Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

The women in Things Fall Apart may seem to be an oppressed group with little power which is true to some extent with the way some women are treated. This characterization of Ibo women is limiting, but when more in depth in the book it shows the divers roles of women, and how important the women are to their tribes. The women in the tribes are sometimes shown as the weak ones of the group but when these women are the foundation, nurturers, and caretakers of the tribe that shows the great responsibility they have and how important they are.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tries to bring back up cultural, social, and spiritual basics of traditional Igbo (Ibo) existence from the year 1850 and 1900. The novel cannot be fixed like other societal and political old times of Ibo society since it is a fictional novel. However, the novel describes disagreements and anxiety that occurred in Igbo society. It also shows changes initiated by colonial ruling and Christianity. Colonialism affected the people in the Ibo society by destroying of their family’s relationships, friendships, their religion or even created fights between the tribes. Additionally, Christianity attracted the people of the Igbo society. Igbo and other societies were changed considerably due to this variety of

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.

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 the Western part of Africa there is one dominant religious group in Nigeria that surpasses the rest. They have had much success in politics, economics, an above all have had better education levels than any other West African group. This astounding group is known as The Igbo. During British colonial times Christianity was enforced into the Igbo way of life, this changed some Igbo to believe that what the Christian missionaries were saying is true and that the Christian faith was the way to go. Through commercial trading Islam spread into Igboland, and this led to more Igbo people leaving the Igbo way of life for another, whether it be Islam or Christianity which divide the country in two. In the novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe British colonialism and the migration of Muslims to Nigeria led to the change in the faith, social and economic changes in the Igbo society.

In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe there are a lot of characteristics that are considered male and female. In the story, which is about a man named Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a Nigerian man , who is a yam farmer, and for no reason wants to be labeled as anything other than manly. See in the Igbo society everything is gendered to male or female even the crops. The yam is consider the king of the crops, so it is no wonder why Okonkwo is a yam farmer. In this book it tells a story about a man who falls to his own destruction, all because he was trying to avoid being looked upon as a man with feelings. In the Igbo culture woman are treated as second class and servants in most cases. Her service is to her man first. The women are only good for the men to use as needed. They are viewed as a males possession. The woman are not allowed to do much of anything. They are responsible for cleaning, cooking, and some farming, when allowed to do so. They are to care for their husbands and their homes first and for most. If a man were to fall short in this area towards a woman, he could be dishonored as a man. You can see here in the text where it says, “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man” (Achebe 45) this how women are thought of as second class citizen. To me this makes for the distinct characteristics of a masculine male and a soft, submissive

Chinua Achebe wrote the fictional novel “Things Fall Apart” based on a tribe located in an Ibo village in Nigeria. This story takes place in the era of colonization and imperialism except this time; it is from the viewpoint of the Africans. It is reasonable to say that Achebe’s work focuses around the unique protagonist, Okonkwo, and his beliefs along with how white men’s colonization impacted the African society. This novel can tie into our classes’ discussion with the various elements of the white colonization of the African continent.

Okonkwo from the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and Roy Moore from the article “Who is Roy Moore?” by Mark Berman are both similar men due to the fact that they do not give up and that they are both men of action. Roy Moore was a man of action because he wouldn’t let the federal court over rule him and he did what was on his mind as he defied a federal judge more than one time as shown in the following quote by Mark “Moore is back in the spotlight this week for once again defying a federal judge.” This shows that he doesn’t care about the judge and will do whatever is on his mind and that he is a man of action and is not afraid of the consequences Okonkwo is also a man of action and was afraid of failure and weakness

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” [Benjamin Franklin] In the book, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo prepares for himself to fail in his later years of life. Okonkwo’s mental attitude kept him from preparing himself for success when his clan started to fall apart. Throughout the book, Okonkwo developed a personality that restricted him from accepting reality, and when his fantasy world fell apart, his lack of preparation and his attitude led him to failure. Okonkwo keeps running from all his fears instead of facing them, in the long-term this creates problems when his biggest fears return and he is unable to conquer them. The next state of mentality that caused problems was that Okonkwo could not adapt to

The first chapter of ‘All Things Fall Apart” by Chinas Achebe was very interesting. The book started by explaining the setting of the village then it introduced Okonkwo and his achievements as a young man that led him to be very wealthy. What caught my attention was the difference in character between Okonkwo and his father Unoka. In page four it revealed how Okonkwo felt about his father and how he disliked individuals like his father that were unsuccessful and lazy.

I liked this story, and I chose it for my analysis paper for these reasons: When I read this story, I liked how Ms. Aidoo wrote the characters, their conflict in the story felt so realistic. I thought that it was fascinating that Maami and Nana would have such vastly different ideas. Ms. Aidoo shows us the difference of African women’s roles in the past and the present: Adjoa doesn’t know why Nana keeps talking about her legs. Nana thinks that Adjoa’s legs are too skinny she thinks that all women need to have a “good” legs to support hips to bear children. Nana thinks that Adjoa going to school would be a waste of time, but Maami believes that Adjoa should go to school and learn how to read and write.

An attempt to pin down a single meaning for the word 'traditional,' presents a problem in many ways. The implications of the word are many, and are tied to various connotations. Some people, Westerners in particular, may actually shun the 'traditional,' as they feel that it implies a resistance to modernity. This view is incorrect, and there exists an ethnocentric double standard when Westerners consider their tradition versus African tradition. Others focus on 'tradition' as that which has always been done, for whatever reason, and that it must be continued to maintain the community, a universal balance, a relationship with the gods, or some other goal. Africa and its people have experienced many hardships

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.

Have you ever heard of the phrase “With great power comes great responsibility?” Perhaps this quote from The Amazing Spider-Man sounds familiar. Even if it doesn’t, I want you to think about it for a minute. This quote is pretty self explanatory, but it does not explain the consequences that may come if one fails to have great responsibility. The complication that great power brings is the potential for power to fall into the wrong hands and dismantle a community. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe one observes the many consequences this issue can have on a town. Okonkwo is the main character of this novel, the leader of the clan of Umuofia. The violence that Okonkwo inflicts on his clan gradually turns him into the man he has always feared of becoming and without the guidance of an outstanding leader the people of Umuofia are with ease altered by colonialism which not only rips the people apart from each other but also tears them from their culture, one can learn to reflect on morality of their desires before acting out of control.