Thing

The Kola Nut: A Highly Respected Nut In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the kola nut is a large part of tradition and respect. The kola nut is highly valued due to the fact that most Nigerian tribes believe that the kola nut tree was the first tree on the earth (Barron 1).The kola nut is used to welcome guests into one’s home. The kola nut is mainly grown in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Brazil (Onyioha 2). When guests come over to one’s home, the host is to present anywhere…

Comes up to the missionary saying that “he would not do any harm to him if he were to just go back to his house and leave us alone… but this shrine which he built must be destroyed. We shall no longer allow it in our midst. I t has bred untold abominations and we have to come to put an end to it.” (Achebe, 176) This is showing that the people judged and disliked the white men pretty much because of the past and what has happened. In though Mr. Brown seem to start to build some…

Some authors use re-storying as a technique to offer a balanced perspective of a certain event or time period. Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” provides an alternative narrative for post-colonialism in opposition to Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” Conrad’s book is primarily characterized by bold racist analogies and by explicating the evils of Africa. By writing “Things Fall Apart” through a different perspective, Achebe gives an opposite bias and message. Achebe acknowledges Conrad’s…

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…

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is written in English so that Achebe can carry out the beliefs and experiences of his African culture. Even though the book, Things Fall Apart is written in English, Achebe used vocabulary that is spoken in his country to make the book more Africanized. Chinua Achebe’s first pronouncement stated, “Here then is an adequate revolution for me to espouse- to help my society regain belief in itself and put away the complexes of the years of denigration and…

Suicide is never an easy topic to talk about. In Things Fall apart written by Chinua Achebe, suicide came as a surprise toward the end of the novel. Everyone may have theories about why they think he killed himself, but there was never a clear reason why Okonkwo did such a thing. There were many contributing factors events that had led up to his suicide, after he came back from his exile is when everything started to get out of control. Okonkwo’s perception on his own masculinity started to…

Who are you? Who am I? These are the questions we would ask ourselves and people around us if we were betrayed by our culture. Chinua Achebe’s novel titled Things Fall Apart explains Ibo culture’s story on the precipice of revolution. Achebe depicts the cultural collision of the Igbo traditions and ways of life and the winds of change that are introduced by British missionaries as they settle into their region. Within this realm of complexity and uneasiness among the Ibo tribe who approach these…

There cannot be change without someone fighting to keep things the same. In 1890’s Nigeria some members of the Ibo clan embrace this new change, while others, like the protagonist Okonkwo, sternly believe in the old ways of the clan. This is the setting for Chinua Achebe’s greatest novel, Things Fall Apart. One theme of this book is violence. Violence is shown to prove Okonkwo’s strength and dominance of the Ibo clan, but Okonkwo cannot defeat fate. Okonkwo has an excessive fear of being…

In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, a story about the culture on the verge of change as the Europeans came and took away the beliefs of the Igbos. Achebe describes the different reactions of the villagers as some were excited for the new opportunities the missionaries brought and the others that feared the loss of social status and traditions. The European influence threatens to eliminate the traditions that were crucial to life. The story deals with the character Okonkwo and how the change…

hero never needs to be recognized other than by themselves. My type of hero is having their story told in a book written by someone else, not doing all they can for shiny capes and seeing their faces on the news. Othello from Othello and Okonkwo from Things Fall Apart are tragic heroes. The definition of tragic heroes is those who have a fatal flaw that leads to a downfall, have high social rank, face harsh punishment, and are there to teach a lesson. The characters Okonkwo and Othello fall…