Dead Man's Path by Chinua Achebe Essay

“Tomorrow is too Far”, details how the narrator, Adichie writes the story as if you have experienced the events, and you reflecting on the last summer you spent in Nigeria 18 years ago. The story goes back and forth, between the past during the narrator’s childhood and 18 years after the events of the story take place. The story surrounds the death of the narrator’s brother Nonso, which was caused by the narrator. The death of Nonso breaks the family apart and causes more separation between the narrator and her family, even to the point where when the grandmother was dying all she could talk about was Nonso. The story ends with the narrator realizing that even in death Nonso still overshadows her. In, “Tomorrow is too Far”, Chimanmanda Ngozi Adichie, use of the word “you” makes the story more personal, as it adds an almost nightmarish feel to the story. It allows the reader to opens one’s eyes to see how dangerous and deadly jealousy, turned hatred, that can stem from the feeling of being the invisible sibling and cultural inequalities.

Post colonialism deals with cultural identity in colonized societies and the ways in which writers articulate that identity. Things Fall Apart is a good novel that serves as a reminder of what Nigeria once was. It shows how a society can deal with change, how change affects the individuals of that society, and how delicate a change can be; so much so that the people themselves are surprised at the change.

White colonizers. Okonkwo decides that although he is African, he is the superior leader of the society.

Often, our judgement can become clouded by our personal views, opinions, and desires. This bias is normal for us (as human beings) to face every day, even without knowing it. In Chinua Achebe’s “Dead Man’s Path,” Michael Obi faces this bias after he becomes headmaster and discovers the path that the villagers use that is on school grounds. Obi desires a completely modernized school, and isn’t willing to compromise. He believes that his way is the only way, and instead of thinking of the future consequences, he only sees the present. Michael Obi’s inability to see past his own desires and visions for the school prohibits him from making a reasonable decision when it comes to the fate of the path.

The structure and beliefs of many cultures are based on religion, and this is clearly evident in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. The novel takes place in the in the1890’s, a just before British colonization began in what is now known as Nigeria. In the novel this area of land is recognized as Umuofia, which is composed of nine villages that all speak the Igbo language. The Umuofia is the village where the main character, Okonkwo, is from. Okonkwo’s village was completely run by men, and he was one of the most successful and powerful men in his village. Okonkwo, was one of the reasons that his village was feared by all of its neighbors. The villagers of Umuofia put a lot of emphasis on religion and they used their religious beliefs for formulate their cultural views on things like gender roles, and polygamy. Through reading and analyzing Things Fall Apart, it is made clear that there are several similarities and differences between the culture of the Igbo and the culture of modern day America. The key differences are the societal gender roles, the acceptance of polygamy, and the role of religion. The most substantial similarities are the role and significance of warfare, and the ideas on government and community leadership.

Thing fall apart, by Chinua Achebe, is a novel about life of a young man from Nigeria, Okonkwo, who end up falling within the Ibo culture. Achebe writes this essay to emphasize and illustrate life in modern Africa, where people mostly connects to not educate during the 1890s. In the novel, Achebe demonstrates Okonkwo as a tragic hero, opposite to his father, he is famous and respecting by everyone, he “was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages” (8). Even though everyone is considering Okonkwo as the “child” who “could eat with kings”, he is also weak and stressful deep inside. He is afraid of failing and being useless, he is ashamed towards his father’s death, and indeed he “was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). Sadly, one can’s escape its fate, Okonkwo ends up become a victim of his bravery, his hardworking, and his successful.

Achebe 's significant thought process in his craft is the presentation of a honest and nitty gritty picture of Ibo-society and culture. Achebe goes up against the undertaking of uncovering its different measurements and demonstrating that Nigerian tribal-culture likewise like some other culture is rich and various, it includes a complex joining of religious formal, social and monetary elements. Things Fall Apart is a brief and thorough record of the life in the town of Umuofia especially of Okonkwo and his family that have experienced diverse changes inside the progression of time. Prior to the interruption of the Europeans, the Ibo society was loosened to share the delights and distresses of each other. In icy seasons they used to lounge around log-fire warming up their bodies, moving, giggling and singing. They had confidence in the prophets of the slopes and the holes. They had the dread of their tribal divine beings, enchantment and of the powers of the nature. Individuals used to originate from far and close to counsel Agabala. At gather or while devouring they used to appease the progenitors or the divine beings, offering them their best employments and worshiping them in their naturally peaceful and delightful way. They were extremely cordial to any meeting visitor and offered him/her Kola nuts, which were ceremoniously broken and broke preceding any discussion. A piece of African one of a kind culture is shown in the accompanying concentrate of the Things Fall Apart:

I believe it was the great and powerful Napoleon Bonaparte who once said, “In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit”. Bonaparte was not merely referring to the fact that the spirit of the people is stronger than the might of the sword, but he was also referring to the fact that there is no such thing as true oppression. It is this same misleading oppression that we can see happening in the modern day continent of Africa. The African people have lived through “the complexes of denigration and self-abasement” (Achebe). In Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, he tries to help his ‘society regain belief in itself and put away’ these complexities. For Achebe the African image still has hope, and it is through the

In the 1950s, most African nations commenced fighting for independence. In this context, Chinua Achebe wrote his second novel, No Longer at Ease published during Nigeria’s independence. The story occurs in Lagos and Umuofia and the main character, Obi, got money from the Umuofians to study in England. Nonetheless, when he returned to Nigeria, he is trapped between his tradition and western culture. In the book, Achebe stresses a theme of colonial mindset through the refutation of Nigerian culture, through the use of English and through the divinization of the white man.

Chinua Achebe is one of the most influential writers in African Literature. He incorporated his culture so others could have a better understanding. His Things fall apart, ended up being a great success that it sold over 12 million copies and was sold in over 50 languages.

In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the setting sets forth in Umofia, a lower Nigerian Tribe and Mbanta, Okonkwo’s mother’s kinsmen. The novel begins with a man, whose name is Okonkwo, a noble warrior, resides in Umofia, with his three wives and nine children. Okonkwo is haunted by his father, Unoka’s disgraceful past. Okonkwo desires his son to be a tough, powerful warrior. Thus, this being said causes havoc upon Okonkwo’s families, tearing Nwoye and Okonkwo apart. Meanwhile, missionaries visit the nine villages convincing the villagers to believe their religion and abandon their own beliefs and traditions. After many events occurred, the novel comes to an abrupt end with tragedy and uncertainty. The marvelous author,

Dr. T. P Chia has once said, “Your destiny or fate is determined by your choices and actions. If you do not control and shape your destiny or fate, your future will be determined by what will happen” implying that a man must be aware of his actions for the universe to bless him. Man must not gloat about his high status, rather he should take into consideration of others’ needs and work for the welfare of his people. However, if man takes advantage of his status and exerts brutal power, the universe will make him pay his dues. The idea of a controlled destiny is expressed in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. This is the tale of a fearless man who overthrew one of the greatest warriors, Amalinze the Cat, and honored throughout his clan for his personal achievements. The man, Okonkwo, transforms as the story progresses on, as his high status controlled his brutal actions making him unaware and not realizing what he has done. Okonkwo’s transformation influenced his life shattering and in this novel, Achebe chooses the title, Things fall apart to explain the idea of how one’s brutal actions can deteriorate one’s destiny by using Okonkwo and his clan as a way to enhance his message.

In the classic book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, you learn different aspects of postcolonial literature. As you follow this one character, you understand how colonialism destroyed his normal way of living, and the challenges of cultural stereotypes he faced. With postcolonial literature, you learn the devastations Europeans made on unique cultures and the changes they brought to their history, traditions, and even to their religion. When British missionaries came into Igboland, they not only damaged the people living there, but also their land; forest were cut down, many resources were taken, minerals used, and even harsh labor was forced. These countries were stripped and are now poor living in poverty. Europeans just used these people to gain wealth for themselves. Also after and during colonialism, many racist views were formed. Unfortunately, many believed in the lies that were told about the Africans, that they were savages living in darkness, that the white people were supreme, which concluded many to joined the side of the colonizers, rather than the victims of colonizers. However, with postcolonial literature, it tries to obtain both perspectives of each person; not just praising about the European colonizing into Africa and making wealth, but to view the impacts it had on African culture and their economy. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe wanted to express the lies that were told, that Africans had traditions, they had morals and customs, religious practices,

Furthermore, beyond Okonkwo’s personal identity and the book’s themes, Achebe had a purpose of creating this classic. “Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it’s far removed from your situation. This is what I try to tell my students: this is one great thing that literature can do--it can make us identify with situations and people far away,” says Chinua Achebe in an interview with Katie Bacon (Bacon 270). Achebe has wrote Things Fall Apart to talk about colonization in an African’s perspective, to erase negative African stereotypes created by white men, and to relate to his own exile from Nigeria. Written in 1958, Achebe wrote the book to tell the story of colonization in an African’s perspective, other than Joyce Cary’s novel Mister Johnson, which was written in a white perspective (Bacon 268). They would portray Africa as a slum, a place that is so different to the world that it doesn’t seem to fit into society; that the people living there are human themselves (Bacon 272). This helped opened the eyes of Achebe and his students, for they were upset that people portrayed Cary’s work as “the best book ever written by Africa” though, it was merely the opposite (Bacon 268).This is important because it shows how severe Africa has been portrayed, and how their people, like Achebe, was tired of their

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria into a Christian household. He decided to write this book to expand the single story of Nigerians. This book was published a little prior to the Nigerian Independence which took place in 1958. Using setting, extensive details and devastating secondary characters’ influences Chinua Achebe’s book “Things Fall Apart” expresses to us that the colonization of Nigeria by European colonists was not a pretty thing that led to lots of heartbreak and the ruining of their culture.