Things Fall Apart Research Paper

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Things Fall Apart Response Paper

Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian novelist who created content that not only inspires but invokes sentiment regarding Western culture. He worked to create a perception of literature from African stories without the input of the European perspective. In his work, he used African characters to discuss the values and beliefs of African cultures. His best-known work is "Things Fall Apart" which focuses on Okonkwo, the leader of an Igbo village in Nigeria. The book tells the story of his life while showing us how the presence of European missionaries affected him as a leader and the village as a whole.
In Home and Exile, we are able to gain insight on Achebe's views regarding the topic of reclamation regarding African people. He writes that his hopes for the twenty-first century are that we are able to see the "first fruits of the balance of stories among the world's peoples." As we are currently in the twenty-first century, I question if this is something that ended up happening. In …show more content…

Okonkwo goes through many personal battles within his mind and his self. He struggles to find the right balance of following what he is destined and advised to do versus what he thinks is right. For example, Okonkwo was informed by Ogbuefi "that boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death." The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves have pronounced that Ikemefuna to be killed. As the custom, he will be taken out of Umuofia, but he Okonkwo was to have nothing with it as he Ikemefuna calls him his father. Rather than carrying out with this task, Okonkwo informs Ikemefuna that he is to return home. On the walk home, Ikemefuna was hit with a machete and cries out "my father, they have killed me" while running to Okonkwo. But in a daze of fear, Okonkwo draws his machete and strikes Ikemefuna in fear of appearing as

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