The Thing

Title Cultures have a variety of customs, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe literates the customs of an African tribe well. Currently I am at the part where Okonkwo beat one of his wives during the Week of Peace because she was out getting her hair plaited. The actual violence did not surprise me awfully because females have been oppressed for centuries through a multitude of ways from systemic tyranny to violence. What struck me as fascinating is the fact that a man’s success is…

Umuofia tribe has a lot of pride, although he was not born to a proud and celebrated family. In a community where a man is judged not by his root, but his worth and accomplishment - Nkonkwo is very determined to escape the shadow of his indolent father. Things Fall Apart emphasizes the importance of pride and masculinity in an antiquated community, where its residents are mainly hunters and farmers. Achebe brings the subject of pride to the focus through the life of Nkonkwo, who was born with…

Things Fall Apart is a novel that takes place in the country of Nigeria during the era of colonialism and takes the perspective of the warrior Okonkwo. When the English missionaries come to the lands of the Ibo culture, Okonkwo does not seem to react well to it. He saw how they manipulated his people for their own welfare and transformed the Ibo culture into their own. He tries to help his own people, but they do not listen. Okonkwo becomes the tragic hero of the story by reacting to his culture…

American phenomenon. In fact, for many cultures around the world, there may be a single person or idea that embodies the larger culture. The word for this idea is "microcosm," and one of the best examples occurs in Chinua Achebe 's novel Things Fall Apart. In the book Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo represents a microcosm of the Igbo culture, a culture in crisis. Okonkwo is known as a hero in Igbo society because of his devotion to tradition and religion, his hard work ethic, and his ambition to be…

Okonkwo’s Characterization in Things Fall Apart Things Fall Apart is a novel by Chinua Achebe that tells a story of the Igbo people in the Lower Niger being taken over by Christian missionaries. The main character in the story is Okonkwo. He is characterized by the traditions and culture of the Igbo people. Okonkwo is portrayed as a proud, militant, cruel but caring person. Achebe represents a theme that a character like Okonkwo who is proud and cruel, can also be caring by having the…

subordinate to men. Men are expected to have an active and aggressive personality while women, however, are expected to be subservient and passive. These expectations shape how society is supposed to be and influence the decisions of individuals. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the protagonist, Okonkwo, best fulfils his gender role through his mentality, actions, and ideologies. First of all, Okonkwo demonstrates how to be the ideal man in accordance to the Igbo culture by expressing…

In the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe paints a portrait of Igbo society. However, he does not paint a perfect portrait. In addition, events and characters are carefully weaved by Achebe to criticize certain aspects of pre-colonial Igbo culture. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe uses Okonkwo and Obierika to criticize the pre-colonial Igbo culture aspect of masculinity, Okonkwo to criticize the pre-colonial Igbo culture aspect of sexism, Okonkwo's exile to criticize the pre-colonial Igbo…

One Faith, Two Missionaries THESIS: In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, missionaries Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith display similarity in their strong devotion to Christianity, yet differ in tact when facing Umuofia’s native Ibo religion. Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith are both steadfast in Christianity despite the alternate belief system Umuofians display. To illustrate, in conversation with the respected Umuofian Akunna, Mr. Brown expresses his belief that “‘there are no other gods…Chuckwu is the only…

Colonialism changed the lives of both the colonizers and the natives. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad the readers see colonialism through the eyes of the invaders, and in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the audience sees how the natives feel about their culture being altered. While each of these books tells the story of colonialism, Conrad only shows his readers a racist view that Africans are savages with no culture, but Achebe shows the true nature of the Africans. Marlow, Conrad’s…

versus fate. Any type of conflict can be cataloged as one of the listed conflicts but there is one thing they all have in common: they all have a protagonist and an antagonist entity of some kind. The protagonist is usually a human which of course faces a challenge or turmoil of some kind. The antagonist is the one that usually brings about the conflict and isn't always human, for example it could be…