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.
Set in Africa in the 1890s, Chinua Achebe's ‘Things Fall Apart’ is about the tragedy of Okonkwo during the time Christian missionaries arrived and polluted the culture and traditions of many African tribes. Okonkwo is a self-made man who values culture, tradition, and, above all else, masculinity. Okonkwo’s attachment to the Igbo culture and tradition, and his own extreme emphasis on manliness, is the cause of his fall from grace and eventual death.
It challenged his identity by losing his high title in the clan due to the change in the village as well as new customs. He responded to the clash of cultures by attempting to encourage others to fight in his mission to get rid of the Western influences in the Ibo community. Because he failed to do so, he lost hope and refused to accept the new culture which caused him to hang himself. The conflict between Okonkwo and his clan’s decision to change their way of living was portrayed through characterization and plot development. Achebe gives the people of Africa a voice with Okonkwo’s character who stayed true to his roots. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe reveals to us Okonkwo’s response as the cultural collision of the English and Ibo challenged his sense of
In the story Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there were many events that occur that is pertaining to many different types of themes. Three examples of themes in this story are gender, fear and religion. Gender is a theme of this story because men and women have their own roles that they abide to in Umuofia. There was not any roles that both men and women share in common. Fear is a theme of this story because Okonkwo had a negative perspective of his father Unoka and he did not want to become like his father. In the story he try to do everything differently than his father. Religion is a theme in this story because this story shows how Umuofia’s traditional religion changes to Christianity.
The white man considered Africans to be primitive savages. They were seen as inferior, second-class citizens. Chinua Achebe was an African novelist who sought to give the African people a voice. Achebe gave a prospective of African culture that had been missing from the literature. The white man primarily composed works of literature, therefore there was a skewed representation of African culture. Achebe conveyed a greater understanding of African culture through his first novel Things Fall Apart. This analysis will examine Okonkwo’s power and lack of freedom through his wealth, property, and actions.
In Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, he openly goes against the colonizer’s idea of the African native. Within the Nigerian culture, which Igbo tribes would fall under, there are four different aspects of culture; the aspects are: material, institutional, philosophical, and creative (Chinyere Ohiri 49-50). In this story, the colonizer commonly goes against the philosophical aspect of the Nigerian culture. With this essay, the philosophical aspect of culture will be defined; the way that the colonizer goes against the ideas of the Igbos; and finally how Achebe shows that he goes against the ways of the colonizers.
When you think of the word “culture” what comes to mind? Many elements can contribute to
Things fall Apart
In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe certain themes are present in the the
novel. Themes like Good and Evil, customs and tradition, and the one I picked Alienation and
Lonliness. The story begins with the main character Okonwko who is the son of Unoka, a lazy
sensitive guy, he has grown up to be very different than his own father. Okonwko is manly,
strong, and is competitive opposed to anyone who is weak.
Change is always hard, it means something is done and something else is beginning. To accept the new, sacrifices have to be made, but there are some, who are not willing to let go of the past. Okonkwo, in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, didn’t want to accept the new faith of the colonizers or bow down to their rules in acceptance. He wanted to fight to reserve the old way of life, preserved and passed down through generations by his clan, which for him was the only possible way to live. However, when Okonkwo came face to face with defeat; realizing that the people whom he believed to be his kinsmen, who would fight for their right to live according to their religion and tradition alongside him, had already accepted the rule of the colonizers, he saw death as the only option to resist the change.
The Importance of Things Fall Apart
The novel "Things Fall Apart", by Chinua Achebe, was an eye-opening account of the life and eventual extinction of an African tribe called the Ibo. It focuses on one character, Okonkwo, who at a very early age set out on a quest of self-perfection. Coming from a family ruled by a man who was lazy and inconsistent with everything he did, Okonkwo vowed to never accept the fate of his father. Okonkwo and his family suffered through many hard times in their lives, but usually managed to come out on top.