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Things Fall Apart Nwoye's Decisions

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In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, Nwoye battles an internal conflict of whether to stay on his tribe’s side, or to go against them. Nwoye ultimately resolves this conflict by choosing to follow the British instead of his father; however, this choice also illustrates his true character as both timid and bold. Nwoye’s decision to following the British also reveals the universal theme that you can settle on a path that you choose instead of following a path you were designated to follow.
Nwoye struggles to choose which path to take, his father’s or the British. “The arrival of the missionaries had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta” (Achebe,144). This proves that not only Nwoye was struggling, but the people in Mbanta also struggled as well on whether to take the British side. The people of Mbanta were at first uneasy when the British came. The British have let out their beliefs to the Igbo tribe, which is why many people hesitated to agree or not. “Okonkwo, who only stayed in the hope that it might come to chasing the men out of the village or whipping them” (Achebe,146). In other words, Okonkwo disliked the British greatly. He did not like the way they thought or what they …show more content…

“I am one of them,” replied Nwoye”(Achebe,144). Nwoye clearly sided with the British, and left behind the beliefs of the Igbo. Nwoye chose the British’s side because he truly related to that side instead of his father’s. He decided to take a different path from his fathers to follow what he believes in. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, chapter 16 shows when Nwoye determined his decision on which side to take. In the end, Nwoye betrayed his father because he wanted to follow his own judgement. Even though his father highly disagreed on this decision, Nwoye still chose the

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Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

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Manhood is being treated as a human of mankind. Okonkwo, however, equates manhood to brute force and anger. Anything else was considered to be characteristic of a woman. It is this idea of manliness that pushes Nwoye into the hands of the missionaries. Okonkwo “wanted Nwoye to grow into a tough young man” and although Nwoye at times acted as if he was annoyed with the tasks the women would ask of him, “nothing pleased Nwoye now more than to be sent for by his mother or another of his father's wives” (Achebe, 36).

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In Things Fall Apart it tells us “He (Nwoye) went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up school to teach young Christians to read and write.” Nwoye was so excited to leave his father but would eventually come back to visit his mother, brothers, and sisters of course! This evidence supports my claim because this chapter explains Nwoye’s journey of converting to

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Many stereotypes of African culture have emerged due to western literature and media and first hand accounts of explorers. Things Fall Apart offers a view into the truth and reality of African cultures, which are often misconceptualized by these stereotypes. Acebe shows how African society functions well without assistance from foreign travelers. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by keeping certain words in the Igbo language, as opposed to translating them into English, to fight back against the spreading western culture and to embrace their own way of life. He also counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by using Igbo proverbs to show how their culture values many of the same things that western

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When Okonkwo first returns back from his exile and hears the news of the white man in Umuofia, his anger increases that no one is trying to fight them. Even after his friend Obierika tells him about how the village Abame was destroyed by similar white missionaries Okonkwo simply thinks “Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back... We would be cowards to compare ourselves to the men of Abame” (175). Okonkwo 's aggression blinds him to the dangers of rebelling against the white man, that he is willing to risk the destruction of his whole village just to satisfy his ideology of respecting his religion.

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Questions: 1.How does the British educational system impose white European values onto the Igbo people? In what ways, do the British seek to eradicate the indigenous cultural values of the Igbo tribe through education? 2.Why did the British government impose such absolute values in the quest to eradicate Igbo identity in the Nigerian colonies? 3.In what ways does the British government seek to sublimate Igbo identity by a focus on a “primitive state” in the Igbo tribe?

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Reading the book I would have figured that Ezinma would have been the one that sway from tradition but we see that Nwoye is actually the one that completely goes away from tradition and basically everything that Okonkwo was

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Timothy Odusote Ms.Calo English 12 , Period 8 January, 29 2016 Annotated Bibliography: Things Fall Apart "Albert Chinualumogu Achebe; 16 November 1930. " Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web.

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He is comparable to Nathan in The Poisonwood Bible because he is unable to adjust to the new culture. He is a strong headed Native American who believes that his chi controlled his destiny. At the first of the book Okonkwo thought, "When a man says yes, his chi says yes also. " He was a hard worker driven by the fear of becoming like his lazy, shameful father.

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As seen in Okonkwo’s participation in Ikemefuna’s death, we see a demonstration of his rash thinking. Okonkwo’s irrational decision - making, as well as his fear of being perceived as weak like his father drove him to kill Ikemefuna. If Ikemefuna has not been killed, then this would have prevented Nwoye from converting to Christianity. As seen “after the missionaries finished singing, Nwoye pondered about what he just heard, the hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul the question of Ikemefuna who died” (Achebe 128). Okonkwo’s participation in Ikemefuna’s murder ultimately pushed Nwoye to Christianity and this caused Okonkwo to lose respect in himself for not raising a better son.

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The Search for Nwoye’s Identity. Our lives leads us in different directions. Nwoye at first struggled with identity, but then he found himself through Christianity. For the first time he desired something other than satisfying his father.

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He was too proud to let his tribe give up their warlike history. He was to proud and self-assured to accept his son's choices. Okonkwo is a sad character whose pride has constantly led him down the crooked path. Achebe shows that being proud isn't a constructive thing for the future. That development can only occur when pride is put aside, and people think logically instead of

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Things Fall Apart Everyone has its own unique perspective on certain things. In doing so, one must interact or collide with another throughout life. In Things Fall Apart, the author, Chinua Achebe, attempts to communicate the concept of cultural collision while depicting the life of the Igbo tribe. He creates two main characters with contradicting characteristics and responses to a cultural collision in order to strengthen the theme:

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The British attempted to shape the way the people of Agueke did trade. When the people refused, the British destroyed the village. (Adichie 3) Because of the little regard for African people, the British destroyed an entire village because the people wouldn’t abandon their “primitive ways”, for their own ways. Adichie shows lack of empathy in The Headstrong

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Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his

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