Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart

White. White everywhere. White men everywhere. White men with new idea everywhere. These are the thoughts running wild in a person’s mind who has never seen a person with white skin and when they begin to bring new things and ideas their thoughts begin to build. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe what seemed to be a normal day in Umuofia turned into a day of new faces and later to come, a new clan. As white men arrived they brought many things from their culture and at the beginning they seemed to be making a difference for a more positive society but readers quickly find out that these things were only brought to manipulate the Ibo people into doing the desired actions of the white men.

Tragic heroes are literary characters whose actions and judgment errors inescapably lead to their own self-destruction. In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, our tragic hero is Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a man whose biggest fear is being like his father, meaning to be a failure. His actions usually consist of an aggressive, turbulent temper. Even though he appears to be a bad man (personality wise), we can say he’s pretty hardworking and determined. His biggest judgment error in this book, led to his own self-destruction, was killing Ikemefuna, a boy from another village who was sent to Umuofia in the result of a crime that was committed. Even though the killing of Ikemefuna was an accident, this part of the story was the first step to take us

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

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe demonstrates how the integration of two different cultures can result in the destruction of one entirely. The story is centered around Umuofia, one of the 9 Ibo villages in Nigeria, Africa. It is a confined, well-structured society that is commonly viewed as a Utopia, or an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect. It is a tight-knit community with little to no conflict. All inhabitants share the same cultural beliefs, the village has a well-developed justice system to keep things in order, and they even have traditions that bring them all closer together. However, it doesn't take too long for things to completely fall apart. Sooner rather than later, the village

Which would you consider more justified: locking up a criminal in cage with minimal living conditions, or exiling him from city? In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the level of civilization depicted by Igbo society may vary among the readers due to disparities in judgement and opinion. Throughout the book, the Igbo civilization is portrayed as civil through their established social system and enforced legislative laws; however, one may perceive Igbo culture as primitive, especially when compared to that of their own. The establishment of social positions within Umuofian society convey a rather high-level of civilization.

Okonkwo proves his hard work by overcoming the reputation of his lazy father by working hard to get respect in his village. “I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams, especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work. I am not afraid of work…I began to fend for myself at an age when most people still suck at their mothers’ breasts. If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you” (Achebe 25). By fending for himself, starting at such a young age instead of playing like the other children in Umofia, Okonkwo shows that his tragic flaw dominated his entire life. As an adult Okonkwo encounters Ikemefuma who he comes to consider as his own son. However, when Ikemfuma is staring death in the eyes; Okonkwo does nothing to prevent the murder due to his fear of showing weakness. “My father, they have killed me!” as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 27-28). By taking the life of Ikemefuma, whom he loved, Okonkwo exhibits that his tragic flaw has taken over his humanity. Instead of allowing Ikemefuma to be killed, he could’ve saved him by objectifying his death however he was distracted by his fear of weakness. Overall, Achebe uses Okonkwo to demonstrate that if one doesn’t overcome their fears in

Ekwefi, the second wife of Okonkwo, in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, had endured a lifetime of hardships and heartache. Once the village beauty, she became smitten with a fierce wrestler named Okonkwo after he defeated the notorious Cat. After leaving her first husband and marrying Okonkwo, she was determined to raise a family of her own. Over the years she lost nine children, and with every one she buried the happiness she had exuded in her youth was slowly draining out of her. Finally, she gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Ezinma, but that did not mean that her struggles were over. Upon further analysis, it is evident that Ekwefi’s sole motivation in life is to be the best possible mother for her only daughter, Ezinma. Despite her painful past, her journey to follow Chielo when she took Ezinma to meet Agbala, and the near death of Ezinma, Ekwefi is motivated to be the best possible mother to her daughter even if she has to overcome struggles and hardships.

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).

Okonkwo was not afraid to kill people, even people close to him. He killed Ikemefuna, the boy who looked up to him as a father, when “Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.”(61) This was one of Okonkwo’s first errors. The killing showed that Okonkwo was afraid of being thought as weak. Okonkwo did not kill purposely all the time though. At a funeral for one of the village elders, “Okonkwo's gun had exploded” and killed the elder’s son.(124) This led to Okonkwo being banished to his mother’s land for 7 years. After the 7 years, he returned to his home clan and saw that the English and Christianity had changed Umuofia tremendously. Okonkwo began to despise the new people and the new religion. His hate for the new people caused him to kill another person. Okonkwo was so furious, “His machete descended twice”, he had killed one of the Englishmen in his clan.(204) This was the breaking point. Okonkwo had lost hope that Umuofia would return to the way it was. Killing the Englishmen was the final fatal error. Right after the killing, Okonkwo killed himself.

The language an individual uses reveals both the individual’s present mindset and the development of that individual. In return, the individual a language is spoken through reveals the values of him and his society, although the two are not necessarily interconnected. Thus, the use of language can have cohesive and alienating effects. In Chinua Achebe’s multidimensional novel Things Fall Apart, great emphasis is placed on the expressive power of language, especially through its use by certain characters. In this novel, Achebe uses Okonkwo, the novel’s protagonist and influential clan leader, as a vehicle essential to the development of the theme of language. More specifically, Achebe guides his readers through a story in which a powerful and

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe conflict is almost inevitable when two cultures come into contact. Okonkwo has a normal life as a male villager he has to grow his yams and live normal but when foreigners show up conflict occurs. This is shown in the book by showing the villagers saying to the white men to build their church in the evil forest and the white men go on and do it. This attracts some of the villagers to this which leads to major conflict in the village and they start to attack each other by burning things and arresting each other. It does not have to lead to conflict right away but it does happen at some point hence the name Things Fall Apart when the Christians first arrive all is ok but later on it all breaks loose. By looking

History is written by the winners, as it has been for a long time, but Things Fall Apart is one of the few retellings that is written from the from the losers’ point of view. In this novel, the Ibo people in Nigeria have a working society, with rules, religion, and relative peace. Then, at the turn of the 19th century, missionaries come/came to the land with their contrasting religion and Western culture. Obierika, a clan member of the village Umuofia, must decide whether to join the missionaries, or to fight against them. However, In Chinua Achebe’s Thing’s Fall Apart, Obierika responds to the collision of Western ideas into Ibo culture with cowardice, because the missionaries and their Western culture were intimidating, influential, and had

Another form of political resistance is through the characters in Achebe’s Things fall Apart. The character’s use their bodies and morals to rise against oppression. What the characters do is isolate difference or let, “Umuofia…decided to kill him… [in fear] of being thought weak” (Achebe, 1986, pp. 40-43). Through the physical act of death the end is inevitable and while the Africans decide to act upon it, the colonization is what refrains the movement of the town. There is a clash of cultural conflict because of the way societies deal with political situations. Resulting in separation in Okonkwo’s morals, especially when, “All was silent… Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece pf iron… [In] the…heart… [Forced] to flee.” (Achebe, 1986,

For the duration of the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the role of religion and tradition is a very important part of the characters lives. It decides how they live their life and decides their fate. Some of the customs that are practiced in this culture may not be accepted and are frowned upon by the western cultures. One example of this is that they think that in some cases a child should be killed or that the spirits of the dead must be appeased. Thinking this could create a consequence with the white men. They feel the need to “save” the natives from themselves.

For many years anthropology has held a primarily western ethnocentric point of view when evaluating other cultures from around the world. Recently however, anthropologists have begun taking a more holistic approach when preforming ethnographies. After concluding that all cultures are equal and that no one culture is innately superior to the other anthropologists have not only taken other world cultures into account when studying a new one, but also experimenting with new ways to illustrate a more complete view of that culture. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart he paints a holistic image of the Igbo people in Nigeria and their culture. This book has given me several insights into what cultural anthropologists do when evaluating and a describing a culture. Within a given culture there are a myriad number of key aspects that anthropologists look towards to help them evaluate it. The foremost of which is their economy, hierarchy, descent, gender, and rituals. I chose Things Fall Apart because it offered substantial information on all of those points of interest. By using fiction and creating characters Chinua Achebe is able to show Igbo culture in its entirety. While other works have been harsh in the criticism of African life Things Fall Apart shows the Igbo for what they were not inherently superior or inferior, rather it is simply snapshot of what life was like among the Igbo culture.