Things Fall Apart by China Achuebe

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This world can appear to be a very large place when looking at the perspective of the earth on a globe. We notice the many continents and the vast country places, which exist within in it. The blueness of the seas that stretches from one end to the other is overwhelming within itself. It’s an elementary fact that life is prevalent on the dry places on the earth. However, another fact is true. Every society wants to establish its importance along with its reason for living and existing. The people of Umuofia were a people who had a strong belief in their power for oneness. Okonkwo’s people were a society of people who exercised strength and agility. The power of their strength came partly from their cultural beliefs. The clan of Umuofia had established a system that worked for them, and it worked quite well for centuries. They structured their own medicinal system, governmental system and religious system.
A person is called a leader because of the great accomplishments he has achieved in spite of their trials and tribulations. It is generally because of the circumstances an individual survive that causes another individual to call him a leader. “His life had been ruled by a great passion – to become one of the lords of the clan” (Achebe 131). Okonkwo considered himself a survivor and desired to become a leader to the people within his society. “Since I survived that year,” he always said, “ I shall survive anything” (Achebe 24). Okonkwo owned a fierce determination on the inside to be an overcomer and conquer the things others within his village may have believed were impossible for him to achieve. One of Okonkwo’s accomplishments was the wrestling battle between him and another wrestler, known as Amalinze, the Ca...

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...yone who disrespects it. The Europeans and the missionaries were able to tread the land of the Okonkwo’s people with the assistance of their neighboring villages. The missionaries needed an interpreter in order to communicate with Okonkwo’s people. The neighboring villages feared the people of Umuofia. The other villages undoubtedly desired safety and refuge from the people of Umuofia, considering all of the neighboring villages knew about the greatness and strength of Umuofia. Certainly, having a great wrestler, such as Okonkwo, increased anxiety among them. The surrounding villages welcomed the white man, the white man’s church and the white man’s government. It was their aide, which complimented the Europeans agenda to possess the land and the people of Umuofia.

Work Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 50th ed. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. Print.

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