The Week Of Peace In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe is the talented writer of Things Fall Apart. During the colonial period the African people lost their dignity and self-respect, but luckily writers like Chinua Achebe sought out a way to regain their losses. It became Achebe’s aim to salvage these losses through writing. This novel successfully accomplishes Chinua Achebe’s aim to restore the dignity and self-respect of the African people. In my essay I will thoroughly discuss a number of episodes where the writer achieves his desired intend of regaining the dignity and self-respect that belongs to the African people. The first episode that I will refer to is the use of the kola nut in chapter one. There is an immense amount of tradition that surrounds the kola nut. The kola …show more content…
During this week of peace the people that are part of Umuofia pay tribute to the earth goddess named Ani just before they get ready to plant for their farms. The villagers live in peace and stay away from violence for an entire week, hence the name ‘’The Week of Peace” (2006; 17). One of the villagers, Okonkwo breaks the tradition when he beats his wife for leaving the hut before having cooked dinner. He gets punished for breaking this ‘’Week of Peace’’ (2006; 17). Clearly the tradition is taking seriously because breaking a tradition doesn’t go unpunished. The villagers take great pride in ‘’The Week of Peace’’ (2006; 17) showing that the African people do not lack dignity in what they do. We also find out that the Africans aren’t just bad, violent or mindless people as they were made out to be by the Europeans, because they dedicated an entire week to being …show more content…
This is another false statement made by the Europeans and plays a direct roll in stripping the African people of their self-respect and dignity. Okonkwo is a great example as to why the African people weren’t mindless at all. He is dedicated and a hard worker which shows that he has a mind filled with ambition and aspirations. He knew what it takes to be the best and works hard to get there. Okonkwo ‘’was the greatest wrestler in the nine village’’ (2006; 16), ‘’he was a wealthy farmer’’ (2006; 16) and ‘’he had two titles’’ (2006; 16). That isn’t even all his accomplishments. Okonkwo is clearly someone who isn’t mindless at all; he takes a lot of pride in what he does and therefore obtains an enormous amount of self-respect and dignity.
The African people are very familiar with poetry. This is proof that they have great depth and beauty. Some African people, like Unoka, use poetry in the shape of music. Unoka uses music as a form of expression. He expresses his happiness easier through music rather than speaking. When he plays music he is ‘’beaming with blessedness and peace’’ (2006; 5). The poetry and the beauty of it bring the African people together making them stronger and uniting them against the Europeans. They regain their self-respect once again just by proving the Europeans judgment as
Pride In Things Fall Apart
1119 Words | 5 PagesHe 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
Cultural Collision In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
855 Words | 4 PagesAmong those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.
Stereotypes In Things Fall Apart
1145 Words | 5 PagesMany 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
Summary: Okonkwo Falls Apart
1027 Words | 5 PagesOkonkwo Falls Apart Chinua Achebe offers a rare look at the natives perspective during colonialism in his work Things Fall Apart. The central struggle in the main character Okonkwo is that he is beginning to lose his way of life, and he is not able to do anything about it. Conflicts in religious beliefs with the arrival of the missionaries heightens Okonkwo 's internal aggression, and his inability to adapt leads to his downfall.
Change In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
889 Words | 4 PagesEveryone as a human being has experienced some form of change in our life, big or small, and it has a lasting effect on who they are and how they act. In Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’, change is a forward facing theme of the whole story, we see change in all forms occur throughout the book; the arrival of the white men and their changing of the igbo culture, the tearing apart of Okonkwo’s family by religion and traditions, and the change that occurs within Okonkwo himself when he realizes he cannot prevent change from happening in the community and culture he loved. Change is destructive in ‘Things Fall Apart’, especially to such a magnitude as we see in the story, it is destructive to communities, to families, and especially to individuals.
Things Fall Apart Literary Analysis
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Compare And Contrast Okonkwo And Nwoye
1890 Words | 8 PagesOkonkwo uses these traits to differentiate from Unoka and he even feels most like himself when he exhibits violent behavior in order to assert his power and authority over others. Literary critic Christopher Ouma affirmed Okonkwo’s genuine intention to change how he is regarded in society.
Igbo Traditions In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
784 Words | 4 PagesHave you ever read a novel about African cultures and traditions from African point of view? The novel Things Fall Apart, a tragedy by Chinua Achebe, centers on one tragic hero in Igbo village of Umuofia in Nigeria and the effects of European arrival on his life and Igbo clan. Throughout the novel, Achebe introduces Igbo customs to the reader by creating several occurrences and how they react on them to claim that the Igbo is civilized before the Europeans arrive. The significant difference between Igbo and Western cultures is the way wisdom is passed on: Igbo oral traditions transmit values and knowledge orally by allegorical tales, while Western literary traditions educate people through generations by written texts, just like the novel itself.
Essay On Pentecostalism
1260 Words | 6 PagesPentecostalism, is a Christian based faith that accentuates an immediate individual involvement with God through water and spirit baptism, intercessory and corporate prayer, and moving under the influence of the Holy Spirit in the speaking of tongues and the prophetic. Like many other denominations, Pentecostalism doesn’t just have one type. They have a variety that takes root from the Feast of Weeks and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit spoken of in Acts. “1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
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954 Words | 4 PagesMy humble home, tucked within our modest suburb, is brimming with East African culture. The scents of freshly fried chapos permeate through my bedroom walls, plastered with cloth paintings from Kenya and South Sudan. The sound of Kiswahili, the fresh chai burning my tongue, these sensations are my comfort. I am an East African, by blood and by heritage. Dark, ebony skin and lean legs that extend for miles mark me as a typical South Sudanese girl.
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Things Fall Apart Post Colonialism Analysis
1837 Words | 8 PagesS. Naipaul and J. M. Coetzee these Post-colonial writers have all dealt with Africa in their own individual and unique ways. Achebe does not treat the African culture and ways of life as something hybrid, complex, dependant for its significance on the Western style of perceiving things or neither has he shown Africa to be existing only in relation to its difference from or consonance with the Western form of religion, culture, identity, and discourse. The major theme of the novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ centers around the destruction of Africa’s intricate, almost incomprehensible but unique way of life and culture in the wake of British colonization and forced or maneuvered conversion to Christianity. The administrative as well as religious changes that the British tries to impose upon the native Africans has the disastrous effects of uprooting the indigenous people from their original root and tradition and can be seen as some instruments of subjugation, subordination and subservience which starts with creating distrust, doubts and insecurity in the minds of people for their Igbo tradition, and its cultural and religious practices and ends with making them internalize the Christian way of life and British administrative apparatuses. Another theme that is explored in this novel is the inherent fault of the central character Okonkwo, who is ambitious, industrious, honest, masculine but is rash, and unthinking and his sense of self and identity is wholly dependent on the approval of others in his community and he thinks of anything that intrudes into it as a threat and he tries hard to be a man though in a flawed manner.
Essay On Religion In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
846 Words | 4 PagesReligion in Things Fall Apart Religion is the belief in a greater power, which shapes the way someone lives their life. Religion can bring people together, or it can pull them apart. The novel Things Fall Apart, a work by Chinua Achebe, is about a man named Okonkwo and how he and his village deal with the colonization of Christianity. In the end, it pulled Okonkwo away from his people, leading him to his death.
Things Fall Apart Feminist Analysis
878 Words | 4 PagesFeminist Theory In Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”, they recognize the life of the Igbos which are a tribe in the village of Umuofia during European colonization. There are many topics brought up in this book like the effects of colonization, culture and tradition, religion, race, etc. It is relatively easy to read “Things Fall Apart” as an anti-feminist text due to the face that the Igbo clan’s customs and traditions seem to side towards masculine features, such as power and strength. The novel is told through a male protagonist’s point of view in nineteenth century Nigeria, while women there do not have much rights, they do wield heavy influence over the leaders of the clan.
Theme Of Masculinity In Things Fall Apart
702 Words | 3 PagesHe was a caring man down in his heart but “his whole life was dominated by the fear, the fear of failure and of weakness” (Achebe 13), and his mission to become one of the greatest men of his clan. Okonkwo was devoted to masculinity, he put it above anything else preventing anyone from questioning his masculinity. When he felt a slight sign of weakness it reminded him of his fathers failure to being a true man not providing for his family or ruling women and his children, therefore “he was not really a man” (Achebe 53).There were many traits to being a masculine man but to Okonkwo the main one was ruling his wife and children, if any of them had disobeyed him he would beat them without hesitation or regret. Although Okonkwo is influenced by masculinity it is because the Ibo culture believes in men dominating women which leads their society to fall
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