Foils In Things Fall Apart

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the author utilizes literary devices as well figurative language to emphasize his points and themes of the novel. An example of one of these literary devices used is a technique known as a foil, which act to contrast his various characters and highlight certain characteristic the author may find important. Throughout the novel, many foils are employed, the most important being Obierika as a foil of Okonkwo, Ikemefuna as a foil to Nwoye, and Reverend Smith. Through Achebe indirect comparisons between these characters, he successful drives forwards the main ideas of the novel and shows the flaws of certain characters. Okonkwo is arguably the main character of Things Fall Apart and is a young

This fear of acting like his father seems to dominate his life, and control his behavior, which leads him to make rash decisions. Okonkwo's best friend, Obierika is the character in the novel that serves as a foil to Okonkwo because his personality contrasts and emphasizes the Okonkwo's own personality. For example, one of Obierika’s largest traits is that he is a very reasonable man who always thinks before he acts, which is in direct contrast to Okonkwo who is extremely rash and tends to act on impulse alone. Furthermore, Obierika also serves to amplify Okonkwo’s violent nature because, unlike Okonkwo, Obierika does not support violence against the British colonizers and strongly disapproved of Okonkwo’s involvement in killing Ikemefuna. Unlike Okonkwo who felt he had to kill the boy or else he would look weak,

Brown and Reverend Smith. This foil serves to demonstrate the two vastly different approaches of missionaries in the attempt to spread Christianity and puts emphasis unto what approaches would have proved to work best. Mr. Brown is the first missionary to lead in Umuofia. He runs his church with a cool head, putting extra emphasis on calmness, and patience. Unlike most missionaries, he doesn’t try to forced his views unto the tribe, but instead leads by example. Through his gentle nature and careful restraint of his flock, Mr. Brown gains respect from the clan leaders and frequently converses with them. Through these conversation, Mr. Brown learns a great deal about the native culture and religion, which he actively tries to understand and respect. When Brown becomes sick and is forced to leave, he is replaced by the overzealous Reverend Smith. Reverend Smith is the exact opposite of Mr. Brown, he is extremely pushy, uncompromising and strict. In his mind, the only right a religion is Christianity and he holds no respect for the tribe’s religion. He is a fire and brimstone preacher who believes that the tribal religion was made by the devil and expects that all converts reject every indigenous belief and custom. Unlike Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith intentionally provokes his congregation and supports their retaliation against the clan. Reverend Smith allows such actions, because unlike Mr. Brown, who recognized that one