Things Fall Apart

Question ( 2 ): Discuss Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe 's “Things Fall Apart” is a tragic hero.

The setting of a story is the surrounding of which the story takes place. In Ethan Frome, By Edith Wharton, the setting is in a small town in Massachusetts called Starkfield in the late 1890s. In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the setting is in a village in Africa around the time of the 19th century. Both settings are very significant to the story and that if it took place anywhere else it would not be the same. The setting is very important to the story through the elements of social expectation, Geological location, and time period.

Based off the book Things Fall Apart, the videos we watched in class, and the poem “The White Man’s Burden”, the white man’s burden of spreading Christianity was more harmful than helpful. In both the book and the film the African Tribes were already fully functional as a whole. They had systems in place such as forms of government, art, social systems, and economic systems. After the whites came to convert them, things started to fall apart and become chaotic.

The world is filled with many different types of societies and cultures. This is due to the fact that many people share dissimilar beliefs and ideas, as well as diverse ways of life. People lived under different circumstances and stipulations, therefore forming cultures and societies with ideas they formulated, themselves. These two factors, society and culture, are what motivate people to execute the things that they do. Many times, however, society and culture can cause downgrading effects to an assemblage if ever it is corrupt or prejudiced. Society and culture not only influences the emotions individuals have toward things like age differences, religion, power, and equality but also the actions they perform as a result.

“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people” (“Mahatma Gandhi Quotes” 1). The culture of a certain tribe, clan or group of people is not found written anywhere but it is found in the knowledge of its people because that is what they’ve grown up to learn. To them that is the only way they know. In Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, the people of Umuofia keep their culture close to what it was when it was discovered by their ancestors. The only changes that they made were made to fit the community as time had changed since their ancestors had been alive. However, their beliefs and morals remained relatively the same because that is what they have been taught for as long as the Ibo tribe has been around. These beliefs are all they know and they all live by them. Throughout Achebe’s piece, it is evident that he wants to emphasize the distinct Ibo culture in this book. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe stresses the importance of culture to a community by using cultural aspects such as, the Ibo language, their religion, and the traditions of the Ibo people.

Conflict happens everyday to everybody. People have conflicts with nature, the weather, themselves, and even each other. Conflict is a daily part of our lives and we must learn how to react to it. This reaction could mean success or failure dependent on the circumstance. Most people have one of two reactions to conflict, they turn and ignore it or they jump at the sign of conflict.

Okonkwo has become determined to climb his way back up the social ranks after have been knocked to the bottom. “He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regain the seven wasted years. Although this determination took his mind off of things, he still remembered the tragedy of Nwoye. “At first it appeared as if it might prove too great for his spirit. But it was a resilient spirit, and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. He had five other sons and he would bring them up in the way of the clan (172).” Okonkwo goes as far as to say “Now he is no longer my son or you brother (172).”

Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart really has a title that speaks for itself. Okonkwo, the main character, has his fair share of flaws that lead to a devastating end. Killing his adopted son, being banished from the clan, hating his son for wanting to become a Christian, and then committing suicide. Those are just a few of Okonkwo’s problems. But what led to all of those things happening?

The most important conflict in Things Fall Apart is the conflict between Reverend Smith--and fellow Christians--and the leaders of Umuofia including the protagonist, Okwonkwo. Reverend Smith is a racist who tries to destroy the traditions and religion in the town of Umuofia: “He saw things as black and white. And black was evil.” (164)

A human, by definition; “of or pertaining to the social aspect of people” (Merriam Webster). By composition merely “65 percent oxygen, 18.6 percent carbon, 9.7 percent hydrogen, 3.2 percent nitrogen” (madsci.org), and an abundance of other trace elements. However, when you describe humanity as a whole, the perspective changes and describing it gets much more complicated than a simple definition, or a matrix of elements. This is because humanity can not exist without change. Change is the driving force behind all that is and will be, as well as defining the past. For this reason alone, the colonization of the Africa, as described in “Things Fall Apart”, was to the natives benefit. A stagnate society will not

The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe features Okonkwo, who is a man that is facing an internal issue with himself and the surrounding people. Throughout the book, he is facing conflict dealing with the upcoming consequences of things he has done to dishonor himself and the life lessons he would learn. He seems to be the ideal man at first with his life together and almost perfect, but soon things would begin to fall apart as he realizes he is becoming his worst nightmare. Okonkwo was unable to adapt to the new changes When Okonkwo was first introduced in the novel, he was shown as a well-respected and hardworking, but he can also seem ruthless and will take action without considering the consequences.

A novel extremely fascinating yet exceptionally ambiguous. Things Fall Apart is a novel by Chinua Achebe that takes place in Nigeria, Africa where the story is mainly about how the main character’s life is falling apart. Therefore, if there were two different readers are someone from the African Culture and someone from the American culture reading it in modern time they would interpret the novel differently. In the novel the text could be interpreted differently by two different readers through the main character, the plot, and the tribes beliefs.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe takes place in a small fictional village called Umuofia, Nigeria. The people of the community (Igbo) have very strong religious views and are extremely devout to the Oracle Agbala. Because of their respect and fear of the Gods, the community has many superstitions. Some of these include their fear of “ogbanje”-wicked children that die at an early age and are reborn. Also, when twins are born they are left to die in the woods.

After lots of thinking the book I chose is Things Fall Apart. Things Fall Apart is written by Chinua Achebe, an african writer. Things Fall Apart is a fiction, children's literature book. Things Fall Apart was published by William Heinemann Ltd in 1958. It takes place in one of nine villages in Nigeria, Africa.

The novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe is a story about personal beliefs, customs and also about conflict. There is struggle between family and within culture and it also deals with the concept of culture and the notion of the values and traditions within a culture. The word culture is Latin and means to cultivate. To cultivate has several meanings; it can mean to plow, fertilize, raise and plant, to win someone’s friendship, woo and take favor with, to ingratiate oneself with, to better, refine, elevate, educate, develop and enrich. In Things Fall Apart all these words are accurate in describing the culture of Umuofia. A culture is an