The Thing

Christianity and its powers; destroying or guiding? Achebe in Things Fall Apart, illustrates the diversity of religion and how it affects the culture in Umuofia. Religion represents order in both societies, but they are demonstrated and practiced differently. Gods in Umuofia are more frightening because clan members are at mercy due to the natural cycles for their livelihood. The nature of the Igbo beliefs is contradictory to the Christian religion encouraged by the missionaries. The disruption…

The book Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe tells of an Ibo village in Africa and its culture, along with how they are changed after the missionaries from England come to their villages. The missionaries impose their beliefs and religion onto the Ibo people through school and preaching the “right way to live”. The characters followed in this book are Okonkwo, an icon in the Ibo village; Nwoye, Okonkwo’s outsider son; and Obierika, one of Okonkwo’s good friends. This book helps to…

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by being aware of danger. Fear can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing. It can guide people to actions they would never take if they were not fearful. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart” the character Okonkwo was used to show how fear can overpower any other emotion in one’s life, influence him, and completely drive his actions. In the very beginning of the novel Achebe introduced the main character Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected member…

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel that takes place in a time of great conflict in a Nigerian village called Umuofia in the 1800’s. The inhabitants of Umuofia, the Ibo, are a very “tribal” type people whom bring a question to the thought of truly is a civilized society. In Things fall apart , the Ibo culture is depicted by the author Chinua Achebe, as being both civilized and uncivilized based on their primitive tribal ways, yet sophisticated social, civil, and justice system. In the…

Directors often envision works of literature into their own cinematic adaptation. Spike Jones’ 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are is an adaptation of the 1963 children’s picture book Where the Wild Things Are written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Although they are visually similar, the film’s narrative strategy departs from the plot and theme of Sendak’s picture book. The picture book begins with an illustration of a boy wearing a white wolf suit causing trouble at his home. He climbs on…

viewed as uncivilized and primitive. However, Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart depicts a drastically different African culture than those portrayed by early European colonists. Things Fall Apart illustrates the methodical conversion of the Igbo people from traditional values to those of the Christian faith and the ill-fated struggle of a man named Okonkwo to preserve the traditional practices of his culture. Through Things Fall Apart, Achebe counters the common portrayal of Africa as an…

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart examines the culture and daily life of a small village in the Lower Niger. As the story progresses, missionaries from the West try and expand their faith and government to a small village, Umuofia. The daily life of Umuofia revolves around appeasing deities, providing yams for their village and families, and if you are a man, broadcasting your masculinity for the whole World to see. A near perfect embodiment of what Umuofia stands for is Okonkwo, a regional…

Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart is a story of the struggle to adapt to societal views whether on a small or wide scale. This novel follows the story of a man by the name Okonkwo, a character from the Umuofia villages of Africa in the 1890’s. Okonkwo was from a very spiritual tribe that set their expectations high for their leaders. Unlike his father who was under massive debt and was believed to be too feminine, Okonkwo is looked up to in his village as a strong and reliable source. This…

the IGBO community and their religious views. Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart is focused on a man named Okonkwo and his three wives and children and the struggles they faced when a young boy was brought into their home and then killed three years later. Things Fall Apart also focuses on the hardships of getting the elders of the clan to accept different religious coming into their clan and converting people to their beliefs. In Things Fall Apart the author, Chinua Achebe, establishes the theme…

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold” (The Second Coming (1)). This is exactly right in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe. Things do fall apart, and themes have a major role in that. Masculinity, the struggle between change and tradition, and fire are the most significant themes in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe because of the major roles they play in the book, how they relate to other parts of the book, and how they influence and change Okonkwo. The themes used are a major part…