always impressing the headmaster with his voracious reading habits and quick understanding of issues. The colonial experience of his youth had caused him to question the values of Europeans and to seek the source of his own deep foundations. No wonder he became interested in religion, African traditions, and the clash of cultures, the fact is that his family moved from the traditions to the new protestant faith. An avid reader and student this would cause Achebe to seek as much knowledge about religion and ethics as he could. At the University of Ibadan, at that time an associate college of the University of London, he excelled as a student and found many books that provoked his consciousness of culture. Working for the Nigerian Broadcasting Services brought him face-to-face with the reality of ordinary stories of Nigerians. Soon he would publish No Longer at Ease in l960, A Man of the People in l966, and then Anthills of the Savannah in l987. By the time of his later books he had already achieved fame as a novelist.
A lifespan goes through many phases. One of the phases in life is getting married to the right person. Another phase is the scary and dark part of someone's life, the end, or their death. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, readers learn about the differences of the Igbo weddings and funerals. Weddings and funerals play a huge role in the culture of this novel and there is something constantly going on involving the bride and the groom. Weddings involve many days of celebrations. For Igbo funerals, it also takes many days for the people to mourn the death of someone but, also many days of celebration to honor the life that has been lost. Achebe portrays the rites of passages by showing how weddings and funerals play a huge role in the Igbo culture. Throughout the novel readers learn about the process of the Igbo marriage proposal, how Igbo weddings bring people together, and the funeral process.
Do you think men are held at a higher standard than woman? In the book “Things Fall Apart” it deals with the Igbo Tribes history on how they treat women . There are many constant struggles that a women has to face within this book, from getting treated unfairly to being ruled by their husbands. These are gender roles in the African Igbo society when it comes to women. Throughout history , from the beginning of time to today, women are frequently been viewed as slaves to men. Meaning that they are a men’s possessions whose sole purpose is to satisfy the men’s needs. This might be because men are physically stronger than women and have always had the ability to control them that way.
The novel "Things Fall Apart" examines African culture before the colonial infiltration. Achebe's novel forces us to examine the customs and traditions that make up an informal culture. At times we may find some their practices appalling, but Achebe makes us realize that the traditions and customs are what essentially hold the Ibo together. Achebe wrote 'Things Fall Apart" with the intention of changing the common view of African culture. He wrote the novel from an insider's perspective, revealing that African culture was not solely based on barbaric and mindless rituals. Achebe reveals the affects of the colonial infiltration on African societies. Through his novel he examines how colonization disturbed the unity and balance of a once strong cultural society.
In Things fall apart, Chinua Achebe showed us the richness of the Igbo traditional culture as well as the destruction of it through the activities of British missionaries. The appearance of Christianity on the Nigerian tribal land led to the disintegration of belief in the Igbo society, and made way for British colonization. Were the British the only cause of the destruction of the Igbo culture? The appearance of a new religion was not the sole reason for the loss of a tradition. The Igbo people also lost their culture because of many unreasonable conceptions in their spirituality.
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.
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.
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
Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born on November 16, 1930 to Isaiah Okafo and Janet Achebe in the very unstable country of Ogidi, Nigeria. He was exposed to missionaries early in his childhood because Ogidi was one of the first missionary centers established in Eastern Nigeria and his father was an evangelist. Yet it was not until he began to study at the University of Ibadan that Achebe discovered what he himself wanted to do. He had grown appalled at the "superficial picture" of Nigeria that many non-Nigerian authors were providing. That is when Achebe resolved to write something that viewed his country from "the inside".
Achebe writes Things Fall Apart to revise the history that has been misplaced. He writes to the European and Western culture. This fact is evident because the book is written in English and it shows us the side of the African culture we wouldn’t normally see. Achebe is constantly ...