Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo soon learns about this and confronts his son, Nwoye about his secret meetings, Okonkwo soon becomes enraged and disowns his son after hearing about his experience not before abusing him of course. This action causes an effect which ultimately leads to Okonkwo’s downfall. Okonkwo enraged by the spread of Christianity within his own village self-proclaims war on the “white man”. Okonkwo eventually was detained as a result of his actions towards the “white man”. After he was released from detainment Okonkwo killed a courier and began to truly understand he was a rebel without a cause as his fellow Tribesmen would not help him with his internal struggle. Okonkwo knowing, he would be caught and executed for his crimes, instead decided to ultimately end his own life by hanging himself. Okonkwo’s major downfall in the story was his inability to co-exist with the white man and began his own personal vendetta against the Christian missionaries. Throughout the story the main essential theme Achebe tried to relay to us would be the fact that even though individuals may be of different religions, skin color, and have different personalities there is a realization that

During the mid 1800s and 1900s, the continent of Africa was being invaded by European superpower nations such as Great Britain, France, and others. The proper act was named as Colonialism which according to my lecture notes means: “a racially based system of political, economical, and cultural domination forced on an indigenous majority by a technological superior foreign minority” (Zeitler). For instance, many European nations enforced imperialism on the continent of Africa because of its recently discovered natural resources which would be beneficial for their countries, and Europeans used western education and religion as a moral “cover” for their easy access to the native African’s lands and enforce the natives to be more civilized

In the first part of the book, Okonkwo is a great, successful, and strong man of title and fame. He is a stark contrast from his father, who is lazy and weak (2, 10). Okonkwo fears “failure [and] weakness”, which fuels his desire and strive to be strong and manly (10). In addition, the Ibo admire manliness and strength, which inflates Okonkwo’s hubris. In his attempts to maintain his image of power, he allows his ego and pride to take over his judgment. For example, when Ikemefuna cries to Okonkwo to save him, he is in a “daz[e]” of fear, he makes the horrible decision of killing Ikemefuna (53). This is the big mistake that is his reversal of fortune, or peripeteia. After the death of Ikemefuna, Okonkwo is met with great misfortune. He faces depression and exile for 7 years when he accidentally kills Ezeudu’s son (109). To add onto his unluckiness, in part two, Christians start to interfere with the Ibo and Okonkwo loses Nwoye to them. In part three, Okonkwo faces the drastic changes of his fatherland. He is sad and angry because tradition is changing and the things like title and status aren’t as important as before, therefore, his ego is hurt and his hatred of the Christians increase. To continue with the miseries of Okonkwo, after the men of the clan burn down the church because of Enoch’s unmasking of

His impulsive thinking and emotion conflict blind him to the realities of the real world, and the white men’s role in the society. He views one that builds schools and hospitals, and introduces new ideas to a society as evil and destructive, while turning out to be the savage, violent and myopic person that he saw the white man as. By the end of the book, he finds himself to be a relic of his time, trapped in a narrow minded point of view on christianity and the white man. While everyone has mostly accepted the new additions to the society, he continues on his blurred path of false accusations and actions portraying the opposite of his father, holding him back throughout the book, and causing him to make rash decisions. Making such rash decisions, while living a close minded, self centered, and violent life leads him to fuel the fire dividing the white men and the Ibo. Based off of his characteristics and actions shown throughout the book, it would be extremely hard to view Okonkwo as a hero, defending his people's way of

In the novel, it states, “I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams, especially theses days when young men are afraid of hard work. I am not afraid of work.”(Achebe 20/3) From this quote, Okonkwo did not have any yams to grow nor could afford the seeds and so he went to ask for yams from the richest man in the village. He is determined that he will get the yams and will work hard to get the seed of yam. He said that “he was not afraid of work” which seems like he was telling the truth. He worked hard to grow the yams that he was given and looking ahead he was successful because he became of the of the richest man couple years later. Also in the novel states, “When Unoka died he had taken no title at all and he was heavily in debt. His son Okonkwo was ashamed of him.”(Achebe 8/1) This displays how Okonkwo was not a fan of his father because he was a worthless man. He did not have anything to his name and Okonkwo did not want to end up like his father. He worked hard to build a farm for himself to try to make money and not end up asking for money from other people like his father did when he was

What effects can fear have on a person? And how can these effects influence that person? Fear is defined in the Oxford dictionary as ‘an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm’. The tragic novel “Things Fall Apart”, written by the renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, is an incredibly influential text. The novel is also an example of how fear can be utilised as an approach to characterisation. Achebe composed his novel in a manner, which portrays a complex and dynamic community to represent Nigerian cultures to a western audience. Achebe was able to attain this through the Ibo communities and the main character Okonkwo. In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo is represented as a man of pride, success, and hard

Throughout the story of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the author portrays Okonkwo as the tribes’ strongest warrior to a disgrace of the Ibo people. The author exposes Okonkwo negatively through his journey from earning a good reputation to a sudden extreme downfall. After not agreeing with the western ways and noticing he cannot turn the tribe back, Okonkwo kills himself which is why Okonkwo is the character most affected by cultural collision.

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe shows that your life will always change and things will get thrown in your way but the ability to grow and learn from your problems is optional is shown through Okonkwo's failure to accept a new religion and the choices made by his tribe and son, eventually leading to him deciding that he can not continue with his life. He persistently bottled up his anger and his stubbornness, eventually self-restrained his ability to grow with his clan. Any signs of weakness had always been something that made Okonkwo angry so when his clan decided not to fight against these white men, Okonkwo couldn't accept the new religious views that the foreigners brought. He wanted to fight against them, but they were converting

Are men always supposed to be represented as superior and tough? The novel, “Things Fall Apart” is about the tragic fall of the Ibo culture and main character Okonkwo. Reason why things fall apart is due to the men within the Ibo culture converting to a new religion. Chinua Achebe shows that men in the Ibo culture are expected to be superior, successful, and strong. Okonkwo is one man who embodies all the traits of a successful man. Achebe also shows how unsuccessful men of the Ibo culture led to things falling apart.The novel shows this with multiple events that happened in the the book for example when Okonkwo the main character becomes successful by beating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling match and much more. In the novel men are represented

Have you ever wondered why African cultures don’t affiliate with other cultures? This is because they don’t handle new cultural customs in the best way possible. The mixture of different cultures colliding in Africa causes a bowl full of drama and problems that rise because of it. The way they simply react doesn’t help either them or the other culture. In the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is a masculine, abusive leader put down and went silent full of fear when missionaries of a different culture came, which tell us he was not able to adapt to the change in an efficient way.

In life no one can do anything perfectly or even be perfect. Well, a character, Okonkwo, in the novel Things Fall Apart strived to be perfect and to become successful in his village in Nigeria. However, this fame came with a flaw that slowly ate him apart and lead to his downfall. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Okonkwo proves himself to be a tragic hero, in which his flaws lead to his downfall. At first, Okonkwo is fabulously wealthy with yams, wives, and his titles but then his anger lets loose and brings him down.

Chinua Achebe’s portrayal of the role of women is significant because it disproves the stereotypes of non-western society. In Igbo society, women have many roles both in the household and in the village. “Igbo women [have] rights and freedoms”, such as “cook[ing] for themselves and rais[ing] their own children” (Ohadike xxxii). Because women are tasked with these important duties, women are very important. In Igbo society, sometimes women have more freedom than in other societies (such as western).

Throughout life many challenges come up that aren’t expected to arise. In some cases the best thing to do is help people that are hurting in tough situations. Instead of saying things about what people are doing wrong, boost them up. Everybody in life has good days and bad days. Many times you don’t understand what the other person is going through, so don’t say something that is going to hurt the other person. Everybody should watch what they say because the person you are talking to may see it in a completely different way. These tough situations could change history completely if each person took time to understand the other person that they are communicating with. In the book Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, many times the readers

In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the Igbo society is faced with many cultural changes. Okonkwo, the main character, is a person of strong, prideful nature. He has dedicated himself to being a powerful leader in his village and to never be a coward like his father. Along the way, Okonkwo is faced with challenges in proving his masculinity, and is given consequences for his actions. As the missionaries become more influential within Igbo society, the people change their view on their own belief system.

“I shall give you twice four hundred yams. Go ahead prepare your farm,” (achebe, 20). Okonkwo shared his farm and his growth with the people who gave him seeds, he grow his respect and grow his wealth. Okonkwo wanted his children to be “A great farm and a great man.”(achebe, 29), like he was. As all men Okonkwo made mistakes that are harmful, deadly, and rude to not only his kind but the reader as well. “Everybody at the kindred meeting took sides with Osugo when Okonkwo called him a