Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart Essay

Throughout “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, aspects of Igbo culture are presented to the reader in order for them to obtain a grasp on how people from a part of Africa live. For the majority of Part I, different sides of Igbo culture are relayed to the reader predominantly through the 3rd person, as well as through the perspective of Okonkwo, in order to gain the understanding that these people do indeed, have a rich, intricate, and sophisticated way of life. However, things turn for the worse and in Parts II and III, where Achebe recreates the conflict between European and Igbo cultures at the turn of the twentieth century by focusing on the cataclysmic changes introduced by the forces of Christianity and colonialism, and how they destroyed the strong foundation of the once proud Igbo people.

The Effect of White Missionaries on an African Tribe in Things Fall Apart by Achebe

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

The fact that these missionaries have started to really make an impact was unprecedented by the Ibo people; their continuous misunderstandings of one another contribute to make this situation frustrating to both the Ibo clansmen and the Christians that view their religion as superior. Okonkwo returns back to his home village of Umuofia after his exile to Mbanta, and he arrives to see missionaries have overtaken the village, created a government, and many Umuofians have joined the church. As Okonkwo and his friend Obierika are talking, Obierika says of the missionaries and their impact, “He says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?...He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). The white men and missionaries have been successful in coming in and gaining power. They believe the customs to be “bad”, showing their disregard of Ibo culture, and how their motives for infiltrating Ibo life is based off of selfish ideas- only to gain more followers to their religion. Furthermore, by actually being successful in drawing Umuofians into their religion, they have turned

In 19th century, british men had begun to adventure into Africa and imperialize. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, it follows the story of Okonkwo; a clan leader in Umuofia, Nigeria. His world begins to collapse as the british start to change the clan's traditions and religion. The invasion of the missionaries struck terror into the clans. With the building of hospitals and trading centers, the people of Umuofia struggle to understand the forced entrance of the white men. The effects the white men leave change the clans way of life.

In Chinua Achebe 's novel Things Fall Apart, a well-known aphorism, "pride goes before a fall", was used. I agreed with and supported this statement. The story line itself backed up this statement as well. Through Okonkwo 's hard work he became a "great man" with a sense of pride and haughtiness, who then suffered a loss of pride, which ultimately led to his down fall and his own suicide.

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

Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart” chronicles the life of Okonkwo, a strong man whose existence is dominated by fear and anger, and the Ibo tribe, a people deeply rooted in cultural belief and tradition. As events unfold, Okonkwo’s carefully constructed world and the Ibo way of life collapses. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected and feared leader of the Ibo tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace dramatizes his inability to evolve beyond his personal beliefs, affecting the entire Ibo tribe beyond measure. The “things” that fall apart in Achebe’s novel are Okonkwo’s life – his ambition, dreams, family unity and material wealth – and the Ibo way of life – their beliefs, culture and values.

Of course, this was often met with resistance. In the case of the book Things Fall Apart, this is particularly shown when the missionaries used police force to ensure that the native people were following the new laws that had been set in place and were met by the elders burning down the church building. This scene eloquently illustrates the resistance to Evangelical Christianity by the native people in the

Upon his homecoming, Okonkwo knew that his village had undergone changes while he was exiled; but he was stunned when he realized how unfathomable they were. To begin, he learned that their religious norm had change and most people in the village had a completely new perspective on religion. Mainly because “the White men” missionaries who were carrying out work for Christianity had led many of the villages astray. “Does the white men understand our custom about land? From the question above, I find it intriguing, primarily

Many of the spiritual systems that are practiced by African cultures, whether the culture is native or mainstream, are mostly organized. They all have a certain degree of the priest class, libation, holidays, creation stories, divine systems of punishments and rewards. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a story of tragic fall of a protagonist and the Igbo culture. Achebe demonstrates different examples and situations of where an African culture, in the instances of tribal religions, did certain things because of their tradition is and the way they developed into. African cultures pondered life mysteries and articulated their religions in terms of the implications of these mysteries through their farming, entertainment, and daily subsistence by Achebe using cultural traditional and language in an unbiased way to send a message to Western Colonial nations that African nations have a strong culture and language that is unique to these nations. Farming, hunting, and daily substances are what make African cultures distinct from one another. Every African tribe has different methods, techniques and reasoning are for the way they do stuff. Their everyday life, farming, and entertainment can be compared and contrast through their similarities and differences. Achebe helps demonstrates how the Ibo tribe pondered these life mysteries by showing different examples of what it meant to farm, hunt, and their every day-to-day life pattern and what they believed

Imagine your favorite TV show, and think about the characters. Which character is your favorite? Most of us would say it is the main character, the one that is the most relatable. That character is called the protagonist, and it is often the one that we identify with the most. In contrast to the protagonist, a character we think about less often is the foil character. This character is the complete opposite of the main character. Usually, a foil goes through the same events as the main character however he will see things differently and have a different opinion. The purpose of this character is to shed light on the main character, and to show how things could work out differently

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a novel that is based on one’s rough journey as an African man. Throughout the novel, the reader is shown the struggles an African citizen could have dealt with at the time. However, one detail that the author shows is the ability Okonkwo has to love not just as a parent, but as a man. While reading Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo faces many challenges that have relation to the youth of the community. Though the reader sees Okonkwo as a tough, brave man in the society; deep down Okonkwo cares for children. An example of Okonkwo’s caring attributes would be when he regrets not doing anything while hearing the twins cry in the Evil Forest, his depressed state post-killing Ikemefuna and when the Oracle calls for Ezinma.

Since the initial use of the literary device of tragic heroes, various renowned works of modern literature have implemented it. There are two types of tragic heroes Greek and Shakespearean. A Greek tragic hero is defined as a character of noble or high standing, who is destined for suffering, downfall, or defeat, due to forces outside of his control. A Shakespearean tragic hero is defined as a character of noble or high standing, who attempts to do the right thing, but in doing so “misses the mark” and does the wrong thing, ultimately bringing about his downfall. In many modern novels the existence of a tragic hero can be argued. An example is the postcolonial novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The novel follows the struggles of a

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart moved me in a way that had once been unreachable by non-Western literary works regarding the state of foundation in the pre-colonialization period of Africa, and of course the subsequent rule from European powers. It is clear that Achebe sought to paint a truer picture of the sophisticated culture and traditions embedded in tribes that had only been smeared by Europeans who were solely after conquest, commerce, and Christianity.