Things Fall Apart: Analysis of Major Characters. Okonkwo Okonkwo, the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, strives to make his way in a world that seems to value manliness.
In so doing, he rejects everything for which he believes his father stood. Unoka was idle, poor, profligate, cowardly, gentle, and interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo consciously adopts opposite ideals and becomes productive, wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and adamantly opposed to music and anything else that he perceives to be “soft,” such as conversation and emotion. He is stoic to a fault. Okonkwo achieves great social and financial success by embracing these ideals.
Okonkwo is a tragic hero in the classical sense: although he is a superior character, his tragic flaw—the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, and violence—brings about his own destruction. Nwoye. Okonkwo Timeline in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart. Characters Character Analysis Okonkwo is a self-made, well-respected member of the Umuofia clan.
Though outwardly stern and powerful, much of his life is dictated by internal fear. His greatest, overwhelming worry is that he will become like his father – lazy, unable to support his family, and cowardly. Okonkwo considers many of his father’s characteristics to be feminine. As an uncompromising man’s man, Okonkwo’s relationship towards his family is one of complete dictatorship. Things Fall Apart.
Originally written in English and published in 1958, Things Fall Apart was one of the first novels by an African author to garner worldwide acclaim.
Though mostly fictional, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe claims that the book documents Africa’s spiritual history – the civilized and rich life the Igbo lived before the arrival of Europeans and the ruinous social and cultural consequences that the arrival of European missionaries brought. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart as a sharp criticism of imperialism, or the European colonization of countries outside of the European continent (especially Africa and the Americas). The novel also critiques Joseph Conrad’s famous novel, Heart of Darkness, which documented the African natives from an imperialist’s (or white colonizer’s) point of view. Achebe followed Things Fall Apart with two other novels, No Longer At Ease and Arrow of God, both of which also depict the African experience with Europeans. Nwoye video things fall apart - Bing Videos. Things Fall Apart: Plot Overview.
Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of a consortium of nine connected villages.
He is haunted by the actions of Unoka, his cowardly and spendthrift father, who died in disrepute, leaving many village debts unsettled. In response, Okonkwo became a clansman, warrior, farmer, and family provider extraordinaire. He has a twelve-year-old son named Nwoye whom he finds lazy; Okonkwo worries that Nwoye will end up a failure like Unoka. In a settlement with a neighboring tribe, Umuofia wins a virgin and a fifteen-year-old boy. Watch / Things Fall Apart / Invitation to World Literature. Invitation to World Literature: Things Fall Apart Video Transcript Damrosch: Things Fall Apart was probably the most important novel ever to have emerged from Africa.
In this novel, Chinua Achebe gives westerners a view of Africa they've never seen before. Appiah: It's a book that explores what happened when the reign began to beat us. Onwueme: I wasn't just reading about some distant place, I was reading about my own people. Hammad: Every era of the book's life is a struggle and it is a public conversation about where African Literature belongs. Mike: His work has placed the country on an international map. Thometz: I've read an awful lot as a book dealer for thirty-six years. Mike: I first read Things Fall Apart back in 1976. Harper: Well I don't think there's another piece of literature that has made me think about African culture in the same way. Hammad: I first read Things Fall Apart at the age of 18 in Professor Kasamali's African Literature class, Hunter College, New York City.
Things Fall Apart. Things Fall Apart is the debut novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, first published in 1958.
Its story chronicles pre-colonial life in the southeastern part of Nigeria and the arrival of Europeans during the late 19th century. It is seen as the archetypal modern African novel in English, and one of the first to receive global critical acclaim. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read and studied in English-speaking countries around the world. The novel was first published in the UK in 1962 by William Heinemann Ltd., and became the first work published in Heinemann's African Writers Series. The novel follows the life of Okonkwo, an Igbo ("Ibo" in the novel) man and local wrestling champion in the fictional Nigerian clan of Umuofia. Things Fall Apart was followed by a sequel, No Longer at Ease (1960), originally written as the second part of a larger work along with Arrow of God (1964).
Plot[edit] Part 1[edit] Part 2[edit] Part 3[edit] Characters[edit]