A Change Must Come: Leaving Traditions Behind
African culture is centered around community, tradition and the spirit world. One cannot truly understand said culture without understanding these concepts. In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart he focuses on several issues involving the community and the spirit world to expose people to Africa and its culture. Change is good; however, when one is susceptible to or too accepting of change' that they seemingly neglect or reject that which they have been taught, problems arise. The characters Okonkwo and his son Nwoye epitomize this statement. The epigraph gives a somewhat clear view of what is to happen in the story. "Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..."-W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming". Achebe begins …show more content…
Amikwu, the cousin of Okonkwo saw Nwoye among the Christians and went to tell him of his findings. Being so displeased with Nwoye's actions, Okonkwo gripped him by the neck upon his return the obi and threatened to kill him if he didn't answer to the question of where he had been. Okonkwo's uncle told him to leave Nwoye alone and Nwoye left, never to return. It is not until a conversation between Okonkwo and Obierika that we see how things have fallen apart in the Igbo community. After being in exile for seven years and hearing news of what has happened while he was away Okonkwo asks, "...What is it that happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?...We must fight these men and drive them from the land..." Obierika replies that it was too late to act and that their "own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger..."(insert citation) Obierika further goes on to explain how and why things have gone into such
African culture is centered around community, tradition and the spirit world. One cannot truly understand said culture without understanding these concepts. In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart he focuses on several issues involving the community and the spirit world to expose people to Africa and its culture. Change is good; however, when one is susceptible to or too accepting of change' that they seemingly neglect or reject that which they have been taught, problems arise. The characters Okonkwo and his son Nwoye epitomize this statement. The epigraph gives a somewhat clear view of what is to happen in the story. "Turning and turning in the widening gyre the falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..."-W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming". Achebe begins …show more content…
Amikwu, the cousin of Okonkwo saw Nwoye among the Christians and went to tell him of his findings. Being so displeased with Nwoye's actions, Okonkwo gripped him by the neck upon his return the obi and threatened to kill him if he didn't answer to the question of where he had been. Okonkwo's uncle told him to leave Nwoye alone and Nwoye left, never to return. It is not until a conversation between Okonkwo and Obierika that we see how things have fallen apart in the Igbo community. After being in exile for seven years and hearing news of what has happened while he was away Okonkwo asks, "...What is it that happened to our people? Why have they lost the power to fight?...We must fight these men and drive them from the land..." Obierika replies that it was too late to act and that their "own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger..."(insert citation) Obierika further goes on to explain how and why things have gone into such