...I have recently read the book Things Fall Apart which was written by one of your fellow countrymen Chinua Achebe. It is about a man who cannot change when his culture begins to change. In Things Fall Apart, the main character Okonkwo is a great man of Umofia and a leader in society, but he is banished from his clan for seven years after committing a female crime. While he is away, white missionaries come to Umuofia and begin to change the way of life there, gaining supporters and followers as the do so. When Okonkwo returns to his clan after his years in exile he sees that it is not as it used to be and the change is so great and profound to him that he eventually takes his own life in order to escape it. I know, however, that the present-day...
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...Things Fall Apart, describes the white man’s transformation of the Igbo culture. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, exhibits an ineffective thinking process shown through his violent actions, Umofia’s negative reactions to his actions, and unnecessary dialogue between him and other Umofian citizens; this ineffective thinking process makes changing lifestyles impossible for Okonkwo, who, because of these events, commits suicide. Aggressive actions of Okonkwo present the extent of this ineffective thinking, which come to cause his death. Okonkwo performs one of his most thoughtless actions during the Week of Peace, a week in which any violence is prohibited. However, Okonkwo breaks the Week of Peace when “he beats [his first wife] heavily” for not returning early enough to cook his afternoon meal (Achebe 29). Failing to think about the ramifications of his decision, he acts on impulse and performs the most violent action possible. Not only does he just beat his wife, but he also does it heavily, showing how he cannot change from his normal personality in the slightest. Inability to change from his normal self for a week foreshadows how Okonkwo will not be able to adapt later on. In this instance, Okonkwo only gets punished a little, but his violent actions later get him killed. When a messenger orders a stop to a meeting in the marketplace of Umuofia, Okonkwo draws his machete and, in a matter of seconds, “Okonkwo’s machete descend[s] twice and the man’s head lay[s] beside his uniformed...
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...world. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, tells the story of a great man named Okonkwo. When European missionaries arrive, Okonkwo’s culture that he once knew is changing dramatically. The book addresses the clash of cultures and destruction of Okonkwo’s world with their arrival. Achebe shows us that Okonkwo’s inability to adapt and his own characterization causes him to end his life. Okonkwo’s suicide was caused by a mix of the European missionaries and Okonkwo’s own characterization. Okonkwo never learns from his mistakes, he always thinks what he does is always right no matter what. All he knows came from his childhood and younger years. Unoka is disrespected among the society. The culture values physical strength, achievement, and masculinity. Unoka represents the opposite of these values, he enjoys expressing himself through words and music, he’s a very talented musician. Okonkwo learns that these qualities are not what the tribe values. Okonkwo grows up being the opposite of his father, he becomes the best wrestler, he’s physically strong, and represents hyper masculinity. Okonkwo also becomes a very successful farmer, but after a bad harvest due to bad, inconsistent weather Unoka tells his son “‘do not despair. I know you will not despair. You have a manly and a proud heart. A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone,’” (24/25). At the end of the book, Okonkwo...
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...The Impacts of Foreign Education in Obi Okonwo's Life as Depicted in No Longer At Ease Irwandi Hidayat F1F011040 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTEMENT OF HUMANITIES ENGLISH LANGUANGE AND LITERATURE PROGRAM PURWOKERTO 2014 Abstract This paper titled "The Impacts of Foreign Education in Obi Okonwo's Life as Depicted in No Longer At Ease" will mainly focus on finding how foreign education changes Obi's Life. This paper will explore this issue by explaining how his foreign education affected his life and what impacts it brings to Obi's life. This paper will use Post Colonialism Criticism to try to explain what happens to Obi after his foreign education. As a theoretical approach, postcolonialism asks readers to consider the way colonialist and anti-colonialist messages are presented in literary texts. It argues that Western culture is Eurocentric, meaning it presents European values as natural and universal, while Eastern ideas are, for example, inferior, immoral, or savage. What post-colonial literary criticism does is analyze literature written both by colonial powers and by those who were colonized in order to look at the cultural impact of colonization. After further analysis are done regarding the impact of foreign education in Obi Okonkwo's life, the analysis concludes that there are three main impacts that are caused by Obi's foreign education. The first is the loss of identity that...
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...About Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe's college work sharpened his interest in indigenous Nigerian cultures. He had grown up in Ogidi, a large village in Nigeria. His father taught at the missionary school, and Achebe witnessed firsthand the complex mix of benefit and catastrophe that the Christian religion had brought to the Igbo people. In the 1950s, an exciting new literary movement grew in strength. Drawing on indigenous Nigerian oral traditions, this movement enriched European literary forms in hopes of creating a new literature, in English but unmistakably African. Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the masterpieces of 20th century African fiction. Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s, during the coming of the white man to Nigeria. In part, the novel is a response and antidote to a large tradition of European literature in which Africans are depicted as primitive and mindless savages. The attitudes present in colonial literature are so ingrained into our perception of Africa that the District Commissioner, who appears at the end of the novel, strikes a chord of familiarity with most readers. He is arrogant, dismissive of African "savages," and totally ignorant of the complexity and richness of Igbo life. Yet his attitude echoes so much of the depiction of Africa; this attitude, following Achebe's depiction of the Igbo, seems hollow and savage. Digression is one of Achebe's most important tools. Although the novel's central story is the tragedy of Okonkwo...
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...of the novels protagonist Okonkwo. His response to the colonizers is influenced by his own views on pride and is used by Achebe to illustrate his own opinion on pride. Pride is something that must be second when it comes to potential change and...
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...Tragedy depicts the downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of hubris, fate, and the will of the gods. The tragic hero's powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty. The hero need not die at the end, but he/she must undergo a change in fortune. In addition, the tragic hero may achieve some revelation or recognition. According to Gerald F.Else (1967) tragic hero means “The tragic hero is a great man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake." Throughout the book, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe presents many aspects of how the tragic hero, Okonkwo portrays the author's own characterization of a tragic hero. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his fear of weakness, failure, the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, violence, and arrogance. In his thirties, Okonkwo is a leader of the Igbo community of Umuofia. Throughout his life, he wages a never ending battle for status and his life is dominated by the fear of weakness and failure. He is quick to anger, especially when dealing with men who are weak, lazy debtors like his father. His father incurred a bad reputation for himself and Okonkwo vowed to never be like his father. This caused Okonkwo to be very determined and he formed very strong feelings to reach success in his life and do the same for his children. The narrator states "At...
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...Colonization and Cultural Change in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe There is a major importance of customs and traditions in the African nations. The customs and traditions decide the fate of the men, women, and children of each separate tribe, as well as how the men are viewed from neighboring tribes. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart achieves the paradoxical effect of enabling African tribal life to be accessible to western society, while simultaneously excluding it. The incursion of the colonizing force is changing or threatening to change almost every aspect of their society: religion, family structure, gender roles, relations, and trade. In this novel Achebe uses the term Locusts to symbolize the arrival of white settlers who will feast on and exploit the resources of the Igbo. Achebe aims to show that Africa is not the uncivilized, simple country that it is portrayed as by other cultures. His work aims to show the reader to understand the tribe and assist the reader to think about the reasoning behind the beliefs that may be viewed as odd or illogical. For instance; that a child should be murdered or the spirits of the dead must be appeased, if not it can have grave consequences for some tribal members. Or the tribal concept of 'bloating' they simply take people suffering with it to the evil forest and leave them for dead, to them this perfectly logical. Paul Brians (Washington State University, 2002) states that "its most striking feature is to create...
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..."A proud heart can survive general failure because such a failure does not prick its pride. It is more difficult and more bitter when a man fails alone." - Chinua Achebe. The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a brilliant story that opens the readers mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. He was raised in the large village of Ogidi, one of the first centers of Anglican missionary work in Eastern Nigeria. His life in Nigeria would later lead him to write Things Fall Apart which gave a different view on the colonization of Africa that previous novels portrayed in a negative way. Achebe allows us to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo, a very high ranked member in his village is very respected for his many achievements. Although he is arguably the most powerful man in Umuofia, his personal flaws of fear of failure and uncontrollable anger do not allow him true greatness as a human being. And although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him as a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad decisions that he makes throughout the book. Okonkwo allows his fear of failing cloud his judgement, which will eventually lead to his downfall. While Okonkwo is highly respected and a man of many achievements, he has failed to see his many flaws. That is why Okonkwo is a detestable character and human being. Okonkwo allows his self destructive...
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...Cultural Imperialism in Africa European imperialism had a strong influence over African culture in many ways. Essentially all of Africa fell victim to the very influential and dominant European nations. The process of imperialism on these economically and militarily weak countries of Africa was obviously simple for the Europeans. In most of Africa, there were no countries, only clans and tribes, which made the imperialization much easier as well. These imperialist nations, such as Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany, showed African nations many new ideals and tools that spread like a cultural virus. One very well-known story of this part of history is a book written by Chinua Achebe, titled Things Fall Apart. The book tells a fantastic story of a tribe in Nigeria which becomes a victim of the European imperialists. Achebe does a remarkable job of giving the reader the vivid change from the African tribe before and after the Europeans arrived. Things Fall Apart centers around a Nigerian tribe leader named Okonkwo. Known for his strength, courage, and most of all, pride, Okonkwo is looked up to by most the people in his tribe. Okonkwo doesn’t handle the European invasion as well as others due to his large sense of pride, which ultimately leads to his downfall and death. Christian missionaries were one of the main forms of imperialization used by Europeans. The two missionaries in Things Fall Apart were Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith. It is common in African communities...
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...Martin Owens Western Culture 103 Dr. Frye Essay #3 12/9/13 Accepting Differences Saves Lives Change can be hard to accept for many people. One’s who have been raised to think, act, and participate in life in a certain way tend to find it harder to accept change. However, as the old saying goes, things fall apart so that new things can take its form. In the book Things Fall apart by Chinua Achene, there was conflict between the traditional villagers and the European colonial establishment because the whites were blind to the insight of the African culture and the villagers where stirred the wrong way by a single man. Conflict rose due to stubbornness. Once both worlds are mixed together, the whites and the African clans are almost at agreed terms, and then Okonkwo returns trying hard to turn everyone back to their roots which would eventually end in tragedy. The White commissioners meant well; however, they were blind to the insight of the African tradition so they did not understand why Okonkwo reacted to certain situations in such way that he did. Beforehand, the white commissioner Mr. Brown went to the village trying to change the clan’s views. He sat down and talked with Akunna about religion and in return he learned something himself. While trying to explain Mr. Brown put emphasis on how “there are no other gods, Chukwu is the only God and all others are false” (180). After telling Akunna about the Christian way of thinking, Akunna responds by telling him they’re...
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...individual within his village. Although the cultural backdrop is very unfamiliar, the character traits of Okonkwo that play an inevitable difference in his effectiveness as a leader are apparent even to the most unfamiliar with African tribal cultures. Okonkwo’s life begins with severe disappointment in his father and a determination to be everything that his father was not. This driving ambition invariably leads to adoption of an extremely harsh attitude towards most people, and results in the unfolding of the story, and invariably, to things falling apart in Okonkwo’s life. The following analysis encompasses the cultural backdrop against which Okonkwo’s story is set, and presents his key relationships with various characters that allows one to build a thorough analysis of his leadership and a fair picture of its failure. Furthermore, a critical analysis of the folkloric culture illustrated within the novel presents key leadership lessons that were ignored by Okonkwo in his daily life. Further parallels will also be drawn with Okonkwo’s leadership to other classroom figures. Cultural Backdrop Before doing a character sketch, there is a need for studying the culture of the clan and setting it in context. The key element of the culture of the clan is storytelling, which have been passed on for generations. These stories embrace the elements of the nature which engrains the idea of...
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...back to his obi to wait for Ojiugo’s return. And when she returned he beat her very heavily (pg29).” Okonkwo’s father was a very peaceful men, he never tried to show his strength by physically or verbally abusing his family. I think Onkonwo rebels like any other child would. While growing up kids never understand their parents and always want to act different from their parents. While growing up Okonwos father was in debt and was a very lazy man, so okonkwo became a totall different person. He wanted to be a man that his father never was. To be a total opposite from his father, he showed no emotions and only courage; even if he had to beat his kids and wives to prove it. Men in the village of Umfuofia are warriors; they are all looked up to. They have criteria men should act like. They had to be the man of the house, courageous to obey the rules of life. In the beginning of the book, Okonkwo was viewed as a warrior a person the whole village looked up for his courage and the titles he had won. As we read on, we learn that Okonkwo has many fears that he is scared of. He did not want to be weak like his father, did not want his son to become like his father and he did not want to loose his prestige in the village either. During the end of the book, he becomes weak and looses his courage to face the life that was ahead of him. ’’Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead (Pg207).” Everyone says kids grow up to be like their parents...
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...Aparna T.V II-MA English Dr. Swaralipi Nandi 18-09-2014 Theme of Colonialism in ‘Things Fall Apart’ Introduction : Poet and novelist Chinua Achebe was one of the most important Africanwriters. He was also considered by many to be one of the most original literary artists writing in English during his lifetime. He is best known for his novel Things Fall Apart (1958). Born Albert Chinualumogo Achebe, Chinua Achebe was raised by Christian evangelical parents in the large village Ogidi, in Igboland, Eastern Nigeria. He received an early education in English, but grew up surrounded by a complex fusion of Igbo traditions and colonial legacy. He studied literature and medicine at the University of Ibadan; after graduating, he went to work for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company in Lagos and later studied at the British Broadcasting Corporation staff school in London. During this time, Achebe was developing work as a writer. Starting in the 1950s, he was central to a new Nigerian literary movement that drew on the oral traditions of Nigeria's indigenous tribes. Although Achebe wrote in English, he attempted to incorporate Igbo vocabulary and narratives. Things Fall Apart (1958) was his first novel, and remains his best-known work. It has been translated into at least forty-five languages, and has sold eight million copies worldwide. Chinua Achebe’s “African Trilogy” : Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, Arrow of God captures a society...
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...Journal of Postcolonial Writing ISSN: 1744-9855 (Print) 1744-9863 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjpw20 “He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Jarica Linn Watts To cite this article: Jarica Linn Watts (2010) “He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart , Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 46:1, 65-75, DOI: 10.1080/17449850903478189 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17449850903478189 Published online: 27 Jan 2010. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 501 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rjpw20 Download by: [Indiana University Libraries] Date: 24 February 2016, At: 16:43 Journal of Postcolonial Writing Vol. 46, No. 1, February 2010, 65–75 “He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Jarica Linn Watts* University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA Downloaded by [Indiana University Libraries] at 16:43 24 February 2016 jarica.watts@utah.edu Jarica 0 100000February 46 2010 &Article OriginalofFrancis 1744-9855 (print)/1744-9863 JournalandPostcolonial 10.1080/17449850903478189(online) RJPW_A_448194.sgm TaylorLinnWatts 2010 Writing Francis This article delineates different strains of...
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