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Complex Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

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In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the author teaches us how the Ibo and the British are both uncivilized in their own ways. The Ibo being uncivilized in their technology. While the British are uncivilized in their world view and the way they treat other people. The text states He had and old rusty gun made by a clever blacksmith who came to live in Umofia long ago pg.38. This shows how technologically primitive the people of Umofia are. […]

The Fall of National Identity in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

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The protagonist in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, is Okonkwo he is a man who grew up with little to nothing in his pocket, nothing to inherit but, he made a name for himself. He was the first person to beat the fiercest wrestler in the village, “Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umofia to Mbaino.”(Pg.1) Okonkwo was very strong and helpful to his village, but he was very mean […]

About Westernization in “Things Fall Apart”

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Things Fall Apart”Things Fall Apart” a book written by Chinua Achebe is set in Nigeria in the 1890’s and portrays the clash between Nigeria’s white colonial government and the traditional culture of the native Igbo people. Many of the characters in this book clearly conveyed the effects of westernization at this time. In “Things Fall Apart” Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, was positively impacted by the western culture collision by breaking away from his father and his culture to pursue his dreams. […]

About Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

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Introduction The book Things Fall Apart was written by Chinua Achebe with the aim of depicting a lower tribe in Nigeria. The book is thrilling because it narrates about the Igbo society. Chinua Achebe uses Okonkwo when giving a detailed account of the Igbo society. Okonkwo was a focused man who wanted to avoid the mistakes of his father. Unlike his father who spent all his life accumulating debts, Okonkwo was a focused man who aimed at improving his life. […]

Culture in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

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Just imagine, something or someone that annoys you the most and you were stuck with that thing or person for the rest of your life. That type of situation occurred in the book, Things Fall Apart and the poem “Beat! Beat! Drums!” Things Fall Apart was written by Chinua Achebe and the story sets around the life of Okonkwo, a prominent man living in the village of Umoufia. Then, all of a sudden, newcomers arrive into town that changes the […]

White Missionaries and the Igbo People

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In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the author brings white missionaries into the Igbo people’s land. These missionaries have caused the Igbo people to convert into a new religion and a new government. Therefore Chinua Achebe uses the missionaries to convey the theme that the legacy of colonialism leads to a shattered community. Even though the Igbo people had tried to resist the missionaries’ beliefs, they underestimated the missionaries’ power. This book was published in 1958 and […]

Okonkwo’s Tragedy in the Novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe: Tradition Versus Change

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The voice of the novel in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe portrays a tragic story of the effects of colonialism in a traditional tribe based in lower Nigeria through the point of view of those being colonized. The historical fiction takes place in the late nineteenth century when European missionaries visited the land of Umuofia with their mission being to educate the villages on their European views of education, religion, and technological advances. Upon the missionary’s arrival, the tribe […]

Things Fall Apart Masculinity

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Masculinity has a huge impact on the lives of the Ibo tribe. For instance, Ibo tribes in Africa highly support male masculinity and dominance. From a young age the individuals of the Ibo tribe are molded to understand the concept of male superiority. For anyone who digresses away from this idea, is thought of as weak by the community. In Things Fall Apart, the protagonist’s life, Okonkwo, is derived from his obsession with masculinity and his fear of failure and […]

Things Fall Apart: Character Analysis Okonkwo

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In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo is considered a tragic hero. He is a well-respected man in his thirties who is a leader of his community in Africa during the 1880s. He’s very tall, strong, and well known for his accomplishments in things such as wrestling and farming. Okonkwo is driven by his fear of becoming like his father who is lazy and weak. To keep his reputation tough, he shows almost no emotion other than […]

Colonism in Things Fall Apart

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Nigerian author named, Chinua Achebe, authored a novel which was entitled as Things Fall Apart,’ which was published in the year 1958. The novel was an attempt by the author to present the true image of the African society, through the literature, which has always been depicted as an uncivilized and backward society in the literature of the foreign languages. The author included the story, as well as the transition of a Nigerian tribe from the traditional society to the […]

Masculinity in Societies in Things Fall Apart

Words: 1617 Pages: 5 7854

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold explore the theme of violent masculinity through the actions of major characters such as Okonkwo and the Vicario twins. Achebe’s Okonkwo displays his masculinity by obtaining titles and accomplishments and hiding his emotions. Marquez’s Vicario twins validate their masculinity by murdering the man responsible for dishonoring their sister. While both authors make violent masculinity a core component of their characterization of Okonkwo and the Vicario twins […]

Justice in Things Fall Apart

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Throughout the whole story, Okonkwo’s life was dominated by “the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe, 13). He tried so hard to become better than his father and raise his standings in the village. Spending his whole life doing this, Okonkwo could not let change occur because change meant things would no longer be the same, and all his respect he gained in his village would go to waste. So when the white men came and started disrupting the […]

Sympathy for Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart

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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe takes place in a village near Nigeria around the early 1900s. Throughout the book, Okonkwo is a sympathetic character. He shows love and cares for his family, however is very worried about becoming lazy and soft. This causes him to become somewhat strict and uptight. Deep down Okonkwo is a warm-hearted person but he is just afraid to show it. Okonkwo grew up with an unproductive and irresponsible father and more than anything, Okonkwo […]

Comparative Study on Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart

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Things Fall Apart and Heart of Darkness illustrate the various ways of representing Africa in the form of literature. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad presents Africa through the perspective of colonization by the Europeans who depict the African continent as savages, uncivilized, and underdeveloped. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, on the other hand, tend to respond to Conrad’s perception of Africa by portraying the native Africans as focused, cultured, and productive. Through Okonkwo, Achebe depicts Africans as proud […]

What is Gender Roles in Things Fall Apart

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Extreme traditional gender roles may begin to dictate an entire society; how they function, how they set their laws and rules, how they punish, and so forth. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the author explores the idea of toxic masculinity. Throughout the entire novel, Okonkwo the main protagonist dedicates himself to being as masculine as possible, and through his rise to become a powerful man of his tribe, he subsequently falls both within the tribe and actually ends […]

A Cultural Note on Okonkwo’s Suicide in Things Fall Apart

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In the novel Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is willing to break the prohibition against suicide because he lost all hope when he realizes Umuofia will not support going to war with the missionaries. The statement that Okonkwo is making by committing suicide in the manner that he does is that he’d rather die on his own terms than being ruled by white men and submitting to their culture. One of the themes of Things Fall Apart is change. In the […]

Okonkwo is the Legend of the Novel Things Fall Apart

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Things fall apart is a disaster novel formed by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo, who is the legend of the novel and a champion among the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe routinely falls back on violence to make his centers appreciated. Down in his heart, Okonkwo is genuinely not a savage man, anyway his life is directed by his inside conflict, the fear of dissatisfaction and of inadequacy. Okonkwo made it a point in his life to isolate himself from […]

Imperialism in “Heart of Darkness” and “Things Fall Apart”

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Throughout the novels, Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, both illustrate the complexity and the morality surrounding imperialism, which struck the continent of Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. By comparing and contrasting the two different perspectives on the effects of imperialism shown in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, the authors’ messages correspond to the overarching message of the evils of imperialism, yet the little action that could be done to end it. In […]

Religion and Ideology in Things Fall Apart

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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe begins by introducing the main character of this story, Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a strong and wealthy warrior of the Umofia clan. He was well respected because he was the ideal man of their tribe, in that he was extremely masculine and an extraordinary wrestler. However, he was ignorant when it came to verbal communication. Achebe states, “He was tall and huge, and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a severe look…He had […]

The Dark Heart Criticism

Words: 955 Pages: 3 4730

African Landscapes Africa’s image “The Dark of the Heart” says “The Territory of its African image is considered to be a complete human being.” The main criticism of Achebe is the blasphemy and blasphemy of Konrad’s blacks Achebe Konrad ” African Americans denied their words and said they were condemned to their own mouths of blasphemy. “After the reading of the African heart’s heart and African image, Konrad” considered “discrimination against bloody race” which has not been taken into account […]

Become Gendered in “Things Fall Apart”

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The book Things Fall Apart is a fiction novel written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. The story documented the pre- and post-colonial life in Nigeria between the characters like Okonkwo, Nwoye, Ezinma and etc including their internal feeling, before and after the arrival of the colonist. In the story, Achebe revealed many traditions of the Igbo culture such as how the gender roles between men and women are very prominent in this culture. In fact, their lives were gendered because […]

The Perception of the Igbo Religion in Things Fall Apart

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In Things Fall Apart, the perception of the Igbo religion, dialogue, language, cultural values, and importance of reputation is captured to be one that only lives in a time of the nineteenth century and the place that would soon be reconstructed and would embrace change. Furthermore, the novel by Chinua Achebe reveals the universal truth that people want their culture and religion to be respected by others. As well as revealing that regardless of time and place, society wants to […]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Words: 1383 Pages: 5 4140

The fun secret behind my advisory’s Christmas Door Decorating Contest is that the cartoons were vague enough for people to make assumptions. For example, one illustration that received the most diverse array of responses was one in which Santa Claus was dressed in a burglar outfit, standing behind the door with a bag full of presents in an attempt to hide from a police officer. Because creating these by hand were time-consuming, our illustrators decided to only color the statement […]

During Decades, Females have been Victims of Sexism

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“During decades, females have been victims of sexism. Although many reforms have been placed and many movements have been performed to help this situation, many countries still exercise indirect or direct sexism. Direct sexism, referred as “Sexism A” by Kate Smurthwaite in New Internationalist, is the most common type of female margination and is mostly exercised today in the countries of the Middle Eastern and African culture(2016). The ideals of this perception are based directly on demining a gender, in […]

Things Fall Apart Dehumanization by Matthew Register

Words: 2008 Pages: 7 4633

Achebe throughout the past has expressed his beliefs on what works of art should do if they should be considered great works, and heart of darkness fails his test by “dehumanized” and “depersonalized” Africa and its people, how Things fall apart properly describes and depicts Africans and how damaging heart of darkness truly was. Achebe has stated in the past that “the question of whether a novel which celebrates… dehumanization, which depersonalized a portion of the human race, can be […]

Author’s Style in Things Fall Apart and Lord of the Flies

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The writing in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, is different than what I normally read. I think this has to do with the proverbs that are used. Achebe uses lyrical and visual language through the use of proverbs and short stories to provide a photographic view of the Ibo’s culture. “Yam, the king of crops, was a very exacting king. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from the cock-crow till the chickens went […]

The European as a Savior of Native Africans

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Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness remains as one of the greatest works in English literature. The novel has received many reviews since it was published with some praising it while others are criticizing. One of the critical reviews was written by Chinua Achebe in his book Things Fall Apart. Achebe argued that Conrad is a racist after depicting the African culture negatively. The author of the Heart of Darkness stresses that the western religion is better in civilizing the Africans […]

Novels Kanthapura and Things Fall Apart

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Raja Rao and Chinua Achebe through the depiction of the respective philosophies in their novels Kanthapura and Things Fall Apart brings out the perception of social, cultural and traditional aspects of Nigerian village Umuofia and Indian village of Kanthapura. Moreover, both the authors through these philosophies put light on the issue of colonization which the African natives and Indian natives suffered at the hands of white missionaries and Britishers. Rao who was an ardent follower of Mahatma Gandhi, paid respect […]

Collision in Conrad’s and Achebe’s Novels

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In Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart, Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe employ characters caught between colliding cultures which can be seen through the use of literary techniques such as symbolism and imagery, ultimately revealing the theme of culture and traditions. The authors Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe have main characters that live in different continents, but experience similar cultural collisions. Although Marlow and Okonkwo have different lifestyles, they are led to question their identities and make decisions that […]

Extremes in Literature and Real Life: why Moderation is a Good Idea

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The key to a healthy lifestyle is to enjoy things in moderation because an abundance of anything could be detrimental to one’s health. This applies to everything in life, from french fries to philosophy. As the popular idiom goes, you can have too much of a good thing, and this is illustrated in Pangloss and Candide’s optimism in Candide, Okonkwo’s drive-in Things Fall Apart, and modern Islamic extremism. Optimism is generally thought of as a good character trait, as it […]

About Chinua Achebe
Born :	November 16, 1930, Ogidi, Nigeria
Died :	March 21, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse :	Christiana Chinwe Okoli (m. 1961–2013)
Awards :	International Booker Prize
Children :	Nwando Achebe, Chidi Chike Achebe, Ikechukwu Achebe, Chinelo Achebe
Parents :	Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam Achebe, Isaiah Okafo Achebe

About Chinua Achebe
Born :	November 16, 1930, Ogidi, Nigeria
Died :	March 21, 2013, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Spouse :	Christiana Chinwe Okoli (m. 1961–2013)
Awards :	International Booker Prize
Children :	Nwando Achebe, Chidi Chike Achebe, Ikechukwu Achebe, Chinelo Achebe
Parents :	Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam Achebe, Isaiah Okafo Achebe

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