Thing Fall Apart Analysis

Ancestors in African cultures have been a fundamental unit of society. They play a significant role in the everyday lives of Africans in many different ways. The spirits of the dead are heavily respected as they once were also alive and have learned immense information to help guide their following generations. In traditional African religions, the ancestors take part in a divine nature where they are consulted for most of the family’s major and minor decisions. In the book Thing Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, we see how greatly respected and influential the ancestors have within the Igbo religion. Léopold Sedar Senghor’s poems also present how impactful his ancestors were towards his life and culture. Senghor write about the value of ones ancestors

The respect that he holds for his ancestors is revealed through his description of them. In the poem “In Memoriam,” Senghor feels different from the people that are around him at church in Paris, revealed in the line, “I fear the crowd of my brothers with stony faces.” He then continues the poem writing a prayer to his ancestors to protect him, writing “ Protect my dreams as you have made your sons, wandered on / delicate feet.” Senghor is calling to his ancestors for being his protectors in an alienated place where he doesn’t feel like he belongs. This poems helps him connect with his culture and his ancestors where he feels a connection. Senghor further uses his poems to emphasize the power of his ancestors in the poem “Night of Sine,” he talks about his dark blood, the night around him, and the smoke but talks about these with honor to show that not everything dark is bad. He shines a light on the magnitude of negritude and his deep affection for his home, Africa. He is praising his African ancestry and wants to feel connected with them. This is revealed when he writes, “ Let me breathe the small of our dead, let new contemplate and / repeat their living voice, let me learn / To live before I sink, deeper than the diver, into the lofty depth of sleep.” In the poem he symbolizes Africa as a maternal woman, filled with love and warmth. Africa, where

In Chinua Achebe’s book we see the significance of their ancestors pre-colonial times. As the missionaries arrived in their villages they believed they were better fit to rule the Umuofian people because they were better educated. This was an impudence against the village and their ancestors because the people of Umuofia have been following the path of their ancestors. In the Igbo religion, ancestors not only play a central role in their lives but are listened to and followed with respect. The Igbo culture was at a risk of declining when the missionaries began to introduce their ideology and Christianity into their village. While in Leopold Senghor poems he writes to remember his ancestors and to keep the lineage of their culture alive. Senghor 's perspective is post-colonial times and his poems are almost a rebirth to the African culture. In the poem “Prayer to Mask,” Senghor is talks to his ancestors about how the imperialism has affected them and changed their society. In the poem Senghor states “They call us cotton heads, and coffee men, and oily men, / They call us men of death.” he then takes these words and change them into new hope for the people to keep the culture alive to remind them of who they