Things Fall Apart

Based off the book Things Fall Apart, the videos we watched in class, and the poem “The White Man’s Burden”, the white man’s burden of spreading Christianity was more harmful than helpful. In both the book and the film the African Tribes were already fully functional as a whole. They had systems in place such as forms of government, art, social systems, and economic systems. After the whites came to convert them, things started to fall apart and become chaotic.

Even though he didn’t want to kill Ikemefuna, he thought he had to. “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” Okonkwo loved Ikemefuna but he had to keep his reputation of being violent. If Okonkwo didn’t do what he needed to do, his people

Traditions play a huge role in someones personality and life. I wouldn’t say they define us but they shift and mold who we are going to be when we grow up. If you strip away the core of traditions or activities that were considered normal, it could really affect someone. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is a perfect example of this theory. He was torn that Missionaries came into Umofia while he was gone and changed everything. Okonkwo felt betrayed by how much change took toll in Umofia. He isn’t used to the new rules and regulars given by the Christians. He was offended and didn’t agree with anything the Christian's rules. Unfortunately for Okonkwo, it was too late to change anything. It had been 7 years and the people of Umofia had already been

The world is filled with many different types of societies and cultures. This is due to the fact that many people share dissimilar beliefs and ideas, as well as diverse ways of life. People lived under different circumstances and stipulations, therefore forming cultures and societies with ideas they formulated, themselves. These two factors, society and culture, are what motivate people to execute the things that they do. Many times, however, society and culture can cause downgrading effects to an assemblage if ever it is corrupt or prejudiced. Society and culture not only influences the emotions individuals have toward things like age differences, religion, power, and equality but also the actions they perform as a result.

He is upset that his youngest wife went to get her hair braided instead of making dinner. As a result of this, he beats her. It is pretty typical for him to beat his wives, but this was during a peace week which is not okay. He also attends a funeral and unintentionally shoots and kills the man’s son. Achebe states “Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart”(124). This was obviously wrong, and it definitely did not help Okonkwo. He knew he was not good with guns, but he continued to use them. Due to his actions, he is sent away to his motherland for seven

“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” (“Mahatma Gandhi Quotes” 1). The culture of a certain tribe, clan or group of people is not found written anywhere but it is found in the knowledge of its people because that is what they’ve grown up to learn. To them that is the only way they know. In Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, the people of Umuofia keep their culture close to what it was when it was discovered by their ancestors. The only changes that they made were made to fit the community as time had changed since their ancestors had been alive. However, their beliefs and morals remained relatively the same because that is what they have been taught for as long as the Ibo tribe has been around. These beliefs are all they know and they all live by them. Throughout Achebe’s piece, it is evident that he wants to emphasize the distinct Ibo culture in this book. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe stresses the importance of culture to a community by using cultural aspects such as, the Ibo language, their religion, and the traditions of the Ibo people.

The novel "Things fall apart" by Chinua Achebe describes the social and cultural traits of a culture based on the principles of labor and masculinity, conformity and kinship and finally on solid juridical system.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel about a man in West Africa. It tells about his triumphs and trial ultimately leading to his demise. It explains how the “white man” came into his country and took over. It show you how the “white man” mad things fall apart.

He was afraid of being thought weak,” (61) shows that Okonkwo thought that if he did not kill Ikemefuna, he feared he would be thought weak and lose the respect of his clansmen. Again the fear of being thought weak led Okonkwo to make a very rash decision that he regrets throughout the following chapters of the book. Another example is shown when Okonkwo kills the court messenger sent by a Christian missionary, he seeks approval from his fellow villagers, but in fact receives the opposite. The men let the other messengers to escape and question Okonkwo for killing the messenger.

1. The book Things Fall Apart and the film The Gods Must Be Crazy has similarities and differences between them. One of the similarities is tension was created within the tribe due to Western cultures and influence. In The Gods Must Be Crazy, when the bushman encounter the coke bottle, they though that it was the Gods that sent it since it fell from the sky. In the beginning, the coke bottle help the tribe in many different ways such cooking, building, or making music because they never seen a coke bottle before and what it was originally use for to hold coke.

Okonkwo showed great interest in Ikemefuna and treated him like his son. However, Ikemefuna was boy from another village sacrificed to keep peace, thus soon there came a time when Ikemefuna had to die. The narrator shows that Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna, The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, My father, they have killed me! as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (Chapter 7 Pg. 61) Although Okonkwo loved Ikemefuna and had much affection for him, Okonkwo was forced to leave all of his emotions behind in order to kill Ikemefuna and not be seen as a weak man who could not kill another man. Okonkwo showed no mercy as he was blinded by his fear of his fathers submissive attitude. Oknokwo had to protect his status as a true warrior in his clan and if he was not able to slay Ikemefuna, then Okonkwo fears that he might be called an agbala just like Unoka, Okonkwos father. This quote also shows that Oknokwo is willing to sacrifice virtually everything in order to keep his high rank among his tribe.

The novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe is a story about personal beliefs, customs and also about conflict. There is struggle between family and within culture and it also deals with the concept of culture and the notion of the values and traditions within a culture. The word culture is Latin and means to cultivate. To cultivate has several meanings; it can mean to plow, fertilize, raise and plant, to win someone’s friendship, woo and take favor with, to ingratiate oneself with, to better, refine, elevate, educate, develop and enrich. In Things Fall Apart all these words are accurate in describing the culture of Umuofia. A culture is an

Question ( 2 ): Discuss Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe 's “Things Fall Apart” is a tragic hero.

Women are often thought of as the weaker, more vulnerable of the two sexes. Thus, women’s roles in literature are often subdued and subordinate. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, women are repressed by an entrenched structure of the social repression. Women suffer great losses in this novel but, also in certain circumstances, hold tremendous power. Achebe provides progressively changing attitudes towards women’s role. At first glance, the women in Things Fall Apart may seem to be an oppressed group with little power and this characterization is true to some extent. However, this characterization of Igbo women reveals itself to be prematurely simplistic as well as limiting, once

The year of violence The story of thing fall apart is about the Protagonist named Okonkwo, and this takes places in a Nigerian village of Umuofia in the 1880s, before any missionaries have arrived. The way the Ibo people worship their god is by sacrifice, communal living, war, and magic. This show how the village from Umuofia is the strongest and their style of live and how they maintain their strength. Okonkwo is the Protagonist of the story.