Things Fall Apart Rhetorical essay

“The Headstrong Historian” and Things Fall Apart forms a topic of what is good for one is bad for another. In Achebe’s novel, Okonkwo often thinks about the matter of his pride and not for his family or

he narrative tone in the book Things Fall Apart is more indicative of an explanatory approach especially when describing the Igbo culture. The style of the diction suggests a familiarity with the subject that is not necessarily purposefully shown, but is evident in the way Achebe chooses his words and how he describes events throughout the book.

He explores the use of proverbs, figures of speech and aphorisms to demonstrate the significance of their spirituality, social construct and hierarchy. As well, he displays the character transgression in Okonkwo, and how his mental decline foreshadowed his unfortunate future. Paralleling unfortunate futures, language and communication barriers between the Igbo and the European missionaries led to the collapse of the Igbo culture and the grave ultimatum; Okonkwo’s death. With all three in mind, proverbs are a very important aspect of the Igbo language and can demonstrate numerous societal customs and tell a story with few words. An appropriate quote that displays the importance of language, especially in Igbo culture is, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson

Hello my Christian friends, welcome to my father Okonkwo funeral for the converts of the church. I will not stand here in front of you today in a Christian church and tell you of the man the ibo people of Umoufia saw. Yes, I will tell you that my father had a prosperous life, but I will mainly tell you of the man I saw who killed good people before killing himself. I was told to write about the great Okonkwo’s life, and I will tell you nothing but the truth through my eyes.

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by

Though there is irony in the way that Okonkwo commits suicide, he chose the way in which he would leave the world and did not allow the British Colonizers to end his life. He was a proud individual and would not let such a thing happen. In this action, there is respect for him, yet one must look at how he arrived at this situation. It was through his own faults that his life was doomed. And this fault lies in his ever present desire to be a successful, dominant, masculine man in his

Unoka, for that was his father's name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and improvident, and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow. (Achebe,4).

“In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged. The other people were released, but even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering,”. This short quote is from one of the most influential characters of the book Things Fall Apart and provides a vast irony in his own identity. Obierika’s sense of identity changed over the course of the book and, although he did not have a largely influenced role in said novel, he shaped the story’s protagonist and seemed to have more tolerance towards the Westerners “occupying” the Igbo tribe. Obierika was a man of compromise who still held true to his culture, but that was displaced when the death of his closest friend is caused by the Western changes going on around

Preconceived ideas about one’s culture often arises from stereotypes passed down from generation to generation. It is those stereotypes which shape one’s way of thinking, without being educated properly. In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, misunderstood culture is what drives the story of a small African clan called the Umuofia and the life story of Okonkwo, a fearless warrior and farmer. An in-depth look into pre-colonial African culture helps the reader discover and understand an unbiased point of view of a world one may not understand. In doing so, Achebe uses imagery as well as strong narration to describe the cultural norms and activities that the Nigerian tribe undergoes in everyday life. Through this he offers a nonbiased point of view, and communicates and accurate picture of pre-colonial African culture to a western reader.

Okonkwo strives all of his life to become a stronger, more powerful, and a successful individual. He wants to do this because his father was a slack and lazy person who lived most of his life in debt and had no titles to his name. People often looked at his father as a women figure for the few achievements he redeemed. Okonkwo never wanted to be like his father and it eventually got to the point where he became fearful of becoming like him. Achebe uses the power of fear as a theme of to show how much it can devastate one’s

From the first chapter, I found it particularly interesting when the narrator says, “she was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her, that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate” (page 8). So right from the first chapter we get an idea of the kind of society they are in, one that is mostly about money equating to power. The bracelet being a chain shows how imprisoned not only her but other women feel in that society, how they must be constantly dolled up, and if they can’t do it all themselves then that’s when they go get married (page 13). The bracelet is this constantly reminder that she, and women, are not free individuals but prisoners of society. The need to be pretty and fancy for others to see worth shows this idea of social expectations, or even social determinism.

The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe, is a tale based on the traditional beliefs and customs of an Ibo village during late 1800’s Africa. Through the telling of this story, we witness the remarkable depth of Igbo culture through its functions of religion, politics, judiciary and entertainment.

Perhaps the main theme of this novel is the recognition of greatness. The narrator seems to recommend to the reader that the failure to achieve this recognition might suggest a distortion or a kind of non-reading since the hero is greater than life. For this reason, in the last chapter, the voice of Obierika is used as a suitable post-script for the hero's death. This man was one of the biggest men in Umuofia. They drove him to kill himself; and now he is buried like a dog (147). Okonkwo is presented with the economy of details and dramatic foresight carving the image of an extra ordinary figure. His story is portrayed as an epic story, reminiscent of great battles in which the hero resembles an epic hero. There is a sign of the epic style

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was wrote in 1958 as a response to European Literature viewing Africans as savages who were then enlightened and found peace and safety by the Europeans. Chinua describes the Igbo people and showed the culture and showing the way of life of the Igbo people. This book shows this powerful and eye opening look into the complex society of these tribes and villages and how law and order is run. The major theme that is I will focus is that traditional development of the Igbo tribe alone and with the influence of the Europeans.