The Sacrificial Egg Essay

Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures-national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a cultural collision that takes the form of the missionaries coming to Umuofia and forcing their religion upon the people. Different people react differently to this clash of cultures, ranging from simply conforming to going as far as killing somebody.

This is the journey of the white knight, Sperm, and his princess, Egg, on their journey to Castle infundibulum, which is the outer part of the fallopian tube, and the land of the uterus. With their arrival, it will be decided whether they will become a male or female embryo and in turn that embryo will become a baby! Princess Egg has waited a long time and looked forward for her white knight to find her. It is fate that the two will meet, because there are so many in their homes that it is only chance that they combine. We will be starting out with the princess in her home in the ovary, while the knight is

the tribe to accept new teachings about their lives, religion, society, and most importantly, their

In the novel, The Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, the author uses symbols in order to convey deeper meanings behind events that unfold throughout the story. One example of this is the repeated mentions of an egg during Milkman’s journey to discover more about his family and his ancestors. This egg serves to symbolize humans as well as humanity as a whole, and reveals characters deeper thoughts and feelings toward these subjects. Throughout the story, several characters discuss their feelings on the importance of an egg, and the differences in their thoughts also serves to reveal the differences in their views on humanity and humans of the time period in which they live. While these views shift between different characters, they also change

Change is a reoccurring theme throughout history. It destroys and creates. It displaces and introduces. It can cause death and life. The movement of imperialism in Africa brought great change to the native tribal life. Forcing the indigenous people to turn away from their century-old traditions caused violent rifts between the European settlers and the tribes, as well as internal problems between once amiable members of the Ibo culture. With the introduction of the foreign Western Society in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the tribe’s life and ideals are drastically altered as the new ethics and principles collide with the old traditions and laws, causing the members of the society to either adapt or be crushed underneath the foot of colonialism. Achebe’s character, Okonkwo, was impacted immensely by the cultural collision, as his previous way of life was pulverized before his eyes, and he found no reason to live any longer.

In many ways, the African culture and experience have an everlasting effect on Adah. The first encounter of the Price family with Africa is filled with misunderstanding and bewilderment of the culture but Adah simply observes and admires the culture. “ And so the Price family passes its judgments. All but Adah. Adah unpasses her judgements” (32).

Achebe uses the tribe’s spirituality as a beacon of relation to the western reader. Often times, westerners believe that African culture and spirituality is riddled with mysticism and voodoo, however, Achebe describes it differently through the use of imagery. In this quote, Achebe explains The Feast of the New Yam, and its importance to the Umuofia people. “It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. Ani played a greater part in the life of people than any other deity.” (Achebe 36). To the Umuofia, Ani was their explanation of where their vibrant crops and healthy lives arose

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, originally written in his native language Ibo, tells the tragic tale of an African pre-Christian tribe seen through the eyes of Okonkwo. Okonkwo became a very successful clan leader in his village, by working hard and refusing to be lazy like his father Unoka. Achebe uses irony to encourage character development, drive the contrast between Okonkwo’s dreams and his reality as others see him, and explain the culture’s beliefs in the way they treat women vs. the way women are revered.

“Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa” by Charles Piot is a book based on the lives of the people of the remote village called Kabre located in Northern Togo. The author discusses the “vernacular modernity” of the people of Kabre village that has been influenced by a long tradition of encounters with outsiders that included the colonialists. The author provides an in-depth analysis with ethnographic details about the Kabre people as the author discusses a wide range of their culture and history that included houses and the structure of homestead, gender ideology, ritual like initiations, exchange system, and social relations (Piot 178).

In The Eggs of the World, Toshio Mori writes about 3 men meeting, one rich, one a poor drunkard, and the narrator. The point of view Toshio Mori uses in this story is peripheral first person. This use of a somewhat uncommon way of writing and viewing a story gives a look at events that is objective while not being unfeeling. Peripheral first person gives balance between personal stake in the matter, but not so much as to lose objective view. This viewpoint also gives new looks on the characters surrounding the author, giving both personal opinion and removed observation. Lastly, peripheral 1st person gives a twist on which facts may or may not be included in a narrative. In The Eggs of the World the use

The world is full of cultural collisions. Every day people meet other with different worldviews. This concept of cultural collision, is shown perfectly though Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In the story it is the cultural collision, of the introduction of Western Ideas into the ibo society, that causes Achebe’s characters to grow and change. One character in particular is forced to reevaluate his sense of identity because of the cultural collision. This is the character of Okonkwo. The collision challenges Okonkwo’s sense of self, as a religious leader or an Egwugwu, as a leader of his people, and as a man. It is Okonkwo’s response to these challenges, that shapes the meaning of the book of that as your world changes so must you or you

Chinua Achebe shows the reader the change of Africa as seen by the main character of the novel, Okonkwo. Okonkwo has the hardship of living in an ever-changing society. It is thru Okonkwo that the reader is able to visualize a society of immense cultural standing, and not as European colonizers would say, a society of savages. The main theme of culture is present in all areas of the novel, which helps to show to the reader all of its underlying themes, themes of tradition and themes of religion. Achebe sees the themes of culture, tradition, and religion in one bright light and European colonizers see those same themes in a totally different, somewhat snobbish dim light. However these themes are viewed, one thing is certain, change is on the horizon.

Gender stereotypes have existed since the beginning of modern man. We've all heard them before; male dominance and female weakness, a controlled male and a flustered female, aggression and passion, and many others that all basically boil down to the same thing. Emily Martin, in her essay entitled The Egg and the Sperm, takes this problem of gender stereotype to a new and much more serious level. As an anthropologist, Martin is concerned with the socio-cultural impacts on many different aspects of everyday life, including biology. In doing her research for this article, Martin was trying to uncover suspicions she had about socio-cultural gender stereotypes, and the affects they had on the diction used to describe egg and sperm

Achebe’s essay “An Image of Africa” analyzes the book Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. He dissects the false representation of the african people and the bias in his book. In “Heart Of Darkness,” Conrad feels that the people of Africa are undeveloped and they are savages; he looks at all their culture and tradition and only sees it as uncivilized, he has no appreciation for their beliefs. This relates to Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, because Conrad’s views represents the white colonist and their feelings towards the africans. The colonists did not respect their culture or their gods. Okonkwo is well-respected by his tribe, he is extremely traditional and values his culture. The colonists are a threat to that because they do not understand or respect the African ways, they want to change it and convert them to Christianity. Okonkwo has a need to stand up for his culture and his beliefs, he feels he has to be able to prove that he is a strong and powerful man. Okonkwo worries that if he does not protect his customs, he will be seen like his father: cowardly and feminine. He has been haunted by that fear his whole life, “It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father’s failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was agbala”(Achebe 12). His need to distinguish himself from his father and protect his people are what drive him to make do things like kill Ikemefuna and the messenger. Things fall apart for Okonkwo because the other villagers do not have the same passion and drive as him. The

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.