Chinua Achebe explores the idea of the impact of foreign cultures and religions on the Igbo customs along with the deterioration of their religion and culture in his novel, Things Fall Apart. Using literary elements such as symbolism, personification, and imagery.
Throughout the novel, the Igbo culture uses many symbols for items to represent sacred beings in their culture. After analyzing the book over again, it’s prevalent Achebe included symbols relevant to both the theme and the tribal culture; “The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement.” (Achebe, 44). In this quotation, the drum represents the thriving of the Igbo culture. As it says above ‘Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart.’ in which is also a simile, the drum beat is compared to the heartbeat of the village and its culture. Many times the drums are mentioned in the beginning of the story, and still they represent the livelihood of the clan, but once the European Christian Missionaries are introduced into the novel, the drums do not appear. This is most likely because the Christian Missionaries convert the Igbo peoples native ideas to ones …show more content…
It has come to my attention that Achebe uses personification in order to idealize the corruption of the tribe. As seen in the novel, “It seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming- its own death.” (Achebe, 187). This personification is very literal in that the end the tribe does indeed fade away due to spread of the Christian religion. Though it seemed that in a subconscious way the whole village knew it was
Throughout the novel, the Igbo culture uses many symbols for items to represent sacred beings in their culture. After analyzing the book over again, it’s prevalent Achebe included symbols relevant to both the theme and the tribal culture; “The drums were still beating, persistent and unchanging. Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart. It throbbed in the air, in the sunshine, and even in the trees, and filled the village with excitement.” (Achebe, 44). In this quotation, the drum represents the thriving of the Igbo culture. As it says above ‘Their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village. It was like the pulsation of its heart.’ in which is also a simile, the drum beat is compared to the heartbeat of the village and its culture. Many times the drums are mentioned in the beginning of the story, and still they represent the livelihood of the clan, but once the European Christian Missionaries are introduced into the novel, the drums do not appear. This is most likely because the Christian Missionaries convert the Igbo peoples native ideas to ones …show more content…
It has come to my attention that Achebe uses personification in order to idealize the corruption of the tribe. As seen in the novel, “It seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming- its own death.” (Achebe, 187). This personification is very literal in that the end the tribe does indeed fade away due to spread of the Christian religion. Though it seemed that in a subconscious way the whole village knew it was