Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Who are you? Have you ever wondered where you get your identity; what exactly defines you as a person? The obstacles in our lives shape us people, Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart illustrates the circumstances one man and his son face in an Ibo village in Nigeria. Okonkwo, the protagonist/antagonist has a tragic flaw, the fear of weakness which ultimately causes him to expect more from his son, Nwoye who never falls short in disappointing him. The relationship between the two is not the most desired seeing that they both do not show the affection most father-son relationships do. Traditionally, most sons follow their father's footsteps, however, this is not the case for both

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

Okonkwo’s most dear friend is Obierka. It is ironic to think that Okonkwo’s greatest friend could be so different in disposition and personality, and yet at the same time be so similar. Obierika has titles, he “isn’t afraid on blood”

This demonstrates the pressure that Okwonko was dealing with. He believed that others would see him the way they saw his father, and that corrupted his decisions. A University motivation research study conducted by Pennsylvania and Rochester state took place that recognized the motive to avoid failure as a triggering agent for human behaviour (Conroy 271-272). It is known that Okonkwo was motivated by his fear. Through the use of this study it is easy to identify the motive for his decisions in the novel and gives a representation of why the outcome occurred where Umuofia was colonized.

Sometimes one is not as strong as one appears. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a man determined to succeed, whose violent actions result from his need to find a sense of identity within his community. Through many different acts of violence, we see Okonkwo’s internal struggle with himself, the legacy of his father, and the changing society as a whole. Ultimately, Achebe uses violence throughout the novel to illustrate Okonkwo’s identity through the lens of his relationship with society, and how certain changes in society affect him.

Women in the Igbo society are not as respected as men and they are treated badly. In order for the men to prove their power, and look manlier they tend to mistreat their women by beating them. In the novel Okonkwo beats his wife. However, he beats her at a time where he was not allowed to because it was the week of Peace; moreover, he did not care and kept beating her just because she did not cook, and instead went to do her hair. “He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace. His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through,

In novels, there is always a certain character or group of characters who are portrayed as bad or evil. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the group of characters representing bad or evil are the Christian missionaries. The villagers see the christian missionaries as intruders to their village, trying to bring a new religion into the village of Umuofia. The english settlers were introduced to have arrived in Umuofia in chapter seventeen, when Obierika, Okonkwo’s closest friend, visited Okonkwo, two years after he was given his exile. The Christian missionaries are represented as bad or evil in Things Fall Apart because they are trying to teach the people of the village a new religion.

Even though Okonkwo and Obierika had very different personalities, this brought them together rather than dragging them apart. The two men liked having someone to talk to about their problems, and it gave them great comfort to know that someone would always have their back. Okonkwo was not afraid to hurt people and had a very firm hand. Rather than speaking a great deal, Okonkwo expressed himself with his actions. He aided in killing his adopted son, Ikemefuna, after the Oracle had sentenced Ikemefuna to death because of an act of murder that Ikemefuna’s biological father had comitted. (Achebe 61) Okonkwo did this because he “was afraid of being thought weak.” (Achebe 61) This goes to show that Okonkwo did not want anyone to look down on him or think that he was a coward. He raised himself into that of a man and a warrior, and expected to be thought of one as well. In his article on Things Fall Apart, Nnoromele writes, “Perhaps Okonkwo was not a cruel

Have you ever met a father and son that have very different perspectives on life? Well this is the exact issue that comes up in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo and his son have been raised in very different households, with extremely different circumstances. They also have conflicting ideas when it comes to religion. This makes the white man’s arrival a crucial time in the pair’s relationship.

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

The most traumatizing and destructive statement someone can say is to “Be a Man.” As Carlos Gomez once stated, “So many men in this world (are) living in this sort of quiet desperation, confined in this box of toxic masculinity.” In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, some characters are the epitome of this toxic masculinity. Things Fall Apart shows the dimension of both Igbo people and culture, while highlighting the tale of a tragic hero, Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s rise to glory was demonstrated by his humble beginnings and eye for prosperity. However, abundant cultural differences show how conflict emerges between individuals and what society expects of them. The novel also in part traces Okonkwo’s lack of emotional awareness as he murders his surrogate son while simultaneously criticizing his other biological son for being effeminate. Ultimately, Okonkwo’s obsession with masculinity sparked aggression between the white missionaries, and eventually he was driven to commit suicide. Chinua Achebe reveals that the overpowering theme of hyper masculinity portrays one as emotionally unacceptable, and although one ideal, the author demonstrates how heavy masculine qualities tear apart relationships and structure in life.

At the conclusion of Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart it states how profound changes lead to the demise of Umuofia’s great warrior. “ Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.”

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.

Things Fall Apart was written by a Nigerian man named Chinua Achebe in 1958, with the intentions of fully exploiting the truth and creating a new perspective about African culture. Seeing as though Achebe lived through the colonization of the Igbo people, he was able to write without stereotyping Africans and European people. Achebe purposefully wrote this novel in English instead of Igbo language because he wanted the perspective shared across Europe to defeat previously construed beliefs of the Nigerian culture and ways of life. Achebe touches on a variety of topics throughout his novel, three of which are how things fell apart through imperialism and colonization, the ideas behind tradition and change, and social construction of patriarchy & masculinities.