Things Fall Apart

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

Weighed down, overwhelmed, accountability, and responsibility. These are all aspects of having a burden, but what exactly is the burden of a white man? Labor? Money? Extreme temperatures? No, far from it actually. In the poem the White Man’s Burden, Kipling portrays the “Burden” as having to civilize the uncultured heathens of Africa. The family in The Poisonwood Bible have this particular burden. However, the family is divided on how they think about this so called “burden”.

In the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, we are able to read about the social changes the white missionaries had on an African tribe. Mr. Achebe describes the way of life before the missionaries arrived and then records some of the changes, which occurred due to the changed belief system introduced by these missionaries.

The Effect of White Missionaries on an African Tribe in Things Fall Apart by Achebe

In “The White Man’s Burden,” Rudyard Kipling writes, “Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half child...” Kipling is referring to people that were ‘uncivilized’ in accordance to European standards, and in this case, Africans. This demonstrates the superiority they felt in comparison, and in their minds, giving them the right to go in and civilize these people themselves with religion, clothing, education, etc. Kipling also mentions, “Take up the White Man’s burden—The savage wars of peace—Fill full the mouth of Famine—And big the sickness cease.” By this, Kipling meant it was an obligation for the Europeans to feed the starving and to help the sick. It illustrates the mindset of the Europeans who thought they were sacrificing and help the African colonies by colonizing them, whether it was what they truly believed or a mean to make themselves look better. The nationalistic and superior beliefs that Europeans harbored were significant motives for European imperialism in

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 burdens to the white men are the “newly- caught sullen people”. According to the text they are half devil and half child. This referrers to their child-like and devilish behaviors. Kipling feels that it is racist and wrong. The poem gives strong details about how this pertains to imperialism and Kipling’s views about it. He thinks it is wrong “to seek another’s profit and work another’s gain” and guide people “slowly to the light”. “Slowly to the light” hints that the white men were trying to guide them to Christianity and change them. I know this because Jesus is often referred to as the “light”. It is important for the white men to assume or take for granted the burden so they can “gain profit by others”.

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.

Kipling refers to the “White Man’s Burden” as the moral obligation of white people to help other races. This is due to their own ideas that they were superior to other races.

African groups are being split and and mixed together. Some countries who were colonizing wanted to bring their traditions and cultures to the African people. For example, when the French came to Africa they wanted to have direct control of their part of Africa. The French wanted Africans to be like the French. Over time with the French under control Africans would slowly adopt some French traditions. Another example is some Africans lived in smaller tribes and had a tribe leader. When the French came the tribes didn't want to be controlled by the French because that takes away meaning and purpose to have a tribe leader. The French were taking away the leader's power. It was like a tradition to have one person lead the tribe. With all kinds of different countries racing to colonize Africa, Africans were flooded with different cultures, languages, and traditions. Life as the Africans knew it was getting ripped apart and put back together with a bunch of extra pieces (traditions, languages, etc.) within it. It is hard for us Americans to understand what it was like for Africans during this time because the United States of America is filled with different languages, cultural, traditions, and much more. We have never really experienced new people coming and taking over us and our beliefs like Africa. We will never fully be able to understand because America doesn't have one main race or ethnic group. There's two things that any person or nation likes is money or profit, and that is what they had in mind. Africa isn't as industrialized or modern has Europe. Africa also doesn't have any factories. Without factories they can't build guns, or any kind of weapon. The African's only weapon that they had at this time was spears. Spears are no match for any kind of gun. When Africans tried to rebel or go to war with the countries it never worked because they did not have the right kind or weapons or supplies. Another reason why France and Russia sold arms to Ethiopia is

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 popular poem, titled “The White Man’s Burden”, by Rudyard Kipling, showed his feeling towards colonization, which also reflected most Western citizens’ thoughts too. To him and to others, many non-Europeans were viewed as “half-devil, half-child”, and that the white man’s job was to “Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease” (Kipling). In the poem, although he writes about the hardships that the white man has to go through in order to colonize the savage nations, he starts off every stanza with the line “take up the white man’s burden”, meaning no matter how difficult or how frustrating the job may be, it is the white man’s duty to teach the savages how to be civilized. This belief and moral justification allowed Europeans to believe that what they were doing was right and that it had to be

Okonkwo had a very negative response to the cultural collision the white men brought to the village, do you know why? In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a great man called Okonkwo goes through difficult times as many obstacles come in his path to lasting greatness. When the white men start preaching about Christianity Okonkwo starts to loss his sense of identity because he’s used to people listening to him as he was once one of the great leaders of Ibo and everyone was now listening to the white men. While the men continue to preach about Christianity Okonkwo response is to refuse it, he doesn’t want to be a part of it. His consequences because he refused to changed ended with him losing his life and his son.

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.

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