Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

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.

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.

Charles Darwin once said “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change”("11 Powerful Quotes to Inspire Your Team to Embrace Change"). This quote can be proven true in many sources throughout history, or books and even in the present day as people who don’t adapt to new changes very often experience many negative consequences. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe shows that when cultures collide and there is a refusal to change many negative consequences will follow as evidenced through the book, the spread of Islam, and Christianity in present day Nigeria.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Ezinma battles an internal conflict of wanting to act like the opposite gender, but is looked down upon because of her sex. Ezinma ultimately resolves this conflict by following the expectations of society; however, this choice also illustrates her true character as both rebellious and ladylike. Ezinma’s decision to follow the gender roles also reveals the universal theme that social orders may determine how an individual acts according to stereotypes and gender roles.

Fear is a distressing state of mind aroused by impending danger, evil, and even mental pain. The idea of fear is greater than fear itself. It is an emotion that we subconsciously create, it is the emotion evoked by the idea of believing illusions, lies and false information. Fear is what drives us to execute actions that we would never normally do, unrestrained from the presence of fear we act with morality, thought and discipline. In Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe, fear is evident throughout Okonkwo's life. The fear of being anything close to his father Unoka, the fear of acting anything other than a man and the fear of adjusting to anything other than his own social customs is what

Chinua Achebe expressed this fear by writing, “But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest, and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo 's fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. 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.” [13] The author wrote this to show how deep down Okonkwo’s fear really was, the passage said that Okonkwo had been running from all of his fears even when he was a young child, and that he had never dealt with them. He only ran from them by doing the exact opposite of what he truly feared. Okonkwo had many fears, like his fear of compassion, and he hid from his fear of compassion by never showing sympathy for anyone and beating his family often. This type of mentality can help the reader interpret that when Okonkwo’s fears returned, at the end of the book, he was unable to overcome them, and instead he ran far enough away from them that Okonkwo saw his only way out as suicide. This exact situation happens a lot in real life as well. An example of this is, a student

An intelligent motivational speaker, Peter Senge, once said "People don 't resist change. They resist being changed!" As we go on in life, we come across two types of individuals, ones who see the chance to better themselves by making important changes, and ones who think there is no need for change due to the belief that everything about them is perfect. In the two books, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, the characters Okonkwo, Nwoye, and Pooh all illustrate the effects of accepting and or resisting change.

Okonkwo life is “dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13). When Okonkwo was a boy, his playmates teased him calling, saying that his father was agbala. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was lazy. He did not work on his farm; he died in great debt. He did not acquire a single title. He did not have a barn to pass down to his son. Unoka is a type of man who is scorned in Umofia. He is seen as weak and effeminate. As Okonkwo grows older, he is determined not become a failure like his father. His father was weak; he will be strong. His father was lazy; he will be hard-working. Okonkwo earned his fame by defeating the reigning wrestling champion. Okonkwo diligently plants yam, building a successful farm. He builds himself an obi, has three wives and many children. His fame “rested on solid personal achievements” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo will not let one womanly trait sully his reputation. Therefore, he “hate[d] everything that his father Unoka had loved” (Achebe 13). One of these was gentleness. Okonkwo refuses to show any signs of emotion, except his temper. He

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

All through “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, the portrayal of culture and rituals is astonishingly important and determines the fortune of the men, women and children. Certain rituals or customs that are practiced in their culture would unquestionably be frowned upon in the United States; thus is completely acceptable in their society. For example, the idea that twins are bad luck and should be left to die in the forest twins, normally abandoned in the ‘evil forest’ on account of the belief that they

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe teaches us that life is a struggle where you can feel both pain and happiness at the same time. No matter who you are you will have moments in your life where you life things are falling apart, where you feel like giving up because there is nothing more you can do. This is a natural part of life and eventually those moments are going to pass because they don’t last long. In those moments there are many factors that can help you move on such as religion, friends, family and many more. There is no such as thing as a perfect life. Everyone can’t have what they want, but when it seems like things aren’t going great that would be a good time to turn to family and friends. The villagers of Umofia value religion, culture, pride and family above all else. When there was a certain they would always come together as one and support each other. Okonkwo struggled as well. He was a man that feared weakness and failure more than anything else. He didn’t want to end up like his father, but he didn’t know himself. He didn’t understand the type of person that he was, but he knew for sure that the one person he would never be like was his father. In his eyes Okonkwo’s father is a weakling and a failure.

In history many ancient and early cultures lived in a society where gender influenced their way of life. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the Igbo tribe in Africa bases their people’s social status and everyday life on gender. Women are expected to be submissive and thought to be weaker compared to their male counterparts. Men on the other hand are thought of as strong and must live up to the expectations of the clan. There are several instances in the book that strongly emphasize the masculine roles in the Ibo tribe’s society. Throughout the book, Okonkwo’s extreme views on masculinity gains him the respect of his community. In his community Okonkwo is greatly praised for his masculinity. It is Okonkwo’s desire to be accepted by his community and insecurities that leads to him becoming an outcast in his community which eventually led to him committing suicide. Okonkwo would rather die than to develop a feminine reputation like his father. As a clansman of the Igbo, being a well provider for your family, a strong protector, and an influential fatherly figure are things that define masculinity.

Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart describes the colonization of the Ibo tribe by a group of white missionaries. The text details the life of Okonkwo, a successful yam farmer with many wives and great power in his village, from his early adulthood to his untimely death. In the beginning, Achebe presents the readers with Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring Mbaino tribe, sent to Okonkwo’s household as punishment for murdering an Umuofian woman. Ikemefuna integrates into the family rapidly, and is well-received by both Okonkwo and his biological son, Nwoye. He spends three years in Okonkwo’s family, which was much longer than what the clan elders had anticipated. During that time, Okonkwo treats Ikemefuna as his own son, and

In Part I, We learn the story of his father Unoka. He was a complete bum to say the least. He never paid off any of his debts and was just a lazy man. He dies 10 years before the story sets. Okonkwo is like the complete opposite of his father. He’s a successful Yam farmer with 3 wives and is actually able to support his family. One morning, the Umoufia clan announces that one of their daughters was murdered by the Mbaino. This drives Okonkwo to go to war with the other clan. However, they give Okonkwo a peace offering, a virgin girl and a boy, a 15 year old named Ikemefuna. Okonkwo grows attached to boy. Ikemefuna becomes like a bigger brother to Nwoye, one of Okonkwo sons. To Ikemefuna, Okonkwo slowly becomes his own father.

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is set in Nigeria during the 1890’s. The novel focuses on the clash between Nigeria’s white government and the culture of the Igbo people. Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan, by Bruce Feiler, covers Feiler’s journey to Japan to teach English and American culture for a year in the 1980’s. Throughout each novel, the reader is presented many different elements of each societies beliefs and culture. The central conflict surrounding each novel involves one unique, isolated, culture attempting to keep its traditions in a time where Western culture is demanding a change. Things Fall Apart and Learning to Bow: Inside the Heart of Japan, discuss the effect of two unfamiliar cultures on each other when cohabitation takes place.