Things Fall Apart Essays

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, government is used by the British to control the Ibo in times of conflict between the two groups. The British and Ibo are both affected by government and try to use it when the other culture does something offensive to them, as they would not punish themselves for the wrongdoings to an outsider. Achebe uses the government to effectively show how two cultures clash when put together, and without talking and trying to understand each other like what Mr. Brown…

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's confidence is changed from a strong, confident fighter to a poor hopeless man who knows he's alone within his tribe. Okonkwo is motivated by the fact that he will never be like his useless father. When he was old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters ... And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” p(25). Okonkwo works hard to overpower any signs of weakness. He is afraid…

Achebe states that in her ordinary life she “was a widow with two children” (Achebe 49). It is very interesting that he specifically refers to them in a way that would make the reader think of two very separate people. It shows the way the people of the Ibo culture think about the roles of women. They have normal everyday lives similar to the women of Heart of darkness but there are also specific roles that seem to be specific to women only, which have great importance to their culture. In Ibo…

Okonkwo’s life was dominated by fear. He feared to become a failure like his father. He feared that his oldest son would become a failure like his father. Because of this fear, he wanted to be an important man. He had three wives, enough yam fields and was one of the leaders of his clan. Unlucky, he accidently killed someone of his clan and was banned for seven years. In this seven years Umuofia changed a lot. Whites from the West had come to the clan to spread the Christian religion. After some…

Chinua Achebe 's "Things Fall Apart", focuses on a man 's challenges, while living in Nigeria during precolonial times. Okonkwo lives in Umuofia, a farming community. The community bears strict rules and carries on generations old The society imposes great gender roles on the villagers. The men were valued by how much land he owns and how many wives he 's married. The people abide by beliefs and laws, which affects their everyday choices. The actions that one take will either cause a positive or…

When something begins to slip away from people, they tend to hold on tighter or simply let it go entirely. In the Ibo society this is apparent. The main character in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo, is attempting to hold on to his traditional ways, Nwoye, his son, struggles with meeting his father’s expectations as well as the community’s expectation for gender roles and religious practices. While Nwoye struggles with following traditional practices he decides to leave his original…

In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, Achebe’s main character, Okonkwo, is the most affected by the changes the Christians brought. He starts the novel as a strong, tenacious, and influential man but he becomes a dissipated man who would rather kill himself and commit an “offense against the earth” than to watch the white people ruin his Ibo culture (Achebe 207). Before the Christians came, Okonkwo is a very successful leader of the Ibo society. He does everything in his power to not be…

Quite often it is the traditional culture within a community that establishes the ideals that individuals are prompted to follow. Within the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the Igbo culture is a primary influence setting boundaries that define masculine and feminine roles in the clan of Umuofia. The actions carried out by men and women in the Igbo culture are crucial for defying the level of gender orientation one has, ultimately determining their position and importance in society.…

A leader can be defined as someone who takes initiative or as someone who can be followed by others. Every leader rules and holds himself differently and they all have different causes for the way that they lead.In Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart,” Okonkwo is shown as a person who people follow, even though he constantly makes wrong decisions. His choices are led by the fear of being thought of as similar to his father and the fear of being known as weak. Okonkwo’s biggest fear was ending up like…

In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo, a self-indulgent individual in respect and authority to his clan, Umoufia is conflicted with a reoccurring outside western influence that poses as a threat against the normality of the custom-based society established within Umoufia in which psychologically effects his consciousness empowered over his fear of weakness; however, Okonkwo’s sense of identity before encountering western influence is to meet the expectations and customs…