Things Fall Apart Research Paper

The novel, Things Fall Apart by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe surrounds an Igbo village in modern-day Nigeria and tells the intertwining stories centering on the protagonist Okonkwo. Okonkwo faces internal conflicts between him, and the pre-colonial Igbo society which eventually leads to a clash of cultures. The way Achebe has written this story has captivated and educated many people all around the world since its initial publishing in 1958. Igbo culture and American culture have their similarities and differences that can be analyzed in many ways. Both Igbo and American culture show huge devotion to religion, live residential lives, rely on crops, and have a love for music and entertainment. While there may be some similarities, the vast

These unethical norms have been accepted in this society for years. Adult men have complete dominance over everything in their families, down to what the women can feed their children. For Okonkwo, his children have strict limitations as to what they can eat, but when these rules are not obeyed, for example, Okonkwo “was greatly shocked and swore to beat if Ekwefi if she dare to give the child eggs again” (76). This ties in with the next gender role in society that women were not allowed to work or make a living, but instead had to stay home taking care of the children and the house (63). In this pre-colonial time, women could only be safe if she obeyed whatever a man says with a doubt or a flinch. During modern times in America, we have seen a recent fight towards gender equality and equity and it certainly has improved from pre-colonial Africa. Yet, in America, men are still raised to be tough, providing, and to never express emotion, unlike women who are expected to be seen as dainty, fragile, and full of emotion. These toxic mindsets have led to many social issues, including speaking out about sexual harassment and gender roles in the

Elliott were helpful for me since I knew what to look for as I was reading. The amount of reading we had a night did not necessarily work for me. I tend to take many notes and love to analyze the reading as deeply as I can which means that with the amount of reading that we had, it took a long time for me. Some new thoughts and beliefs I have of pre-colonial and post-colonial African society are that before Africa was colonized, it seemed that they were already developed with their religion, beliefs, norms, and customs. However, once the colonizers arrived, they erased traditional values and history and replaced it with their own religion and way of life. With this novel, the reader gets to learn history from the “losers side”, not from the victors, as typically seen. I liked reading a novel in a history class as it is something I have not done before, so it teaches you history from a new perspective. Additionally, it is quite interesting as it is in an engaging story format with a sequence within a strong plot. A novel brings a bigger connection between the writer and the reader than a textbook