Things Fall Apart Essays

“Things fall apart when the center cannot longer hold” is a line from Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming” written in 1919. It inspired Chinua Achebe for the title of his novel Things Fall Apart, first published in 1959. Surprisingly, we can also link this line to the atmosphere in the other novel that will be quoted in this essay, The Interpreter published in 2003 and written by Suki Kim. These two novels deal with stories and characters that are extremely different – one follows the Igbo tribe and…

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, greatness is defined by worth- or how much one accomplishes in a lifetime. Okonkwo, the main character, diligently works for everything he earns. His passion to be successful comes from his fear of turning out like his father, Unoka, who died with “no title at all and was heavily in debt” (8). Okonkwo fears the thought of becoming nothing. He keeps this fear with him and uses it as a strength to push himself through every hardship and reach the status his…

says yes, his chi also says yes” (Achebe 27). Things Fall Apart,by Chinua Achebe, is a story set in the Igbo society of Nigeria about a man who struggles with his chi and trying to change his fate. In the Igbo society, chi is seen as a personal god, almost like karma, that helps a person make the right decisions and keeps them safe if they deserve it. Chi plays a crucial role in understanding the deeper meaning of the events in Things Fall Apart, helps to illustrate parts of the Igbo society,…

Societies rise and fall; They destroy and are destroyed. The disadvantage of one may cause the prosperity of another. This leads to an unfortunate way of life, where the winners naturally get to tell the story of their triumphs, and those conquered do not. One example of this would be Britain and Nigeria during the late 1800’s, when missionaries began converting Ibo people to Christianity, forever changing their way of life. Things Fall Apart, a book by Chinua Achebe, covers this tragedy. We see…

spiritually that, "There is no one 'right' way to grow... See what is beautiful in every person's path, in every religion, and in every belief system. Honor other people's paths even if they are different from yours" (Roman). In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, "honoring other people's paths even if they are different from yours" is an important principle which neither culture has. The negative impact that the Christian missionaries had on the villagers illustrated that lacking this idea…

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart 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…

expectations that the people live up to but when they are challenged, cultures collapse. Things Fall Apart illustrates how cultures evolve when new ideas are presented, as seen in the arrival of the British or the “whites” in the novel. Achebe uses Okonkwo's two sons, Nwoye and Ikemefuna, to contrast different viewpoints on popular Igbo traditions such as gender and religious beliefs. In the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe uses Ikemefuna and Nwoye to challenge traditional Igbo…

crushing the bones of the deceased, mixing the crushed bones with other ingredients, and then consuming the bone mixture. While this seems bizarre to us, they may find putting glass ornaments and boxes under a pine tree just as ludicrous. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, traditions are integral to the Igbo people, and they are a central theme. The Igbo people, like the rest of the world, partake in traditions specific to themselves and protect their traditions, just as anybody else would.…

In Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart the main character Okonkwo lives a successful life in the African society despite the many challenges he goes through. Near the end of the book, it tells of white missionaries who came and how they affected all that Okonkwo had worked so hard for. Even though they are not part of the major plotline, gender roles can be found abundantly throughout the book. In Things Fall Apart gender roles are a large part of the function of society, both in the family…

appreciated novel, Things Fall Apart, provides a voice to an ill-treated and unrepresented culture. Things Fall Apart took place in Umuofia in the 1880’s, before and during the first arrival of European missionaries. Weary of reading westerner’s interpretations of how socially backward, illiterate, and uncivilized Africans were, Chinua Achebe wished to reveal a better insight of the Ibo culture and, in doing so, preserve the wellbeing of his continent. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart…