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.
Gender is a theme of this story because men and
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The gender role of the women was to be submissive towards their husband. In chapter four one of the things that occurred was Okonkwo beat one of his wife named Ojiugo when she did not follow his order, which was to return to their home on time to cook the afternoon meal. Okonkwo beating one of his wives shows that men have more power than the women in Umuofia. Women bear children for this husband. In the story Okonkwo’s wives bear children for him. Women play role of doing story telling with their children. “Low voices, broken now and again by singing, reached Okonkwo from his wives’ huts as each woman and her children told folk stories. Ekwefi and her daughter, Ezinma, sat on a mat on the floor. It was Ekwefl’s turn to tell a story,” (Chapter eleven, page …show more content…
It is the law of our fathers. I also kill a cock at the shrine of Ifejioku, the god of yams,” (Chapter three, page 11). The people of Umuofia also believe that when a person suffers from a sickness this was consider to be an abomination. People that died from sickness were thrown in the Evil Forest because it was an abomination to the earth goddess to bury someone in the earth. Unoka was an ill-fated man. He had a bad chi or personal god, and evil fortune followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he had no grave. He died of the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the limbs he was not allowed to die in the house. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die,” (Chapter three, page 11). The transition of Umuofia’s traditional religion to Christianity began in chapter fifteen of the story. In the story a group of European missionaries introduce Christianity to the people of Umuofia. Many people from Umuofia convert to Christianity. One of the people that convert to become a Christian was Nwoye. The European missionaries also were harsh towards the people of Umoufia. They disrespect their traditional religion. “Your gods are not alive
These Ibo people are already afraid of the British due to them killing the Abame tribe, but now they are coming into their other villages and say that "their buttocks" are going to build some building so they can worship a God they have. To top it off one of the new Christians, Enoch, taunts the egwugwu, or spirits. Even if someone doesn't believe the same as another they should not make fun of their beliefs. Enoch knocks off one of the egwugwu's masks off essentially killing the "spirit". This fear of the British increased, because now one of their own has killed a "spirit" that could possibly enable a curse on them or crop. "Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit, and Umuofia was thrown into confusion."(186) After all this rage against the British has already happened on of the Ibo's own people has caused Umuofia into fear and
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
Throughout the book Things Fall Apart, three main topics help Achebe get his argument across to the reader. First, Okonkwo’s rough relationship with his family. Evidence from the book support that Okonkwo did abuse his wives and children. Whether this was acceptable or not at the time, the result of his actions led to major distrust within Okonkwo’s compound. In addition, Ogbuefi Ezeudu cautions Okonkwo about Ikemefuna through his interpretation of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Ogbuefi Ezeudu talks with Okonkwo the night before he was planning to kill Ikemefuna, explaining that what he is doing is wrong. Yet again, Okonkwo’s paranoia gets the best of him. This event fueled the fire for Nwoye’s distrust for Okonkwo, as well as his wives. Achebe’s third argument conveys that the spread of Christianity throughout the region and Okonkwo’s fear of change led him to hang himself. Nwoye was drawn to the new religion almost as soon as it arrived in the Ibo villages. However, he knew that his father was refusing to accept it. Thus, Nwoye moved back to Umofia to enroll in the Christian school set up by Mr. Kiaga. Okonkwo was also supporting the mob that burned down the first church, in efforts to drive the Christians away from Mbanta. Though proven unsuccessful, Okonkwo shot and killed one of their messengers. This allows the reader to infer
The men that come to Umuofia destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa. People in Umuofia depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. It is their tradition and their beginning, from which they govern their lives. Even the priestess that serves the god Agbala, "...was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (16). Without the stronghold of customs and traditions, only chaos exists. Peace, trust, and knowledge are thrown off when the new religion of Christianity is introduced. When the missionary explains that:
Chesapeake society was unique in more ways than one. For example, for men and women to marry more than once in their lifetime was very common(Berkin, 5). This being said, women married at a very young age and usually pregnant every two years. Some men seemed to be lucky to have a wife because the male to women ratio was six to one. Most women 's lives consisted of bearing a child, working in the fields with the men, or often times both. The social norm in this time was that women did tasks similar to men in the fields while also tending to a child and taking care of the household. Tending to household tasks was especially hard due to the lack of basic household tools. This made kitchen duties much more time consuming. “The tasks of childbearing and household and fieldwork were the primary
William James, a famous American philosopher, once stated, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives”. This quotation effectively illustrates how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives. This concept is clearly demonstrated throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, by establishing a connection through the development of its characters and the change in traditional African tribal villages seen in the Nineteenth Century. It will be established how various characters demonstrated by the author throughout the novel exemplify how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives addressed by William James’s quote above. First, by analyzing Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s character through his initial character description and the emergence of outsiders, it is evident that he is portrayed as an old fashioned character that is less responsive to change. Secondly, through examining Nwoye’s character, Okonkwo’s son, it becomes apparent that the youth in the novel are more open-minded, easily persuadable and more adaptive to societal changes. Lastly, uncovering the meaning behind the arrival of European missionaries, it becomes apparent that Achebe defines this group as being a “disease”, poisoning the society in which Okonkwo lives. The author look’s at individuals as being critical and influential figures in shaping the environment to which they belong, beginning with Okonkwo.
Throughout the story, Franklin gives examples of many different jobs that were available in colonies. Even though, he mainly talks about jobs in the press, we can also identify jobs like smiths, scriveners, clerks and many more. Nevertheless, we always see that these jobs are carried out by men. It is men and always men that form part of a business or that work in something. It was men's role to be outside of the house doing a job while women stayed and took care of the children; something that certainly society never identified as a job. This shows us how this early American society had clearly established what roles men and women were going to
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
children. If these duties were not taken care of, the women of Umoufia could be beaten. The Ibo tribe
Almost every civilizat in the world was at one time colonized by another civilization with differing cultural beliefs. this is just the case in the Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart. were the Umuofia tribe in niger has being colonized by the british empire. which leds to the members of their tribe to either decide to learn to give into the brits and leave there way of life and accept the new christian teachings or have to fight to uphold their way of life that has kept order and peace in the village. by the end of the book many of the natives start rethinking their culture and join the christian church but the main character named Okonkwo all he is know is to work hard and slowly work his way up the umuofia's social ladder but it is now threatened by the the new christians teachings. at the end of the book okonkwo instead of fighting and knowing he will be unsuccessful he decides to kill himself because no matter how strong he is he knows that his fate was either kill himself or have all of his hard work to be
The Umuofia people valued manhood of which Unoka knew nothing about. His characteristics were frowned upon in this culture. Unoka was known as ‘agbala’ which was a term used to often describe a woman but in this case symbolized a man who took no title. Men were respected for being warriors and leaders. Unoka was a borrower of money who could never keep money nor return it. He was also a coward who feared the sight of blood. Unoka even failed at the most basic of responsibilities which was to provide for his family. It may be considered that he was born at a time that was not suitable for his
It is common knowledge that Africa has always been represented as a continent that is full of wild savages. It is perceived as fact that the people within this continent are running around with spears and live in small huts. The people who actually believe this are ignorant to the truth that Africa is a very large continent. It has many different cultures that deserve to be respected in their own right. These different cultures have their own laws, their own religion, and their own art. In Things Fall Apart, Umuofia is explained extensively. The whole first half of the novel goes into great detail of all that makes the culture so great. These people have a well developed religion, rules that they all follow, and even their own justice system. These people are very civilized in their own individual way. The disconnect comes in when, even though they have all the same elements as western civilization, they are are so different that those difference are considered unworthy. In the novel, the missionaries that visit Umuofia constantly ignore the people’s custom and consider those customs savage. One of the missionaries blatantly makes this clear when discussing their religion and says, “that they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone” (Achebe 145). From the outside, yes, it does look like all these people worship inanimate objects. What Achebe tries so hard to show is that the religion that the people of Umuofia followed is way more complicated than that. Their religion, along with their whole culture, is very complex and needs half a book to just scrape the top layer of it. Many of their beliefs even mirror many early Christian ideas. These people pray to their ancestors who will in return talk to the Gods they worship. This is parallel to how Catholics pray to saints as an indirect way to speak to God. The core of
In the book “Things Fall Apart”, evidence of a social structure was apparent within the Igbo community. This rigid social structure served as a purpose to balance the life of the people within the society, as well as promoting the downfall of the clan. The social structure was important in keeping a centralized society and preventing any sign of corruption within their clan. The social structure had advantages in keeping a balanced and equal society, supporting a division of labor, providing a surplus of food, individual huts, a communal society, and the development of some kind of government. In contrast, this social structure led others to reject to cooperate with the new religion and aided the lack of unity among the people. It also promoted a more patriarchal society, the inferior rank of women, and the lack of strong bonds between family members.
Upon an initial reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it is easy to blame the demise of Okonkwo’s life and of the Umofia community on the imperialistic invasions of the white men. After all, Okonkwo seemed to be enjoying relative peace and happiness before then. He did have a few mishaps; one of them resulted in him being exiled for eight years. Nonetheless, he returned to his home town with high spirits and with prospects of increased success. However, everything has changed. The white men have brought with them a new religion and a new government. Okonkwo’s family falls apart. The men in his village lose their courage and valor; they do not offer any resistance to the white men. Consequently, Okonkwo kills himself in disgrace and Umofia succumbs to the white men. However, the white men are not the only people responsible for demise of Umofia. The Igbo culture, particularly their views on gender roles, sows the seed of their own destruction. By glorifying aggressive, manly traits and ignoring the gentle, womanly traits, Umofia brings about its own falling apart.
A small village in Nigeria, devoted to the sacred customs inherited over many years, dramatically revolutionizes as the white men from Europe invade Umuofia. Umuofia consists of a religion called Igbo, that the people in the community dote towards. Okonkwo, a man of leadership in Umuofia, apprehends the strife the white men bear. Hardship after hardship, Okonkwo subsists to the challenging transformation of his village. Chinua Achebe suggests that the missionaries promoting Christianity in his novel, Things Fall Apart, guides the Igbo society by providing refuge to the outcasts and bringing wealth to the village, but also destroys the society by decimating community.