Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Ezinma is very competitive so she loves to shatter and break through what is expected of an average Umuofian woman. One might think that her boldness would gain disapproval from her father, Okonkwo, someone who strictly holds to tradition. What occurs is quite the opposite. Ezinma gains the respect of both of her parents. Okonkwo admires her boldness and bravery because he always wanted a child that was string. Okonkwo viewed Nwoye as weak so he could never fill that role. Ezinma granted Okonkwo’s wish and that’s why he cherishes her so much. Ezinma’s relationship with her parents is arguably the strongest relationship in the novel. Her parents cherish her because she is their vision of a perfect child. Multiple times throughout the novel, Okonkwo says he wishes Ezinma was born a boy so he could pass more skills on. Ezinma loves her parents very much but sometimes she struggles with whether she should do what she knows her father wants her to do, or break the traditions her father so tightly clings

During the course of the novel, it appears as though Achebe is prejudiced against women. However, in his crude remarks quoted in the novel by Okonkwo, Achebe is actually praising the female race. After Okonkwo accidentally kills a young boy, he is banished to his motherland. He takes this banishment as a direct insult to all of his values. During Okonwo's stay in Mbanta, one of his many wives has a child. Uchendu, Okonkwo's uncle, forces him to name the baby, Nneka- "Mother is Supreme." When Okonkwo refuses to call his baby a name that contradicts his strongest beliefs, he laughs out loud and asks why anyone would say, "the mother is supreme." Uchedu explains something that makes Okonkwo have more appreciation for his home in Mbanta. Uchendu states:

Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, once said: “A man who makes trouble for others is also making troubles for himself”. This concept can be seen in the development of Okonkwo as a character throughout the book. Creating plenty of trouble for others, but ultimately creating the most trouble for himself is possibly the plot for the entire book. Generally, the creation of trouble is not a value that is appreciated in any culture, especially in Umuofia. Okonkwo breaks many of the boundaries and social norms within his culture; his tendency to be immature and unaccountable combined with being very self-concerned and the defiance of elders creates an interesting mix adjacent to the cultural standards.

Imagine living in a world of perfect paradise, where no one disturbs you or takes away your freedom of thought. You’re living in pure harmony and feel as if your life is going to be peaceful forever. But what if one day someone comes along and changes your world, taking away your custom beliefs and changing your culture. What would you do? In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character Okonkwo, an indigenous member of the Ibo tribe, comes in conflict with the European settlers as they try to convert his tribe to Christianity. Even though many people choose to convert to this new system, Okonkwo, along with a few friends, respond adversely to this foreign settlement as they attempt to restore order in their native village. As the Europeans bring their religion, messengers, and government into the tribe, the outcome of Okonkwo 's response, causes him to bring his identity into query when he realizes that things that were formerly common, will always collapse in the end.

He had a daughter whom he adored the most. However, he wished she were a boy because his sons did not turn as he wanted them to. In the text it says, “She should have been a boy, he thought as he looked at his ten-year-old daughter” (Achebe 64). In other words, Okonkwo saw the boy spirit in Ezinma whenever he looked at her, he saw how strong, well brave and emotionless she was which made him realize she should have been a boy, not a girl. However, the irony is that he killed his adopted son who had this manliness quality that he looked for in his own son which he didn’t find. This is why he wanted Ezinma to be a boy. This connects to the thesis because Okonkwo did not want to accept Enzima the way she is, he wanted her to be a boy. He believed if a girl has boy’s characteristic, she should be a boy not a girl. This shows how he didn't see boys and girls in a equal way. I think it is ok for a girl to have the quality and characteristic of boys and vice versa however, that does not mean they have to be the gender specific with their gender

Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s life in Umuofia society. Sometimes a man with sheer force of will cannot change his future through hard work. One of the main conflicts in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the clash between Okonkwo’s determination to succeed, his free will, and fate – which seems to have less appealing things in mind. Okonkwo’s will plays a major factor in determining his future; he chooses to kill Ikemefuna with his own hands, he chooses to kill a government official, and in the end, he chooses to take his own life. However, the pre-destined conditions of his life, his father’s failures, and a series of unfortunate circumstances ultimately lead to Okonkwo’s downfall.

In addition, it is an insult to a man or boy if they possess any female qualities. Guilt ridden after murdering Ikemefuna, his surrogate son, Okonkwo sternly reprimands himself not to “become like a shivering old woman” – this he considers the worst insult (65). Okonkwo also relates negatively to his oldest son Nwoye, who according to Okonkwo possess weak qualities and thus acts like a woman. He wanted Nwoye to listen to “masculine stories of violence and bloodshed” rather than the stories told by women which were for “foolish women and children” (54). The stories that men told were about bravery and war and young men were expected to listen to this instead of fairy tales that women told. “So Okonkwo encouraged the boys to sit with him in his obi, and he told them stories of the land” – while Nwoye feigned that he liked the stories his father told him to make him a man, he preferred his mother’s that he heard while growing up that kept his spirit gentle.

Change is a natural process that triggers the evolution of human societies; it is the continuous eradication of traditions that are replaced by the new. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ (TFA), a novel written in 1958, explores the gradual transformation of the Ibo culture as a result of colonialism and also the attitudes the people of Umoufia developed when exposed to foreign ideologies; the change was either accepted or resisted. Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Crossing The Red Sea’ (CRS) and ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ (FS) from the Immigrant Chronicle, a poetry collection published in 1975 depicts the evolution of the Australian society due to factors including migration, assimilation and different perceptions. These forces of change contributed to the

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Christianity is introduced to a tribal clan through missionaries. The clan, however, has their own religion, which comprises of a clear social structure. While the mission is beneficial to many members of the clan, others are not content with the new influence. The Agbala—men with no title—are grateful for the new religion: the mission provides them with a new opportunity to become a respected member of society. The powerful men are wary of this change, as it decreases their power and status in the society, and allows for more social freedom and movement. As many in the tribe take to the new religion, the culture is slowly forgotten, causing conflict. When the missionaries enter Umuofia and attempt

The stereotype of what exactly men and women need to do is ever present in this novel. The basic thing women do is work within the home, clean, and cook. Men usually go out in the field and find crops and serve in the war. A quote from page 44 of Things Fall Apart shows exactly how the stereotype is embedded, even into the children. Enzima, Ekwefi's and Okonkwo’s daughter, asks if she can bring a chair to her father. In response, Okonkwo says, “No, that’s a boy's job”. That is an example of how children are unaware of these gender roles but they’re forced upon them, even at a young age. Another quote within the book states how even crops have a gender barrier on them. In chapter 3, page 28, this topic is introduced. “His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.” That is one of the several examples of prejudice and sexism within in this

He often "wish[es] she [Ezinma] were a boy."(122) For his son, "he wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man capable of ruling his... household." (37) The failure of his son to live up to Okonkwo's expectations for him are another factor in Okonkwo's own innate need to be exceptionally masculine.

Things fall apart, this phrase being used in both the novel title Things Fall Apart and the poem written by Yeats, “The Second Coming” keeps us wondering how both are related. Achebe uses Yeats’ poem as an epigraph to foreshadow how the events in the novel later on might occur. Reading the epigraph, we come to understand that Yeats is referring to an image of disaster and to a society that is losing control. In Things Fall Apart, the community faces some changes that affect the lives of certain main characters and leads to a very severe disaster. Achebe uses a lot of imagery and dualism in his novel to portray certain messages to the readers and to clarify his point. Also, Achebe wanted to answer back any writer who criticized the Africans and insulted them. He wanted the voice of the Africans to be heard and to take a stand when the Christians came in and tried to change a lot in the traditions that were present. Both, the poem and the novel are related in a way that shows how the downfall of the main character, Okonkwo, happened and what lead to it. Both writers have many things in common in their writings that can be compared in a social and religious way. Achebe uses double meaning in order to pass on his messages to the readers.

Ezinma has grown up as an independent masculine type of girl. For example, she always wants to take on manly tasks, sits like one, talks with brazenness unknown to her sex, and has an unwomanly like temper. She was raised this way particularly due to her father Okonkwo's beliefs. Okonkwo’s strictly valued masculine qualities, therefore,

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.

Okonkwo illustrates the use of gender roles and lack of feminism in his daughter, Ezinma and his regret of her being a girl (Achebe 137). Okonkwo’s desire for his daughter to be a man is problematic and represents the patriarch’s refusal to view women as equal to men. Throughout Ezinma’s life time, Okonkwo expresses his desires for Ezinma to be born a boy ( Achebe 137). He explictly states to himself that he, “wishes she were a boy,” because she “understands him perfectly” (Achebe 136). Okonkwo expands on this desire as he continue to express how Ezinma is his favorite among the daughters and that she understands the ways of his consciousness and his moods (Achebe 137) . Although these expressions are subtle, Okonkwo’s regret of Ezinma’s gender plays a role in the patriarchal induced gender roles that women are socially lesser than men. Society’s standards