Symbolism In Things Fall Apart

The rites of passage are a cultural norm in Africa for the Royal family by having arranged marriages. For example, the family of the Prince is following the traditions set forth by his ancestors by having arranged marriages. In America, they do not have arranged marriages they have the custom of asking the father for his daughter's hand in marriage. As Darryl does in the film at a party at the home of the McDowell’s. Which angers Lisa because she feels Darryl and her father is trying to plan her life for her.

By using phrases such as “But my father needs permission only from the Saviour, who obviously is all in favor of subduing the untamed wilderness for a garden (36)”, Kingsolver establishes Leah’s narrow-minded belief that her father is ‘A Chosen One from God’ and he will pacify the Congolese. When they arrive in the Congo, the locals resist the preachings of her father. Leah sympathizes for her father, thinking that “Not everyone can see it, but my father’s heart is as large as his hands. And his wisdom is great…(42)”. Through the conciliatory tone that Kingsolver establishes through Leah’s father, Leah fails to recognize that the people of the Congo do not need their religion to save them, as those people have their own traditional

Before the abolishment of slavery, the white uses the Bible to rationalize what they have done to the African-American people during that time. In James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man”, readers could see how Jesse, the protagonist, uses the religious perspective to rationalize the way how he degrades the African-American people as well, which can also be interpreted as the way how he defends his masculinity as a white man. In order to show that the African-American is actually the mistake of the almighty creator -- God, he says “The niggers. What had the good Lord

In the novel, The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver illustrates Nathan Price’s desire for power over the people of Kilanga and the women of his family through his religious beliefs to depict the materialization and effect the “White Man’s Burden” and misogyny can have on an individual. As the white man enters the heart of Africa to perform “God’s will”, he feels immense pleasure from overpowering the African natives. That white man is Nathan Price, a Southern Baptist Preacher. As Nathan and his family first arrive to the village of Kilanga, the villagers and their leader, Tata Ndu, welcome them with a freshly-killed goat. However, despite this warm welcome, Nathan becomes horrified by the nakedness and sins the villagers exhibit.

In Barbara Kingsolver’s work, The Poisonwood Bible, Nathan Price is a character which responds to injustice in some significant way. Out of all the other characters, Nathan is the one who responds the most to an act of injustice by going on a campaign halfway around the world to somehow repay his obligation to God. He plans to do this by spreading Christianity, or at least his version of Christianity, to the native people of the Congo. The whole reason for him doing this is that he believes being wounded and leaving battle right before the rest of his company dies is an act of injustice and feels as if though he should have died there with his men. Nathan feels like he is a failure and is guilty for not dying with his brothers on the battlefield.

Books are great, but what makes a book good? One of the factors is the technique the author uses and how they use it. Lots of stories use descriptive writing to develop the setting like in the stories “The Monkey’s Paw”, and “Treasure of Lemon Brown”. In the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” the author uses descriptive adjectives to further the setting of the story and create mood. One way the author foreshadows, and sets the mood at the same time is when he wrote: “Of all the beastly, slushy, out-of-the-way places to live in, this is the worst.” This shows that the characters are dissatisfied with their home, which may hint to future actions to create a better environment.

In chapter seventeen it says that Okonkwo is commonly referred to as “Roaring Flame.” He has this nickname to represent his liveliness and strong masculinity however the book shows that this more accurately represents his fiery anger. Like fire, Okonkwo is harsh and uncontrollable as fear of being weak like his father leads him to actions like murdering Ikemefuna and beating his wives. These actions lead to problems for Okonkwo like being exiled while the white missionaries have a huge impact on his village. Okonkwo has a realization of the negatives of his “Roaring Flame” personality when he says “Living fire begets cold, impotent ash.” (Pg. 153) He is referring to the bad relationship he has with son Nwoye and the rest of his village due to his stubbornness and arrogance to accept change and to always be

Throughout the novel, Nathan 's conceit towards the native people of the Congo is exhibited by his consistent disapproval of their culture. His nature and character easily resembles that nature of the west when they would send missionaries to Africa. Christians believed it was their moral duty to convert African people to Christianity. They would often push aside their cultural beliefs and make them convert. This is showcased by Nathan’s character because he could not let the idea go of having people not destined to God.

With the arrival of the white man, was the spread of Christianity. Okonkwo hated the new ideas. Okonkwo is a very religiously intolerant man, he feels as if his native culture is being destroyed, and wants to protect it as best he can. The white missionaries established churches and won lots of converts, including one of Okonkwo’s sons, Nwoye. Okonkwo is enraged to find this out.

“Things fall apart, even when you think they’re stronger than you ever imagined.” ‘Things Fall Apart’, by Chinua Achebe is a book about about the struggles of an African man named Okonkwo and his families life falls apart right before their very eyes. It’s a son duty to carry on the families traditions in this tribe. Although in this story that’s not the case, Okonkwo struggles to get his eldest son Nwoye to act more like a man and less like a woman. Ezinma is Okonkwos favorite child and he wishes that she was a boy because she has all the traits and actions a young man should have. There was another boy named Ike that was almost a role model to Nwoye and almost had Okonkwo conviced his son was becoming a man.