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Chinua Achebe Symbolism Analysis

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Chinua Achebe uses symbols to convey a deeper meaning, which are represented by a specific implication that is defined by the context which they are used in. Achebe uses yams to symbolize the wealth, the rank of a man's place in society, and masculinity. The numbers of yams that a man grows declares his wealth and where he is ranked in society. If a man cannot harvest yams then he is not a man, because he is incapable of growing a crop that is made for man, and is not able to provide for himself nor his family. Okonkwo is described as fire or flames which lead him to being called, the Roaring Flame, so fire symbolizes destruction and anger. His inability to show emotion other than anger leads to destruction of his family and his own life. Locusts …show more content…

Yams are the most essential crop in Umuofia and are vital to the diets of the people. Yams symbolize the wealthness, the ranking in the Igbo society, and masculinity of a man. Okonkwo is very prideful of his yams because when ¨Okonkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibie was the worst year in living memory.¨ He was unsuccessful in growing the yams due to seasonal changes and timing was not letting Okonkwo grow them. Okonkwo did not let that stop from him continuing for he did not want to become like his father who did not grow any yams. In the Igbo society, a man is supposed to grow yams to show his masculinity because he has the ability to provide for his family, and have success in his life. In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo was afraid that his son, Nwoye, was not going to be successful in becoming a man like him. He even threatened him by saying, ¨I would sooner strangle him with my own hands.¨ Yams are very important in Okonkwo's life, yams determined a man's place in the Igbo society. Okonkwo was the most famous wrestler and his yams gave him a boost in the path of becoming part of the clan. Eventually one mistake lead him to where he began his journey all over again since his ¨gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boys …show more content…

¨Locusts came once in a generation, reappeared every year for seven years, and then disappeared for another lifetime.¨ A white man appeared out of nowhere to explore the land. The elders warned the Oracle that ¨the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them.¨ The Oracle responded by killing the man and tying his horse to a tree. What the elders said became true since the village of Abame was now controlled by the white missionaries, which was the start of their expansion of their religion. The people were too weak and uneducated to fight. The clan was not allowed to do anything unless everyone put a vote on it which did not happen since it was against the law to kill intentionally. The white missionaries were convincing the people with the building of school and church, and being to have more freedom than the Igbo traditions. Locust are so heavy that they break the branches of the tree which symbolizes the rupture of Igbo traditions under the white

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Okonkwo constantly struggled to create the same masculine character in Nwoye that he made for himself and constantly found a reflection of his effeminate father, Unoka, in Nwoye. Chapter two describes the relationship between Okonkwo and Nwoye in Nwoye’s youth. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness... He sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating” (13-14). Okonkwo’s efforts to change Nwoye’s resemblance of Unoka were causing their relationship to be pushed apart because of Okonkwo’s violence and Nwoye’s resistance.

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Okonkwo Falls Apart Chinua Achebe offers a rare look at the natives perspective during colonialism in his work Things Fall Apart. The central struggle in the main character Okonkwo is that he is beginning to lose his way of life, and he is not able to do anything about it. Conflicts in religious beliefs with the arrival of the missionaries heightens Okonkwo 's internal aggression, and his inability to adapt leads to his downfall.

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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,

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In “Things Fall Apart” Achebe gives background information on Okonkwo saying “He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife.” (5). This quotation from chapter one demonstrates that Okonkwo’s nobility of prosperity is revealed by his success’ from his early years and forward. The villagers within Okonkwo’s clan love and honor him for his personal achievements, and he

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This was a fateful act because it could urge Umuofia to attack the missionaries, but Umuofia decided to not go to war. Okonkwo explains how the white missionaries have come in and converted all the Igbo people into their religion until their own tribes become too weak to fight back against them. The white missionaries described by Okonkwo, “brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store

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This springs a collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye. Nwoye wants to become Christian and Okonkwo does not approve of what the white men introduced to the Ibo culture. There were other people in the clan like Okonkwo that went against their faith and claimed that everything the Christians believe in was false. Nwoye knows his father has a bad temper and so when Okonkwo found out that he wanted to convert, Nwoye knew that it would cause conflict, and Okonkwo would want to kill him. " Answer me," roared Okonkwo, "before I kill you!"

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Memorable Quotes “Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed”(Achebe 33). Throughout the novel, yam is mentioned pretty consistently. This emphasizes masculinity which help define Okonkwo and his character. The quote shows how important it is to Okonkwo to show status and masculinity to the people of his village.

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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.

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Art is way of expression. People can use actions and art or express themselves in ways other than speaking. In the book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, symbolism holds a big significance. The trees mentioned throughout the book symbolize Melinda’s changing “seasons” (her “growing” as a person). People, like trees, go through phases, they freeze in the winter, becoming nothing but lonely limbs without leaves covered with white slush.

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His father was the exact opposite of what the Igbo people stand for. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, is a “coward [who] could not bear the sight of blood” (Achebe 6). In turn, Okonkwo became a ruthless warrior who was known across the different tribes. The worst aspect of Unoka is that he was considered to be a failure. This caused Okonkwo “even as a little boy [to resent] his father’s failure” (13).

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Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

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Chinua Achebe’s 1958 literary classic, Things Fall Apart (Achebe, 1958), is renowned for its authentic account of the black African experience. Set in post-colonial Nigeria, the fictional novel discusses the cultural roots of the Igbos and follows the life of the tragic hero, Okonkwo. This acclaimed novel deals with strong patriarchal ideals of masculinity within the Igbo culture and how Okonkwo is a direct manifestation of this. Achebe depicts the relationship between masculinity and both male and female characters, and how this, in turn, has an effect on Okonkwo’s relationships. The strongest relationship in the novel is between father (Okonkwo) and daughter (Ezinma); their bond is strong because Ezinma is everything Okonkwo would want in a son.

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His fear of weakness and failure is derived from his father, Unoka’s failures, which ignite Okonkwo’s misogynistic views. Throughout his lifetime, Okonkwo associates femininity with weakness because of Unoka, who was called an “agbala” or woman by the people of Umuofia. Since women have this reputation for weakness, Okonkwo lives with constant fear that he will be given the same title as his father. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye’s effeminacy reminds Okonkwo of his own father. He says, "I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man, but there is much of his mother in him ."(Achebe, 66).

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Out of all of his children, at least he takes much pride in one of them; that’s something that he never gets himself from his father while he grows up. In contrast to this softer behavior, Okonkwo is also a strong man. He is one of the greatest wrestlers in all of the villages when it comes to his physical strength. Not only that, he is mentally strong as well. He is able to do things that most men believe to be unthinkable; he displays all of the characteristics needed in an ideal warrior.

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Fear is the core cause of the dramatic shift of lifestyle for both Okonkwo and Nwoye. Through the management of reputation and the avoidance of their father’s likeness, Okonkwo and Nwoye built new lives for themselves. Okonkwo sought power and authority to prove his masculinity and make up for Unoka’s reputation as a weak man. He did this to the point where manliness became his character. Fearlessness and violence were masculine qualities that in Igbo culture signifies strength and influence.

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