Examples Of Proverbs In Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe wrote the book Things Fall Apart in the year 1958, a time when Africa was undergoing drastic changes, and experiencing new things. Achebe wrote his first book, Things Fall Apart in a way that reflected what he had experienced and what he believed in. This is evident in the many parts of the book, Including Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity, Igbo storytelling and folklore, and with the tribal leaders of Umofia and their thoughts on the missionaries.

In the tribe of Umuofia, Okonkwo is considered to be the “greatest men of his time”(Achebe 8), his characteristics fit the definition of an everyday hero, which is a man of distinguished courage, ability, and thought highly of for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Okonkwo is a well respected man in the tribe and rises to the top very quickly “like a brush-fire in the harmattan”(Achebe 3) and at a young age; he is muscular, vigorous, well respected, and wealthy. Achebe describes

The Fall of Pride Pride leads to one’s demise. As it led Okonkwo to his demise in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, his pride and ignorance retain those around him from progress, Okonkwo’s community and family fall apart because of his pride that lead him to take his own life. The quote “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity and pride and arrogance.” and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart both present the idea that pride impedes progress.

The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe, is a tale based on the traditional beliefs and customs of an Ibo village during late 1800’s Africa. Through the telling of this story, we witness the remarkable depth of Igbo culture through its functions of religion, politics, judiciary and entertainment.

During the 19th century, European colonization and imperialism swept the face of African societies. The voices of these entrapped societies were highly suppressed throughout the time period resulting in a narrow westernized perspective of the event. However, this changed when Chinua Achebe-- the first African to have a novel published-- created his masterpiece Things Fall Apart. Through this spectacular novel, Achebe depicts the clash of cultures between the British colonists and the Igbo tribe as well as the mixed emotions in regards to western influence among tribal members through the lenses of Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. Through the cultural interactions between the British and the Igbo people, Achebe is able to artfully and elaborately

Chinua Achebe explains African culture through storytelling to provide a different perspective. Achebe does this by using a lot of proverbs throughout the book. These proverbs are an important part of the Ibo culture, most of the stories told by the ibo are spoken rather than read. An example of a proverb can be found in chapter one, "If a child washes his hands he could eat with kings." this quote is saying that if you are able to get away from the shadow of your ancestors then you could do anything. This helps explain African culture because it shows that if someone works hard, no matter what background that person is from, they can achieve great things. another example of this could be one of the stories in chapter nine about a mosquito

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel about a man in West Africa. It tells about his triumphs and trial ultimately leading to his demise. It explains how the “white man” came into his country and took over. It show you how the “white man” mad things fall apart.

The classic African literary tale Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a brilliant account of historical African culture and the destruction colonialism can cause upon such cultures. As the reader follows the narrative and complexity of the characters through the novel, a sense of pride, trust, and faith in history emerges. Yet, with the introduction of colonialism the characters must learn to embrace and adapt to a new culture and set of beliefs or face termination from society. The novel explores the troubles of African cultures and their adaptation to colonialism. As the novel progresses, one can also observe the influence of religion throughout history and how it has changed the face of many societies. Although many

These words held great wisdom and purpose behind them. They often would tell story or even teach a valuable lesson; at times, with the use of literary elements such as metaphors, similes, and personification. There are many an example of such proverbs in Ibo culture. One such proverb tells the story of a lizard who acknowledges his own achievements even though no one else does. The proverb goes," The lizard that jumped from high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did."(6)

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart shares a rather large amount of parallels to “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats, and this is due to no coincidence. Achebe had wanted to write so that he could show that the Africans were not savages, as some pieces of literature had suggested, and once he read “The Second Coming”, he knew that he found his inspiration, hence why the two pieces share frequent similarities. Chinua Achebe even titled his book after a line in the first stanza of the poem: “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.”

He explores the use of proverbs, figures of speech and aphorisms to demonstrate the significance of their spirituality, social construct and hierarchy. As well, he displays the character transgression in Okonkwo, and how his mental decline foreshadowed his unfortunate future. Paralleling unfortunate futures, language and communication barriers between the Igbo and the European missionaries led to the collapse of the Igbo culture and the grave ultimatum; Okonkwo’s death. With all three in mind, proverbs are a very important aspect of the Igbo language and can demonstrate numerous societal customs and tell a story with few words. An appropriate quote that displays the importance of language, especially in Igbo culture is, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” - Nelson

This concept of points of view is evident through the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, an author from Nigeria, as there are several perspectives of this unfamiliar region of the world, of which have all developed into the stereotypical African single story––that African society is disorderly and unstructured. Because most African literature is not as prominent in the Western world, Achebe uses

The late Chinua Achebe is considered to be one of the most important voices in African literature. Born in colonial Nigeria in the 1930’s, Achebe joined the first wave of African writers who were determined to represent their country in a way that would truthfully depict the past and present. Before the arrival of the first wave writers, the history of pre-colonial Africa was portrayed as a place of barbarous activity. European novelists such as Joseph Conrad only added to this impression in his dehumanizing book, The Heart of Darkness. Conrad depicted Africa as the antithesis of civilization. In 1958, Achebe published Things Fall Apart as a response to the negative

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by

Chinua Achebe’s (1958) novel Things Fall Apart focuses on pre and post-colonial life in modern day Nigeria during the late Nineteenth century. Things Fall Apart is seen today as the first globally accepted novel written by an African author. That being said, Achebe’s novel is extremely popular in both African schools, and taught in English-speaking countries all around the world. This novel follows the life and misfortunes of the main protagonist, Okonkwo. Throughout the novel, Chinua Achebe (1958) does a great job of the rise and fall of Okonkwo and the Igbo culture.