The novel Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, details the life of a Nigerian tribesman named Okonkwo. Things Fall Apart radically challenged Western Ideals of African culture. Achebe’s novel reveals the tribes advanced and intricate way of life. However, as in many cultures, masculinity is prized above all else. Okonkwo is the living embodiment of toxic masculinity as defined by the documentary The Mask You Live In; this costs him a healthy relationship with his son, a honorable death, and happiness. Toxic masculinity is an aspect of almost every culture on Earth. The damaging effects of toxic masculinity are detailed in the in depth documentary, The Mask You Live In. This enlightening documentary reveals how the expectation of stereotypical masculinity takes a toll on young boys and men. This societal pressure encourages boys to disconnect from their emotions, devalue healthy relationships, objectify women, and resolve conflict with aggression, (Newsom, 2015). Okonkwo is the destructive result of a society that …show more content…
His life is falling apart, his son a stain on his manhood, his home invaded by foreign men spreading a strange and destructive religion, his life full of horrific situations caused by his greediness for power. He could not take it anymore and took his own life. The once proud, dominating, and successful warrior now forever marred by his cultures opinion on suicide. The devastation of this is profound in the following quote, “Obierika, who had been gazing steadily at his friend's dangling body, turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: "That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog…" He could not say any more. His voice trembled and choked his words (Achebe, C.1958).” A life of nothing but hard work with nothing in return. His never ending search for some achievable dream of
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a story that opens the reader's mind to an entirely different way of living in a Nigerian village. Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930, perhaps this is why he writes a whole book on a Nigerian village and introduces to us the ways of life for the Nigerian people. From the first page of the book to the last, Achebe allows the reader to enter the mind of the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the leader of his village and is very respected for his many achievements. Although Okonkwo means well for his village, the novel invites the reader to see him has a flawed character who eventually suffers from the consequences of bad "masculine" decisions he makes throughout the book.
Culture makes us who we are. Each individual has their own culture from their experiences in life and is developed from societal influences. The various cultures around the world influence us in different ways which we experience at least once in our lifetime. There are occasions, especially in history, where cultures clash with one another. For instance, the English colonization in Africa changed their culture. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrayed this change in the Igbo people’s society, especially through the character Okonkwo in the village of Umuofia; the introduction of Western ideas challenged him. In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe introduces to us Okonkwo whose character’s response to the
Though many may interpret Okonkwo as a tragic hero are drawn to him, Obierika deserves more sympathy from the reader than Okonkwo. Obierika suffers just as Okonkwo does under the thumb of the missionaries, but he lacks the selfish focus that drives most of Okonkwo’s actions. Ultimately, Obierika’s venerability springs from his ability to see the compromise that will allow the Ibo to find a method for adaptation to the inevitable changes brought by the missionaries.
The Man Behind the Mask in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe The aspects of similarity and difference to today's world, in the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, are fascinating to observe; the cultural beliefs and pressures of a society are very much like today's media's effect on many teenagers and young girls. The story is a journey through the life of a man whose influential past causes him to struggle in building his own future. Okonkwo's father affects his current life and causes him to struggle with certain issues in many ways, for instance Okonkwo tries to be the exact opposite of his father, personality wise and Okonkwo's main solution to this is violence, mostly towards his family. However, Okonkwo's culture helps shape his personality as well. Yet the ending to his life is not as fulfilling as he had hoped for.
Jack Freese 11/4/14 English IV Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe is considered by numerous pundits and instructors to be the most persuasive African author of his era. His compositions, including the novel Things Fall Apart, have acquainted perusers all through the world with innovative employments of dialect and structure, and in addition to verifiable inside records of present day African life and history. Through his abstract commitments as well as through his championing of strong destinations for Nigeria and Africa, Achebe has helped reshape the view of African history, society, and place in world issues. The main novel of Achebe's, Things Fall Apart, is perceived as an issue fantastic and is taught and read all over the place in the English-talking
In Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, it is immediately evident to the reader that Okonkwo, the hero of the story, is obsessed with manliness. His concern manifests itself in almost every chapter. The story begins with an account of his success as a wrestler - a "manly" competition - and ends with his murder of the court messenger, another "manly" act. In every action and every choice he makes, Okonkwo is determined to show that he is masculine. It is powerful irony, then, that the evidence of the novel shows that Okonkwo is actually a latent homosexual.
Due to the lack of masculinity and failure that Okonkwo’s father bestowed upon him, he regularly feels he does not have any value. Okonkwo has developed a mindset that he has to prove his worth by acting in an uncivilized way causing him to be seen as less of a man than Unoka. The rules in Umuofia have been created “to produce actual doers and achievers like Okonkwo,”(Korang 20) designated in creating a society that is ambitious which in reality turns the society to be tempted by the desire to hold power over the other members. Okonkwo is one who is consistently trying to accomplish more than his father did causing him to become a ruthless individual. A place in society where Okonkwo does not want to be is “in another category of second-class citizen in Umuofia.
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.
If viewed on the surface the story line of Things Fall Apart is a tragedy, but when viewed in a wider perspective it is a story of deeper conflict. The main issue is that the British have come to establish a mission and receive converts. Less evident is the conflict this intrusion inserts between the Ibo and British. The underlying issue is masculinity versus femininity. By this I mean to say that the Ibo are an agrarian people who are a patriarchal and see any sign of weakness as being less than desirable. The protagonist in the story, Okonkwo, is the champion of this thought. As what would happen to him seems to happen to the Ibo. When Okonkwo disagrees he is usually correct and the tribe would suffer the same fate and vice versa.
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart explores the struggle between old traditions within the Igbo community as well as Christianity and "the second coming" it brings forth. While on the surface, it appears the novel narrows its focus to a single character, Okonkno and his inner battles, one can read deeper into the text and find an array of assorted conflicts in the realm on human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. society, and society vs. society. For the purposes of this paper I shall focus on the labyrinth of human vs. human and human vs. society in the framework of the role of women in Igbo society and how men assign and dictate these roles. I will also briefly explain the importance of women in terms of motherhood and wifedom.
Wanting to avoid being a failure, just as the villagers are, Okonkwo commits suicide. Here, the irony is undeniably present. To commit suicide is to offend the Earth, as believed by the people of Umuofia. It is said that killing oneself “is an abomination for a man. his body is evil, and only strangers may touch it” (207).
Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart tells the story of the people of an Igbo village in Nigeria. In Igbo society, the traditions and gender roles are strict, and being a woman or viewed as feminine is a negative thing. Okonkwo, the novel’s protagonist, values the traditions of his clan, but is controlled by the fear of being perceived as weak or effeminate. This fear causes Okonkwo to make decisions that are frowned upon by his fellow villagers, creating conflict.
There are constant struggles between gender, identity, commodification, and class. Among the men and women in many African tribes that still exist today, there are divergences, which will always remain intact because of the culture and the way in which they are taught to treat each other. Chinua Achebe wrote the novel, Things Fall Apart, which is a great piece of African literature that deals with the Igbo culture, history, and the taking over of African lands by British colonization. The ongoing gender conflict is a prominent theme in Things Fall Apart, presenting the clash between men and women of the African Igbo society. Throughout history, from the beginning of time to today, women have frequently been viewed as inferior, men’s possessions whose sole purpose was to satisfy the men’s needs.
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story” (Adichie). In Things Fall Apart, a novel by Chinua Achebe, Achebe strives to redefine the stereotypes of the African people by sharing the stories of the Ibo people. The protagonist in the novel is a man named Okonkwo. In many ways, Okonkwo represents the Western stereotypes of African people; the single story.
Throughout history, there have been many instances of people struggling to identify and cope with change and tradition, and this is no different in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart.