Things Fall Apart Chapter 9-11

In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Achebe develops the course of the struggle between Tradition vs. Change and whether or not Change is a good thing. Because the abstract of Things Fall Apart shows how Africans had a complex system of justice, government, economy and religions before the Europeans arrived, the novel states that, “Okonkwo was deeply grieved…He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women.” (P.183) This shows a great example of tradition when, he mourned for the Warlike men of Umuofia. Throughout the whole novel, Okonkwo symbolizes tradition because, he holds conventional ideas of rank, reputation, and masculinity.

In this passage of Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the protagonist and main characters of the novel, Okonkwo, has just been sent into exile away from his land of Umuofia , Nigeria . The crime he has committed to receive such a punishment is the sin of murder. While he is attending a funeral for a man named, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, Okonkwo’s gun accidentally explodes and kills Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son. Killing a clansman is a crime against their earth goddess, thus, Okonkwo and his family are sent into exile, being forced to go back to his motherland of Mbanta. The men of the family who have experienced the loss in this accidental death burn Okonkwo’s houses and kill his animals to cleanse the village of his sin of murder. They do this to

Okonkwo, a very demanding character, has just finished a day's worth of labor and comes home expecting food at the table and his youngest wife has not prepared it yet. Okonkwo waits for her arrival when, “she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace” (Achebe, 28). This quote displays gender inequality throughout the African villages during the Age of Exploration. The tone seen in the words “beat” and “heavily” give a sense of insecurity and negative connotation towards women during that time. In keeping with Igbo view of female nature, they allowed wife beating. It is clearly evident that tone in the book Things Fall Apart allows Achebe to get his point across that women were on the bottom of the social hierarchy and were treated like property. Women were subjugated to their husbands whims, in this case it meant beating his wife when dinner was not ready. This occurred during a Week of Peace regardless that no violence should

tribe to be a week of peace Okonkwo beat up his third wife because she

2. Page #______ What is the “normal course of action” when a member of a neighboring clan

There were several instances when the characters are given a chance, or experienced humaneness from a stranger. For example, when Gabi was chosen to help Herr Furst, a German engineer, pave roads, Furst noticed the conditions Gabi faced and decided to help Gabi out even if it meant he would be punished for it. He left part of his meal for Gabi almost daily, so that Gabi would have something with nutritional value to eat. According to Gene himself, to this day, he credits his survival to this man, even though he does not know his actual name or anything about him. In another instance, when the girls were walking through the town to their factory, they would often be mocked or made fun of by the townspeople. One day, a man stood up for them, and this gave the women,

A relationship between a father and son can have a decidedly profound impact on each other’s lives. Whether this relationship is bifurcated, the psychological effects of having an intimate or inadequate parenting skills can have a nurturing or depriving effect on a child's personality from birth all throughout adulthood. This relationship although sustained has the potential to be either beneficial or untenable. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, we see a breakdown between a father and son relationship which created a very detrimental effect. The carved figure of a son that Okonkwo had predicted was erased due to his egoistic character and his terrible parenting skills.

The book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe is a fictional look at the social and cultural life of an African tribe of the lower Niger River region. It depicts the every day life of the tribe and its members. It also shows the culture and customs of the tribe.

In chapter 13 of part 1, Okonkwo gets exiled from the village because he accidentally kills Ezeudu's sixteen years old son. Therefore, Okonkwo must atone to exile for seven years. During his exiling, two white Christian missionaries come to the village: Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. Mr. Brown is the first white Christian missionary who appears in Umuofia and Mbanta, and he is an open-minded and understanding person. He makes an effort to respect and understand the Igbo beliefs. Mr. Brown builds a school and a hospital in Umuofia. He thinks that the people who will be the leaders of Igbo in the future should learn how to read and write because strangers would come from other places to rule the people of Igbo if they did not know how to read and write.

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart gives us a vivid description of the Igbo culture through the stories of Okonkwo and his village, Umuofia. In regards to Igbo culture, contributions of women cannot be ignored. Although their position and status seems to be underestimated by the people in the novel, women do play an important role in the Igbo culture in four aspects: women take care of the children, do all the housework, serve as priestesses, and build relationships with other villages.

Bilbo let out a deep breath, relieved to have the blade away from his neck. “Thank you, really. I feel any other Elf would have snatched me away like my friends..” he huffed, his eyes flickering down to his ring once more… ‘If only I could grab it… I could get away easily then…’ he thought, before he forced his attention back up at her. “Yes, I saw from the trees. I’m, uh… Very light on my feet, probably how I managed to sneak up on you.” he chuckled lightly, not wishing to telling her about what the ring could do, worried that she would try and take it for herself. “Our leader isn’t overly fond of Elves, so I do wonder how this will go…” he added, biting his lip.

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo considers himself, as well as everyone else in their clan, to be a great warrior and someone who was well-respected. Throughout the story, Chinua Achebe hints “the second coming” (Yeats line 11) when he is told he has to get rid of Ikemefuna. Secretly, he really did like this boy, but as he was respected in the community and wanted to keep it that way, he agreed to kill him. Ogbuefi Ezeudu shows his disapproval of Okonkwo being apart of the killing through his words of wisdom. “That boy calls you father. Do

The disintegration of Igbo society and culture is the central to Chinua Achebe’s novel- ‘Things Fall Apart’ and Okonkwo’s family is one of the first victims. As the christian missionaries started persuading people to join their god instead of gods made out of wood and stone, “Okonkwo’s latter son, Nwoye, was among the missionaries in Umuofia.” (p.119) As the missionaries came in, Nwoye decided to heal his parched soul by converting to christianity. This angered Okonkwo because it made him look weak and he hence disowned Nwoye, making things fall apart between them. But, Okonkwo wasn’t the only person for whom things weren’t going that well, traditional Igbo cultures were also threatened by the existence of the foreigners. Traditional Igbo practises

Throughout history, specifically African heritage, wife beating and other forms of abuse are acceptable. Power and strength are pillars of African culture and can not be jeopardized by women and femininity. Many of the men in Umuofia, the main setting of Things Fall Apart, look up to Okonkwo and his actions. In order to demonstrate his strength (or lack thereof), he continually berates his wives. Along with his wives, he also abuses his children hoping that someday they will be as successful as him. Throughout Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo victimizes his family.

In Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe depicts a society where women are terribly mistreated due to the customary belief that women are the weaker sex and that their sole purpose attend to their husbands and children. Despite the cultures sexist and degrading traditions, the female characters in Things Fall Apart remain nurturing and courageous. These traits are shown in the beginning of Chapter four when one of Okonkwo’s wives failed to return back to her hut in time to provide dinner for her children. In the Igbo culture there are no laws regarding mistreatment and/or abuse towards women so Okonkwo waited until she returned, then beat her without hesitation. “And when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger, he had forgotten