Eyo Festival in Lagos Nigeria

The third reason Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of Western ideas was because Through his journey, Nwoye shows how one can overcome struggles and come out ahead when confronted with change. The evidence is shown when It tells us “As soon as he had learned of Okonkwo's return five months earlier, the missionary had immediately paid him a visit. He had just sent Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac, to the new training college for teachers in Umuru.”(134) This evidence supports my claim because It tells us how Nwoye’s live has gotten better after he left.

Nwoye’s unavoidable decision of converting cultures was lead by his search for acceptance and in hopes of escaping his immoral religion and Okonkwo’s high expectations for him as a man. Okonkwo is not satisfied with Nwoye’s sensitive and slothful personality After Ikemefuna’s unjustified death, Nwoye loses respect for Okonkwo and puts an emotional barrier between them.

He explores the use of proverbs, figures of speech and aphorisms to demonstrate the significance of their spirituality, social construct and hierarchy. As well, he displays the character transgression in Okonkwo, and how his mental decline foreshadowed his unfortunate future. Paralleling unfortunate futures, language and communication barriers between the Igbo and the European missionaries led to the collapse of the Igbo culture and the grave ultimatum; Okonkwo’s death. With all three in mind, proverbs are a very important aspect of the Igbo language and can demonstrate numerous societal customs and tell a story with few words. An appropriate quote that displays the importance of language, especially in Igbo culture is, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson

This novel is the definitive tragic model about the dissolution of the African Ibo culture by Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, a great and heroic leader, is doomed by his inflexibility and hubris. He is driven by fear of failure.

African society, influenced by its traditional economy, held strict gender roles, and Ekwefi stayed in the home and focused on traditional female tasks. Although African American society in the twentieth century prized women and elevated females to powerful matriarchal positions in the family, pre-colonial Nigeria in no way tolerated women outside the bounds of the home. Ekwefi lives “in perpetual fear of [Okonkwo’s] fiery temper,” and pours herself into raising her daughter, Ezinma (Achebe 13). Because Okonkwo fails to respect the religious customs and “beat” his wife “very heavily” during the “Week of Peace,” others in clan lose respect for him and his family, and Ekwefi can do very little to change this (Achebe 29) . To deal with her husband’s inadequacies, Ekwefi pours herself into Ezinma and raises her to exhibit strength and bravery. Because Okonkwo and traditional Nigerian society hailed masculinity as supreme and despised femininity, Ekwefi knew that in order to appease Okonkwo’s anger, she must raise her child to exhibit these characteristics, despite her gender. Her strategy proved successful, as “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma,” but only showed his “fondness on very rare occasions” (Achebe 44). Furthermore, Okonkwo repeatedly states that Ezinma “should have been a boy,” (Acehbe 64) because he loves her, but continually

-After Nwoye is lured into the Christian religion and abandons his culture and family, Okonkwo is ashamed and states, "you have all see the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people" (172). Nwoye's father disowns him only because he chooses a path untraditional to his culture. The serious, frustrated, and unhappy mood that is created in Okonkwo's statement gives the reader an idea of how much the Ibo culture values tradition, choice, and family.

Okonkwo treated his son and daughter very differently. The child-father relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye was a distant and strained one while Okonkwo exhibited another type of feeling towards Ezinma which is filled with care and concern. This was due to the fact that Nwoye “was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness” whereas Ezinma was thought to have the “right spirit” and “alone understood [Okonkwo’s] every mood”.

Before imperialism, Okonkwo lives as a respected figure within his community. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (Achebe 1.) He has many fine traits which cause him

In Nigeria, Aunty Uju is Ifemelu’s role model and influences her regard towards America. In this time period before America is involved in Ifemelu’s life in any capacity, Adichie’s characterization of Aunty Uju is indicative of life in Nigeria and how happy and hopeful it is for both women. There are issues, regarding Ifemelu’s family life and Uju’s financial security through The General, but ultimately they are happy with their lives and their relationship is

The impact of Ikemefuna’s death on Nwoye is devastating. Something gives way inside of him when he thinks of his father and the killing of Ikemefuna. The fear of his father and the horror over the sacrifice of Ikemefuna separates Nwoye from tribal customs and the sense of community. His family’s banishment isolates him further. Hearing the Christian hymns, which cater to

Chinua Achebe was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is mainly known for his trilogy that investigates, using fiction, the history of Nigeria. The trilogy begins with Things Fall Apart, followed by No Longer at Ease and ended with Arrow of God. Furthermore, in this critically analytical essay, through a feminist perspective, a chapter of his second novel, No Longer at Ease, published in 1960, will be discussed. The setting of the novel is Lagos, Nigeria and Umuofia, Nigeria during the 1950s, before Nigeria attained independence from Great Britain. The novel, No Longer at Ease begins with Obi Okonkwo on trial, charged for accepting a bribe. However, using flashback, the author takes us back to the point before Obi’s departure

TOPIC: Who is , Elesin Oba or Olunde? Please give reasons for your answer in a carefully written essay. Please use “Being, the Will, and the Semantics of Death” by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (Criticism 155-164) and “Tragedy, Mimicry, and the African World” by Olakunle George (Criticism 207-222) in your essay.

African heritage emanates from a different tone and poetic genius in in Gabriel Okara’s poetic imagination in Fisherman Invocation. Okara concerns with the problems of man and human existence. Okara’s love of music, art and literature is reflected in his close attention to details of scenery. Also as a painter, Okara’s ability to create an atmosphere, a mood or a situation is one of his greatest poetic styles. Fisherman’s Invocation centers around the plight of human condition, and particularly, Okara’s attention to the Nigerian people who have gone through the periods of national and personal conflicts and crises. Okara meditates on the indigenous imagery, and the traumas and tribulations of nation building that left Nigerians divided.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.

The title itself already makes reference to a Nigerian ritual in which the horseman of a king must kill himself after the death of the king (McNulty, 2011:2). The biggest event of cultural misunderstanding is evident in Act II when the British Officer, Pilkings, orders that Elesin Oba (the horseman) be arrested. Joseph (the stableboy) tells the Pilkingses how it is tradition for the king to be burried a month after his death but, before he can be burried, his dog, his steed and his horseman must die to be able to accompany him to heaven. For long this tradition is questioned and contested by the Pilkingses because how can something like that make sense to anybody? It is only once Olunde shows up in Act IV that the playwright changes the context. Olunde compares the suicide of the horseman to the mass killing of soldiers. He judges the Western customs of war in the same way the Westerners criticized his traditions and people. And when Simon manages to stop Elesin from killing himself, Olunde turns his back on his father at first, after which all the people from the market insults Elesin. His failure in the task is seen as a weak will.