Things Fall Apart: Theme Analysis The definition of theme is a component of a story that combines together several other necessary elements of a narrative. It is a fact that displays universality and is accurate for people of all cultures. Theme provides readers better understanding of the main character’s struggles, experiences, sightings and feelings as they are derived from them. A writer tries to give his readers an insight into how the world works or how he or she views human life, through themes. An important theme in Things Fall Apart is the struggle between change and tradition. In the novel many of the characters deal with change and it affects them throughout the plot. There is tension about if change is more important tradition …show more content…
Okonkwo’s relationship with his late father is the reason he is so violent and ambitious. He wants to be better than his father’s legacy of his reckless lifestyle, implausible behavior, which he views as weak and feminine. Okonkwo’s idea of being manly is different than the clan’s. Okonkwo thinks being manly is aggression and that anger is the only emotion he should display in the public. This is the reason why he commits domestic abuse on his wives, threatening to kill them from time to time, and we see him act rashly and impetuously. Another example of Okonkwo trying to act vicious in front of his peers is when he volunteers to join a party that will kill his son; not only does Okonkwo kill the son but he pugnaciously stabs him with his machete due to the fright of being considered frail. When Okonkwo goes on a seven-year exile from his settlement it only proves the point that men are stronger than women. In the exile, he lives among the kinsmen of his homeland but hates the time entirely. The exile is his chance to get in touch with his feminine side and recognize his parental ancestors, but he reminds himself that his maternal kinsmen are not belligerent and brutal as he recalls from the villagers of Umofia to be. Okonkwo faults them for their fondness of negotiation, compliance, and evading over anger and bloodshed. From Okonkwo’s point of view his uncle Uchendu is in a pacifist and feminine …show more content…
Achebe illustrates that Africa is not the inexplicable continent that books like Heart of Darkness makes it seem like it is. Achebe puts Igbo words in the novel, and displays that the Igbo language is too challenging for direct interpretation into English. Igbo culture can’t be understood within the agenda of European colonist values. Achebe also says that Africa has many different languages. For example the villagers of Umofia make fun of Mr. Brown’s translator because his language is marginally different from their own. Achebe writing the novel in English means it was intended for people in highly developed countries like in the West to read it more than his fellow Nigerians. Achebe claims his goal was to change the image of Africa that was drawn by so many authors during the Colonial Period. This could only be done by writing the novel in English, the first language of most of the writers in the West. This is similar to the article we read in class and how Achebe felt disrespected by Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe included the measures, structures. Cadences, and loveliness of the Igbo
The novel "Thing's fall apart" by Chinua Achebe is a complex work that masterfully establishes and develops characters through their experience with cultural collision. The way that Achebe accomplishes carefully weaving his implicit claim throughout the work is such a beautiful subtlety that it deserves to be analyzed. The Igbo's pride is constantly challenged by the colonizers as they gain increasingly more power in Africa. The idea of pride is constantly developed throughout the thoughts and actions of the novels protagonist Okonkwo. His response to the colonizers is influenced by his own views on pride and is used by Achebe to illustrate his own opinion on pride.
In emphasis, Achebe wrote this novel in response to the literature of the time that illustrated Africans as savages. Achebe shows the complexity of Igbo society by showing the intricate nature of society because of the pressures put on people in the
Prompt 2 Okonkwo is driven by his hatred of his father and the fear he will become like him. Okonkwo saw his father, Unoka, as a coward and is ashamed to be his son. Everything that Okonkwo does is meant to set him apart from the legacy of his father. First, this is evident in his beating of his wives and even his aggression with his children. He is trying to show his strength and ensure he is not portrayed to be like his father: powerless and incapable.
The reason being is because Achebe is trying to divert from a Westernized perspective and instead go for an Africanized perspective to show more authenticity and reality. Also, by doing this, Achebe shows his opposition on the way the West views Africans, in particular in the novel “Things Fall Apart” where European colonialist used derogatory terms to describe the Igbo and glorify their actions of conquest and conversion of
Gradually throughout the novel, it became more noticeable that “ his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.” (pg13 Achebe) His obsession with his hate towards his father became more than just hate. Fear drove him to insanity. It is important to note that Okonkwo saw emotion as weak.
The tripartite novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, published in 1958 focuses on the changes taking place in Nigeria, as a result of colonization during the 20th century. Chinua Achebe’s pragmatics when writing the novel focused on changing the perspective of Western readers with regard to African society. He mainly wanted to falsify the assertions in books such as “Heart of Darkness” which he claimed gave people of African descent a dull personality. Social status is one of the novels’ main themes. Chinua Achebe successfully incorporates the importance of social status, giving readers the impression that for the Ibo society, social structure consists mainly of a hierarchy of both skill and strength.
In the book “Things Fall Apart“ Okonkwo is a very strong man and from time to time he starts showing his true self. He has a lot of responsibilities and other things he has to do around the living environment and interact with lots of people. Okonkwo changes from being that strong man, to a man who feels like his tribe is not with him when he wants to go to war with the missionaries. For someone like Okonkwo a lot of people looks up to him and while in the tribe Okonkwo beats his wives and children. Not good behavior for someone who is supposedly looked at as strong.
The hatred that he had for his father he carried with him throughout his whole life. That hatred turned into him killing Ikemefuna and the messenger. Ikemefuna was thought of as a son and he killed him in fear of being considered weak in front of his clan members. That weakness was thought of his weakness which was considered a failure. At the end of the story Okonkwo ends up being just like his father which is ironic because he strived to be nothing like him.
In the book ”Things fall apart”, Chinua Achebe takes us on a thrilling, but sad adventure. We get to follow Okonkwo’s strife to gain more power over his people, and how colonization affected the Igbo society, located in modern day Nigeria. Achebe gives us the feeling that the fall was all the white mans fault, but was this really the only factor? Was the Igbo society doomed to fail even at it’s start? Power is a dangerous thing, and one of the main reasons for the Ibgo society’s disintegration.
Okonkwo was a big supporter of physical and verbal abuse in his home, especially towards his wives and Nwoye. To Okonkwo, physical abuse was another language. This is how he spoke, and punished, on the occasion of the abuse, and how he had handled the situation. Women was treated poorly in Umuofia because men believe that they were weak and in inadequate. “ Even as a little boy Okonkwo had represented his father 's failure and weakness, and even now he still remembered how he had suffered when a playmate had told him that his father was Agbala.
We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” In which achebe’s purpose was to condemn the white colonists for altering the Igbo culture, religion, "Igbo." - Introduction, Location,
Okonkwo becomes like this because of his father. His father was lazy and dies a dishonorable death and leaves nothing for his family. Okonkwo fears becoming like his father, an agbala. The effect of this is beneficial for Okonkwo. The way he turns out makes him a great man and because of this, he obtains the third highest title in his tribe.
Okonkwo is a very well-respected and independent man in Umuofia due to his titles and hard work. Even though he seems put together and stern, his life is dictated by fear. His fear of becoming like his father led him to helping in the murder of Ikemefuna, beating his wives and children, and disowning his oldest son, Nwoye. As a main character, Okonkwo remains pretty much the same throughout the book, his biggest issue being his inability to have compassion. Who might he not have compassion for and why?
As ruler, Okonkwo becomes a controlling figure to his family where he puts his reign of power to negative use. Over time, Okonkwo becomes so abusive that he even violates the Week of Peace since he began to beat his wife Ojiugo for forgetting to do certain tasks. After this deed, Okonkwo not only broke his villages tradition, but also implies that he is above the rules. As a ruler,
A tradition is an important set of beliefs being circulated from one generation to another or even the act of it being inherited through one’s acts, thoughts and behaviour. There are importances towards the idea of practicing one’s traditions; throughout the novel, Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe, uses the Ibo culture as a way of depicting their traditions. Traditions are also a major part of my life because it shows special significances towards origins of the past. Holidays mean a lot to my family, they help reunite us with family members we have not seen in a while and also it helps build endless memories.