“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” John F. Kennedy. This quote emphasizes that life is a process of constant change. Change is necessary for growth. If things get stuck in a place, there is never going to be progress. Nevertheless, there are people as Okonkwo whom change costs a lot of work, either mental or physical. These people often have difficulty adapting in places where sudden changes occur, because they live in a continuous state of stress, for trying to control the uncontrollable. In the extraordinary novel Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe, the author illustrates an apocalyptic vision by describing the changes taking place in the Igbo society in Nigeria at the …show more content…
European dominance completely changed the political, economic, and social structure of African societies. “European powers viewed Africans as “primitive people” so they assigned themselves a duty to civilize or teach them, the Africans the ‘proper civilization’ of which they meant colonization, imposition of European civilization and exploitation of Africans (World History 158). The European imperialist process gave rise to a profound crisis in indigenous cultures; convinced that their culture was the most advanced, they felt obliged to give it to know and seek means to make others adopt it, thus spreading their political systems, customs, religion and philosophical concepts. Moreover, before the influence of countries, like England and France in African territories, the form of life there was completely different in many aspects. The political systems of most of the African populace, apparently was a tribal organization that represented a smaller group of the lineage that has been disengaged from its ancient origin, seeking their independence and new territory. Authority was based on affiliation, which is within the family, the village, the region or the nation, and the chief of the tribe met executive, ritual and judicial functions, according to the pattern of government in each constituent unit of kinship. The political organization depended on factors of kinship, emotional, legal, and rituals. However, with the arrival of Europeans and their political system, these systems were permanently displaced. These people would change the course of Africa with their new doctrine. The political change occurring on the continent of Africa is reflected in Things Fall Apart when the white missionaries westernize the Umuofian government by
As wise John Berger once said,“Never again shall a single story be told as though it were the only one”. A “single story” is the story of a culture that we learn from stereotypes and conspiracies developed throughout time in our society. In “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe defies the single story of African culture while still tying their native language in to show the importance between a physical differentiation of culture, and the similarities with morals and values they have in common. Through gender roles and proverbs used in the language of this book, we have a cultural insight of Nigeria through a new set of eyes given to us by Achebe that detures us from the single stories that we were taught to by our society.
Change is a word that the world does not like to hear. Whether it is politics, family, or even the climate, change is a factor of life that people fear. The world has tradition and a set pace of culture. One place this tradition and culture is prominent is in the underdeveloped regions of Africa. Chinua Achebe wrote a novel, Things Fall Apart to put on display the culture of a group called the Ibo from Nigeria. These Ibo people are a perfect example of how change does not occur and how tradition prevails in some places. The story is of their everyday life and specifically follows one character named Okonkwo, who is the ultimate example of a fear of change. Events in his life that do change him and his family allow for a dramatic story of a
Do people really change based on their past? We should believe they do. Chinua Achebe, wrote the novel, Things Fall Apart. This novel takes place in an African tribe with a village called Umuofia.The main character, Okonkwo, has a hard childhood. Later in his life he becomes very wealthy and has a big family. Okonkwo makes some big mistakes, but we can believe he learned from them. In the end of the book, Okonkwo kills himself after he kills a Christian missionary. Okonkwo killed the Christian missionary because he was trying to convert the people in his clan, to Christians. Okonkwo was so furious he had to get justice for his clan, so, he decided to kill the Christian missionary. On one hand, we can say Okonkwo was not learning from his mistakes. On the other hand, one can say Okonkwo was learning from his mistakes. We can think Okonkwo did learn from his mistakes because now he cares
“He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.” This quote by Chinua Achebe describes the self-inflictions when a person purposely goes after another. This goes hand-in-hand with the Nigerian author’s magnum opus, Things Fall Apart. For the duration of the book, Achebe uses subtle events to create amplifying changes. He uses Okonkwo’s relationship with others, his learning about the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Achebe also uses Okonkwo’s fear of change for the Ibo regarding to the missionaries and their spread of Christianity through the region. Creating universal and relatable characters, Chinua Achebe warns people of rash actions and their effects over time.
Nigeria has a rich culture stemming from the many civilizations that inhabited the land. In the novel Thing Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe brings light on to the great Igbo people, a society Nigeria hosted for centuries. The tale follows a man named Okonkwo as he tries to make amends for his father 's failures and a name for himself within his village. This path leads Okonkwo to become reckless and unreasonable. Through this, readers are exposed to the village’s judicial system, revealing that the clan’s laws based off sexism, superstitious nature, and deep religious ties.
Perhaps the best example of women holding power in this novel is the priestess Chielo. She is one of the spiritual leaders in Okonkwo’s town. She has the respect of the entire village, not just the women. Her authority extends so far that at one point in the novel she takes one of Okonkwo’s children in the middle of the night to a religious site. She is free to do as she pleases. Okonkwo recognizes her authority and doesn’t put up a fight. He ends up following his wife and daughter to the religious site, but doesn’t interfere. Another example of women in this society having important roles are their jobs as teachers. They teach their children the importance of community and other life lessons by telling their children stories. Okonkwo treats many of the women in his life differently. He is secretly very fond of one of his daughters and wishes she had been born a boy. This
“Things Fall Apart” is about the clash between the indigenous people of Nigeria and white colonialists, portraying the critical impact of European expansion on local Igbo culture. The main character is Okonkwo, a respected and influential leader within the community of the village, who became powerful and wealthy as a result of his very strong conviction. Despite looking like this very strong man, Okonkwo was driven by fear: fear of change and losing his self-worth. That fear made him go through and experience different feelings, different stages, different attitudes and sometimes cruel principles. It is necessary to take some things into account in order to explain this change in Okonkwo’s character.
“Then everything had been broken.”(Achebe, page 131). Things Fall Apart is a complex story with complex events. The white men were christians while the Igbo people had their own religion. When the white men came, problems arose between the two groups and between the clan itself. This cultural collision impacted many Igbo people but different characters reacted differently. Okonkwo, who recently returned from being exiled, tries to make up for his mistakes but falls into old habits. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe exhibits the ways that when met with a cultural collision narrow-minded individuals may respond with violence and fear through reactions of the protagonist.
The novel, Things Fall Apart by China Achebe takes place in a small town within the heartland of Nigeria. In this harsh landscape constant threats include war with other clans, starvation due to lack of a consistent food supply, and the swarm of foreign invaders and missionaries determined to uproot the Igbo culture. The protagonist of this novel is Okonkwo, a respected warrior who intensely aggressive to say the least. His claim to fame is the fact that he is a spitting image of the Igbo ideal (strong, brave and masculine). Okonkwo takes excessive pride in his idealistic attributes. However, this narcissistic attitude proves to be dangerous to his success. Throughout the novel, Okonkwo is forced to battle his anger issues, his dangerously dominant attitude, and most importantly his excessive pride. Okonkwo’s greatest flaw is his hubristic attitude towards his family and clanmates.
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, is a story about a society on the verge of a cultural change. The main character, Okonkwo, is driven throughout the story by fear and a drive for success. He relied on the village of Umuofia to stay the same because he used the structured culture to feel safe and appreciated. He lives in a constant state of fear because he wants to find his own meaning in life. When the structure of Umuofia began to change, Okonkwo found himself incapable of adapting like the rest of the villagers. He was determined to live a life that could not survive the changing world, and his dreams crumbled down. Throughout the novel, Achebe demonstrates that the lack of being able to adapt to change will leave you lost in society.
Even though there are laws, that address religious oppression, but the laws in place are not always follow. For example, it is illegal to fire someone just because of their religion. Despite this law, people are still getting fired by what they believe. Oppression of religion was evident in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and in the Middle East today.
Tragic figures are often complex characters who bring suffering to others, and are catalysts in the development of the work’s central tragedy. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, the protagonist Okonkwo plays a crucial role in the tragic vision of the work. The novel depicts Okonkwo’s life across many years and his rise and fall in the context of tribal life and early colonialism. Throughout the novel Okonkwo represents a tragic figure whose complex personality and values lead to the suffering of his son, the white missionaries, the tribe, and ultimately himself. This suffering thus leads to the novel’s fundamental crisis, which is the undoing of Okonkwo, who is representative of the downfall of an entire culture and community.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe offers a detailed contrast between a society prior to the direct influence of colonial rule and a society coming to terms with a new reality of colonial leaders. The novel details the life of Okonkwo, a strong and respected man making a living in the Ibo village of Umuofia, located in present day Nigeria. Things Fall Apart details the clashes between traditional culture, tribal rule, and animism with a central government and Christianity. Nigerian born, Chinua Achebe published Things Fall Apart in 1958 and since this time he has won numerous awards for his writing depicting African societies.
The character of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by fear, a fear of change and losing his self-worth. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain untouched by time and progress because its system and structure were the measures by which he assigned worth and meaning in his own life. Okonkwo required this external order because of his childhood and a strained relationship with his father, which was also the root of his fears and subsequent drive for success. When the structure of Umuofia changed, as happens in society, Okonkwo was unable to adapt his methods of self-evaluation and ways of functioning in the world; the life he was determined to live could not survive a new environment and collapsed around him.
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a powerful novel about the social changes that occurred when the white man first arrived on the African continent. The novel is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, an elder, in the Igbo tribe. He is a fairly successful man who earned the respect of the tribal elders. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected member of the tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace graphically dramatizes the struggle between the altruistic values of Christianity and the lust for power that motivated European colonialism in Africa and undermined the indigenous culture of a nation.