...Death of a Nation The 18th, 19th and 20th centuries were a time of great colonization in Africa. European explorers sieged the African continent, trying to acquire the most African land possible. These European explorers brought with them missionaries, who tried to convert the indigenous populations of Africa from their tribal religion to Christianity. Chinua Achebe’s novel, 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...
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...Given all the different outlets Okonkwo could have chosen, why did he commit suicide? Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, narrates the struggles and changes due to the white colonials that Okonkwo faces in his village, Umuofia,. Okonkwo strives to be the opposite of his weak and selfish father. As Okonkwo’s values grow outdated due to the new generation of weak men who betray their ancestor’s, he battles to stop the change and return to the comfort of the old customs. The continual friction between Okonkwo and the new religion, people, and values adopted by his society contributes to his downward spiral. At the conclusion of the novel, Okonkwo hangs himself; the suicide of Okonkwo was the result of Okonkwo’s struggle with the changes taking place, the loss of his status in his culture, and the fears he possessed....
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...Every person has faced fear at least once in their life. Fear of death, rejection, and the worst, failure. This fear is plainly shown in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart through Okonkwo’s hamartia that moves him towards his eventual demise. Achebe proves that living solely by fear of failure will create the very thing one’s life is motivated to destroy. Okonkwo’s fear of failure manifests itself in five distinct ways: Fear of following in his father’s footsteps, fear of becoming feminine, fear of losing religion, fear of discrediting his family name, and fear of disgracing the Ibo gods. These fears accumulate under the fear of failure that acts as Okonkwo’s hamartia, motivating him to commit suicide at the conclusion of the book. Achebe begins Things Fall Apart with a lengthy description of Okonkwo’s past, including his lazy...
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...According to Aristotle, the definition for tragic hero is a character who is noble or a man of high status, has a tragic flaw, and discovers his fate by his own actions. Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe could be easily classified as a tragic hero because his character satisfies all the requirements set forth by Aristotle. Because Okonkwo was a powerful and respected man in Umuofia, possessed the flaw of the fear of failure and weakness, and his unwillingness to change after returning from exile resulted in his demise, his character is undoubtedly that of a tragic hero. In order to be classified as a tragic hero, Aristotle requires that the character must be noble or a man of high status. Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart was “well...
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...actions-elf next level through their actions, and each one takes is different. Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars”. Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was...
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...Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a twentieth century work of art that serves the purpose of conveying the intricacies of African culture while at the same time giving voice to the underrepresented and exploited inhabitants of Nigeria. This work was written in response to Western writings on African culture, which treated Africa in a cultureless and subhuman light of view. “Things Fall Apart” portrays the conflict between the White colonial government and the indigenous Igbo people in Nigeria, illuminating the European and African perspectives on Colonial control, race, religion and culture. The Igbos believed that each man was responsible for his fate or destiny. They believed that a man has the ability to change his life and achieve status through economics and military accomplishments, the latter being through agriculture, and that all of this results solely from hard work. The Nigerian society, unlike European societies, was characterized by a Darwinian society in the way that people who achieved great feats were rewarded, rather than a caste-like system where there was no chance of improving one’s status. The ability to move up in rank in Nigerian culture is portrayed in the story of Onkonkwo. Born to an indebted and effeminate father, Okonkwo strives to rise through the social system and achieve everything his father could not. He is intolerant and biased towards women to the point where he describes weak men as women. Okonkwo views emotion as a weakness and thus...
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...African American History: Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is about the heartbreaking fall of the novel’s protagonist Okonkwo as well as the Igbo Culture. The protagonist is a respected and prominent leader in the Igbo community of Umuofia in Eastern Nigeria. His personal distinction and fame comes when he successfully beats Amalinze the Cat, in a wrestling duel. This earns him much honor. This novel is a demonstrative explanation of the culture of the Ibo clan as narrated from an insider's point of view while focusing on the life of Okonkwo. The customs and religion of the Ibo village comes out with simplicity and sympathy. This creates a sense of reminiscence for a way of life that is, no doubt, completely unusual to Western sensibilities and practices. This influences the reader to experience the strength and sense of a traditional culture as seen from within. The book is a vivid description of how rich African culture was before the invasion of the missionaries and colonialists rather than a bad portrayal of supposedly barbaric practices as has been claimed by some critics. For instance, Achebe describes a marriage ceremony of the Ibo community which paints a clear picture of their social and cultural aspect. There is so much socialism that an event such as marriage is a reserve and responsibility of the whole community. Achebe writes, “Women and children began to gather at Obierika’s compound to the bride’s mother in her difficult but happy task of...
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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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...notice. They realized it wasn’t a bad thing to let change happen. People accept and resent change from happening all the time in the real world and in books. This is illustrated In Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, and Benjamin Hoff’s novel, The Tao of Pooh, where the authors demonstrate acceptance of change leads to restoration, while resistance to change leads to destruction, which they portray through the characters...
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...Things Fall Apart 3 layer response. Epictetus once said “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” Epictetus was a promoter of Stoicism who flourished in the early second century C.E. about four hundred years after the Stoic school of Zeno of Citium was established in Athens. He lived and worked, first as a student in Rome, and then as a teacher with his own school in Nicopolis in Greece. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, a man named Okonkwo and his choices in life are showcased. Okonkwo is a clear embodiment of the quote mentioned above. He is a man who works himself up from nothing and becomes something. The root cause of his actions throughout the novel are his subconscious feelings towards his Unoka, his father. The prevalent failures of Unoka fundamentally shapes Okonkwo’s actions as a husband and as a father. Okonkwo is a man who truly started from the bottom. He did not have the head start in life which many young men had and was plagued by the fear of weakness and failure (13,16). Despite his situation, he began during his father’s lifetime to build the foundations of a prosperous future (18). His father’s example shapes his character in a way that he becomes “possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death” (18). In light of Unoka’s...
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...“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 Achebe’s narrative technique in Things Fall Apart, arguing that earlier critics have failed to account fully for two fundamental principles...
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...Things Fall Apart Literary Analysis The world is changing as do the people who live in it all the time, sometimes people just don’t fit with the changing 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...
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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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...beginning religion and education went hand in hand.”. Thus Whoever aimed at learning how to read and write or be part of the new government / economic organizations set up by the Missionaries was likely (if not forced) to convert. But the second and most important reason is that this new religion offered an alternative to: 1. Those who were rejected by the clan according the traditional rules. Among them we can quote: * The efulefu (or “worthless man”) whose “word was never heeded in the assembly of people” and who did not have any title (Page 143) * The osu (or “outcasts”) who were excluded by the other member of the clan and wore “long, tangled hair” (Page 155) 2. Those who have lost things or people because of the ancestral rules such as: * Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son and who turned aside from the traditions that made him loose his friend (and almost brother) Ikemefuna as well as his twins siblings (Page 147) * Nneka, Amadi’s wife who saw the twins of her four pregnancies thrown away in the bush and joined the Chuch which accepted twins (Page 151) 3. Or simply those convinced by the new Church’s power * For instance those who joined the Church when they saw that nothing happened to the church despite its construction in the Evil Forest (Page 149 to 151) Some...
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...Looking at literature that’s based off post-colonialism, it’s hard to find a point of view that is unbiased and lacking western Orientalism that taints writings about less civilized cultures. Two books paint both sides of the equation: Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. In both novels, the author depicts a character going through both an internal and external struggle dealing with exile. The authors conclude in different variations that it’s after the alienation, or exile, of a character that lets black African Orientalism to cause change, not in the character’s enlightenment, but to change them into a sacrificial character for others’ enrichment. In these novels, it reveals how Africa faces...
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