A Long Way Gone Chapter Summary

The concept of the yam harvest season structuring the sense of time in the Umuofia village follows throughout the story until the arrival of the British missionaries to symbolize the loss of culture that has occurred. While the majority of the book mentions yams in one form or another, it begins to stop referencing the crop as the novel comes to a close and more specifically after the arrival of the missionaries. Instead, the text begins to reference days of the week as they are found in British society, such as using phrases such as “on the following Sunday” when referring to the upcoming mass services (Achebe 150). Here, the missionaries have established a structure of time found within British society. In doing so, the missionaries impose their own culture on the culture of Umuofia in a way that silences the latter’s cultural practices. The absence of the presence of yams in the final sections of the …show more content…
Dalloway, Big Ben serves as a symbol for the monolithic presence time has occupied in British society after the First World War, constantly reminding citizens of its importance. In addition to this symbol, the text incorporates interjections about time in the narrative to argue that Britain’s obsession of time and being on time impairs the daily progress of society. The text ultimately presents a showcase of how the fascination of time distracts individuals from their own lives and how the cultural event of the First World War resulted in a much more precise perception of time. Things Fall Apart utilizes the construct of time in order to argue that colonization leads to a loss of culture rather than a flourishing of culture. The gradual decline of mention of the yam harvest season and the adoption of a more British sense of time in the novel indicate the process of colonization. Both Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart assert the idea that how individuals perceive time is directly linked to cultural and historical