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Things Fall Apart Summary. As a young man, Okonkwo becomes one of the greatest wrestlers in the clan. Okonkwo values strength and aggression, traits he believes are masculine, and his worst fear is to be thought of as feminine or weak, like his father, Unoka. Okonkwo's wealth and status within the tribe grow, and he becomes one of the greatest ...
- Chapter 1
Need help with Chapter 1 in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall...
- Chapter 1
Okonkwo feels guilty because the last time Ezeudu visited him was to warn him against taking part in Ikemefuna’s death. At Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s large and elaborate funeral, the men beat drums and fire their guns. Tragedy compounds upon itself when Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son.
- Chinua Achebe
- 1958
Analysis: Chapters 1–3. We are introduced immediately to the complex laws and customs of Okonkwo’s clan and its commitment to harmonious relations. For example, the practice of sharing palm-wine and kola nuts is repeated throughout the book to emphasize the peacefulness of the Igbo. When Unoka’s resentful neighbor visits him to collect a ...
Things Fall Apart is set in 1890, during the early days of colonialism in Nigeria. Achebe depicts Igbo society in transition, from its first contact with the British colonialists to the growing dominance of British rule over the indigenous people. Literary works about this period often painted stereotypical portraits of native Africans as ...
- Themes in Things Fall Apart
- Analysis of Key Events in Things Fall Apart
- Style, Tone, and Figurative Language of Things Fall Apart
- Analysis of Key Symbols in Things Fall Apart
The Humanity of African Societies
Achebe was motivated to write ‘Things Fall Apart’ because he wanted to re-tell the story of the Africans who European imperialists and their enablers in the arts had depicted in unfair one-dimensional representations. Achebe creates a fairly sophisticated and self-sufficient society with organized institutions. His aim was not to create a perfect society, but one more true to the facts of the situation. In Umuofia, we see disputes settled between members fairly, as seen in the case between Mg...
Clash of Cultures
‘Things Fall Apart’chronicles the great tragedy of the displacement of traditional African societies by encroaching Westerners with imperialist ambitions. The community of Umuofia had ruled itself and observed its customs, and preserved its institutions for years. The worldview every community member learned from birth, all systems and institutions they came to accept without question, were suddenly threatened by the arrival of the white man with his religion and political system. The British...
Patriarchy
Umuofia’s society is highly patriarchal, and Okonkwo’s behaviors and motivations are, in part, informed by his society’s gender roles and expectations. Okonkwo measures his success according to the fulfillment of his society’s ideal of masculinity. He strove to be a valiant wrestler and a hard physical laborer on his farm because these activities represent peak male performance and demonstration of physical strength. Okonkwo’s desire for an unquestionably dominant status in his family often m...
Okonkwo throws Amalinze the Cat and establishes himself as a man of talent and strength.Okonkwo comes to care for Ikemefuna, the gesture marking his status as one of the leading men of the community.Okonkwo participates in the killing of Ikemefuna, demonstrating his fear of being seen as weak.Okonkwo is banished from Umuofia after accidentally killing the son of Ezeudo.‘Things Fall Apart’is divided into three parts, with the first part being much longer and slower-paced than the remaining two parts. The first part employs a circumlocutory narrative technique that shifts between the present and the past. This represents the Igbo rhetorical technique of initially skirting around a subject before directly addressing...
Yams
Yam is the primary crop in Umuofia society. Called the king of crops, it is associated with manliness and is an important status symbol. Okonkwo considers yams to be the only crop worth personally growing, leaving the other crops for his wives and children. The number of yams in a man’s barn is a definitive indicator of his level of success in life. Yams symbolize wealth and abundance.
Egwugwu Masks
The Egwugwu masks symbolize the villagers’ ties to the spirit realm, or rather to the land of their ancestors. The scary nature of the designs and carvings on the masks as well as the secrecy and anonymity with which its wearers operate, allows certain individuals to act on behalf of or with the unquestionable authority of the clan’s gods or ancestors.
Apr 28, 2024 · Angry with these Euro-centric distortions, Achebe responded through " Things Fall Apart " through a political language. Achebe succeeded in harnessing the colonizer's language ensuring it carried the burden of his native experience. He managed this by acknowledging and utilizing Igbo language's rhythm through Igbo vocabulary, proverbs, and ...
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Powered by LitCharts content and AI. In Chinua Achebe's "Vultures," a pair of grim birds nuzzling each other after devouring a rotting corpse become a metaphor for the uneasy fact that human beings are equally capable of love and evil. Just as vultures can feast on death and still cuddle, the speaker observes, the man who runs a Nazi death camp ...
