{Achebe clearly uses fire and locust imagery to give the readers a clear sign of the fate of the Ibo people including their tragic hero, Okonkwo. {The fire imagery in the novel evolves to include smoke and ashes, which also has powerful allegorical meaning. WHERE TO PLACE IN ESSAY THOUGH? The fire imagery that pervades throughout the novel is often associated with Okonkwo, and his offspring, during the course of his rises and falls in the novel. However, the fire imagery does not only have an image of destruction; it also has an image of cleansing. In the beginning of the novel, Achebe says that “Okonkwo’s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan.” This shows that the clans acknowledged Okonkwo's skills without hesitance; yet, …show more content…
All the grass had long been scorched brown, and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown.” The scorching imagery in the aforementioned quote predicts Okonkwo’s impending doom with the missionaries’ successful imposition of Christianity in Umuofia during his absence. Following Nwoye’s departure from Okonkwo’s Mbanta compound to become a Christian, Okonkwo sits in his hut and ponders the state of himself and the state of his son, where he has a temporary reminiscence of an old powerful nickname. Achebe tells us, “Okonkwo was popularly called the “Roaring Flame.” As he looked into the log fire he recalled the name. He was a flaming fire.” The use of past tense when Okonkwo says, “He was a flaming fire.” Points to the fact that his once unstoppable and all-consuming fire, is waning as he now no longer a respected or formidable foe in Umuofia, and has negative implications for his upcoming return to his fatherland. Okonkwo internally admits, “Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.” This quote has a strong image of reduction and internal self-acknowledgement on Okonkwo’s part, as he is rendered negligible in Nwoye’s defiance against Okonkwo and his rigid …show more content…
The fact that the locusts were large enough in number to break mighty tree branches speaks to the missionaries’ breaking of the religious, political, judicial, and social branches of the Ibo society. The Umuofians naively underestimate the danger that the locusts can bestow upon them if they were unheeded, in the same way, the Umuofians underestimate the overwhelming influence the missionaries would have on their people. The description of the locusts as a “vast, hungry swarm” by Achebe speaks to the greedy agenda of the missionaries, hidden under the innocent guise of peacefully spreading Christianity to the primitive people of the Lower
The Effect of White Missionaries on an African Tribe in Things Fall Apart by Achebe
9. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.”
is presented throughout the whole book and is mainly expressed in the main character, Okonkwo.
Life before the coming of the Westerners was the life Okonkwo loved. “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honour to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat” (Achebe 1). With his entire life ahead of him, Okonkwo had brought great fame to his name and had already achieved what it took some men a lifetime before he turned twenty. He was regarded as “one of the greatest men of all time” (Achebe 3). Not only
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.
The description given early in the novel clearly establishes his character as being a strong and wealthy man who is well respected among the rest of the tribe due to his superior fighting abilities and his influential personality. Having achieved such elite status within the Umuofia clan, Okonkwo appears to be old-fashioned as it is seen in his approach in raising his family and tribal people. However, Okonkwo’s character changes incrementally with the emergence of a boy, Ikemefuna, from a neighboring village, who was brought to him because of his brutal attack against his wife Ojiugo during the ‘week of peace’. Amongst the Umuofia clan, the ‘week of peace’ is a tribal ritual whose conditions are not to complete any evil sins in a certain week span. After having accepted Ikemefuna into the family, Okonkwo experiences a shift in his mental state. Shortly hereafter, he questions this change, which demonstrates his lack of willingness to change which is clearly demonstrated in the book in several different ways like in chapter Eight, Okonkwo proclaims to himself, “When did you become a shivering old woman, you, who are known in all nine villages for your valour in war” (Achebe 56). This represents that his character has become a weaker, less influential individual amongst the nine tribes where he is well known. Symbolically, this depicts a fragile reputation in Okonkwo’s status within the community to which he belongs.
On the other hand, another characteristic of Okonkwo that causes him to be seen as a tragic hero is his struggle to deal with the crumbling Igbo culture around him. Upon his return to Umuofia from his motherland, everything has changed among the Igbo people. The white men had completely torn apart a culture which at one point seemed to be so strong. Some had even been converted into Christians and almost everyone was questioning their own beliefs. According to Stephen Criswell, when Okonkwo returned, he had a decision to make between standing up for what he believed in and against what he hated, or complying with the white man’s way and being like everyone else in the tribe(Criswell). Unlike the others, Okonkwo would not back down, and that is why he is a hero. The Igbo culture was slowly being destroyed by the
In conclusion, Okonkwo exemplifies Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero. His character has many tragic flaws, including, fear of weakness, hubris, and his work ethic, which in the end lead to his death. His life and death provoke pity and fear for the audience. Okonkwo becomes noble and is a great leader overall in the story. In the end, Chinua Achebe has shown an expressive character that evidently can be called a tragic
Okonkwo’s fear of unmanliness is kindled by his father, who was a lazy, unaccomplished man. Okonkwo strives to have a high status from a young age and eventually achieves it. He has a large family, many yams and is well known throughout the village for his valor. He
Okonkwo is one of the most influential men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. Which is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] had brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(Achebe page:3) This suggests that
Following Okonkwo’s seven year exile, the village Okonkwo once knew has changed due to the influence of Christianity and the influence of the British missionaries and officers. Okonkwo’s initial reaction is to arm the clan against the Colonisers and drive the British people out of Igbo.
Okonkwo's early success is recognized as the result of hard work, "That was not luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good" (19). But Okonkwo goes too far. He is harsh and unkind to his family and less successful clansmen, thus undermining his self-made fortune.
As stated in Chapter Two on pages 13 to 14, Okonkwo ruled his household with a hand so heavy that his entire family lives in perpetual fear of his fiery temper and impatience. Okonkwo is a very rash person and, when in a fit of rage, does not think about the consequences of his actions, which inadvertently leads him to his own downfall. In committing these actions, it is not ludicrous to believe that Okonkwo will later receive consequences due to the immorality of these actions.
Okonkwo becomes furious, kills a messenger, and then commits suicide in order to avoid being captured by the white men. Okonkwo cannot accept the evangelists, as they have made him lose his power and control over the community and his son. The change in Okonkwo’s life is negative as it makes Okonkwo desperately look for solutions, although there are none. His internal struggle with change leads him to kill another human and himself out of inability to do
In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart Okonkwo’s identity of being a respected clansman is challenged, after the arrival of the missionaries, Achebe utilizes this to bring out the theme “a man’s violence will be his