A study on Okot p'Bitek's works ''Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol''

“African societies developed diverse forms, from large centralized states to stateless societies organized around kinship or age sets rather than central authority. Within this diversity were many shared aspects of language and beliefs. Universalistic faiths penetrated the continent and served as the basis for important cultural development in Nubia and Ethiopia.

Restall answers his own questions present in the introduction by focusing each chapter on a different myth. Chapter one discusses that the men who partook in conquest were valiant, rich, and outstanding. This idea gives credit to both the Spanish interpretation and the beautifully rugged men cast in Hollywood adaptations. The author notes, additionally, that the myth

In order to not become like his father, Okonkwo consciously strives to be prosperous, violent, resourceful, unable to show “soft” emotion, and denies music orientation. “And no Okonkwo was ruled by one passion—to hate everything that his

Life before the coming of the Westerners was the life Okonkwo loved. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (Achebe 1). With his entire life ahead of him, Okonkwo had brought great fame to his name and had already achieved what it took some men a lifetime before he turned twenty. He was regarded as “one of the greatest men of all time” (Achebe 3). Not only

This novel is the definitive tragic model about the dissolution of the African Ibo culture by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, a great and heroic leader, is doomed by his inflexibility and hubris. He is driven by fear of failure.

Letter from Birmingham jail is a harmony of appeals of ethos, pathos and logos. He eulogizes his people, evokes their affection by providing evidences to support his stance. He uses chain of rhetorical questions to compel us - the readers - to reflect ourselves, to be convinced by the morality behind his actions: “How does one determine whether

In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, we see the effect the white missionaries had on an African tribe and the antihero Okonkwo. The main character Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a Shakespearean hero with a tragic flaw, that tragic flaw is the fact that he will do anything in his power not to be a weak man like his father Unoka. Okonkwo did what he did because he hated his father and would do anything in his power to be the exact opposite of his father.

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Okonkwo is one of the most influential men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. Which is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] had brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(Achebe page:3) This suggests that

This paper provides one with a deeper insight into the life of the legendary, but

Okonkwo’s story portrays the major differences between African culture and the idea that the Western society had on the African culture. Okonkwo is native to the Umuofia tribe and represented this oversized human being who with holds no emotion. All this makes Okonkwo seem very unrelatable and unfriendly, but this is what makes his relationships with the characters in the book so entertaining. For example, Okonkwo had a very negative connection with his father that affected him so much that it brought him to the point where it changed his life and is also the reason why he is so strict with his kids. With the introduction of these missionaries into the tribe, it completely changed the way the tribe acted and ended up bringing Okonkwo to a point where he had to pay the ultimate price. It was all because they couldn’t get along.

Chinua Achebe shows the reader the change of Africa as seen by the main character of the novel, Okonkwo. Okonkwo has the hardship of living in an ever-changing society. It is thru Okonkwo that the reader is able to visualize a society of immense cultural standing, and not as European colonizers would say, a society of savages. The main theme of culture is present in all areas of the novel, which helps to show to the reader all of its underlying themes, themes of tradition and themes of religion. Achebe sees the themes of culture, tradition, and religion in one bright light and European colonizers see those same themes in a totally different, somewhat snobbish dim light. However these themes are viewed, one thing is certain, change is on the horizon.

Okonkwo, as presented by Chinua Achebe in the novel Things Fall Apart, wished to be revered by all as a man of great wealth, power and control--the antithesis of his father. Okonkwo was driven by the need to exhibit utmost control over himself and others; he was an obsessive and insecure man.

Beginning in 1880, there was a growing desire for European countries to expand and control their rule. The only continent at that time that was left uncontrolled and, in the European's eyes uncivilized, was Africa. This was the start of Western Imperialism. All European countries wanted their piece of Africa and to get it, they would let nothing stand in their way. They would change the entire government, religion, market, and behavior of most of the African nation and affect almost every person living there. An account of the impact of Imperialism is given in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This book shows the changes that occurred in Africa during Imperialism and its affect on the community and the people

The novel Weep Not, Child by Ngugi was Thiongio will be explored in this paper. The novel unfolds a tale of a young boy, Njoronge, growing up in the rime of the Mau Mau insurgency that swept away Kenya in the fifties and early sixties. The novel reveals a metamorphosis of Kenya through political, social and cultural conflict lens in the 1952- 1960. By folding different generations of storytelling with each character of the book, Weep Not, Child becomes alive with vivacity. It gives a certain musical element to the flow of the short subsections; they function as contrasted and counterpoints, moving from scenes of quietness to ones of distress. These paper will fist look upon a boy Njoroge and the love he shared with Mwihaki, daughter of his family’s tormenter, then a discussion on political violence and colonial that took place in Kenya then later unfolds the undying grief that the Mau Mau and Gikuyu suffered.