Theme and Characters in “Things Fall Apart”

Name: Maru Janak J

Roll No: 20

Paper No: 14

Paper Name: The African Literature

Topic: Theme and Characters in “Things Fall Apart”

Email Id: marujanak17@gmail.com

Submitted To: Department of English M.K.Bhavnagar University

  

 To Evaluate My assignment Click Here

vTheme and Characters in “Things Fall Apart”

           

       Things fall Apart (1958) is one of the most widely read and studied African novels ever written. The novel focuses on Okonkwo, an ambitious and inflexible clan member trying to overcome the legacy of his weak father. The clan does not judge a man on their s status is based on his own achievents. He is a great wrestler, a brave warrior, and a respected member of the clan who endeavors to uphold its tradition of his ancestors and their ways. One of the issues that critics have continued to discuss is whether Okonkwo serves as an embodiment of the values as an embodiment of the values of Umuofia or stands in conflict with them. This discussion often centers around the question of Okonkwo’s culpability in the killing of the boy, lkemefuna.

v  Theme:

The theme often several theme- guides the author by controlling where the story goes, what the characters do, what style evolves, and what style evolves, and what emotional effects the story will create in the reader. This colonial of cultures levels, and the cultural misunderstanding cuts both ways: just as the uncompromising Revenred Smith views African as “heathathens”, the lgbo initially criticize the Christians and the missionaries as “foolish”. For instance, in Christianity, locusts are a symbol of destruction and ruin, but the Umuofiansrojece at their coming because they are a source of food. The arrival of the locusts corms directly before the arrival of the missionaries in the novel. Colonization is a time of great transition in Umuofia and the novel focuses on change. Other themes include duality, the nature of religious belief, and individualism versus community.

v   Quote:

              “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers. And our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”. 

v Analysis:

            Obierika laments the arrival of the white man. He also recognizes his own people’s fault for allowing it. Mr. Brown understand the need to act peaceably, as his religion teachers, in order to win converts. The Revered smith replaces him and oppresses the natives and polarizes the clan.

             “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness”

      The novel documents what the white man destroyed. The reader leans much about lgbo customs and traditions; depicting this world is a central part of the novel.

v Social disintegration:

                        Those events are all the more painful for the reader because so much time has been spent in sympathetic description of lgbo life, the reader realizes that he has learning about a way of life that no longer exists.

v   Fate and free will:

                  The belief that he controls his own destiny is of central importance to Okonkwo. Later, several events occur to undermine this belief, and Okonkwo is embittered by the experience.

v Masculinity: 

                 Masculinity is one of Okonkwo’s obsessions, and he defines masculinity quite narrowly. Okonkwo’s harshness drives Nwoye away from the family and into the arms of the new religion.

v Tribal belief:

    Achebe also shows that lgbo religious authorities,  such as the Oracle, seem to possess uncanny insights.

v   Justice:

       Justice is another preoccupation of the novel. The final events leading up to Okonkwo’s death concern the miscarriage of justice under the British District Commissioner.

v  Destiny:

         Two other characters contrast with Okonkwo in this regard: Mr. Brown, the first missionary, and Obierika, Okonkwo is an unyielding man of action; the other two are more open and adaptable men of thought. Mr. Brown wins converts by first respecting the traditions and beliefs of the lgbo and subsequently allowing some accommodatation in the conversion process. For example, consider Umuofia’s initial lack of resistance to the establishment of a new religion in its establishment of a new religion in its midst. With all its deep roots in tribal heritage, the community hardly takes a stand against the intruders, against new laws as well new religion. This theme is also played played at the individual and social levels. In the story, readers are frequently reminder about this theme in personal god as well as his ultimate capability and destiny. Ok0nkwo, at his best, feels that his chi supports his ambition: “when a man says yes, his chi says yes also”.

v   Character:

v 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, gentle, and interested in music and conversation. Okonkwo is gruff, at times, and usually unable to express his feelings. But his emotions are indeed quite complex. As his “manly” values conflict with his “unmanly” ones, such as fondness for lkemefuna and Ezinma. Just as Okonkwo is the opposite of his father, Nwoye is the opposite of Okonkwo. His daddy links beating people up. And he drinks his wine from a human skull. Nwoye enjoys hanging out with the girls and telling stories. That totally embarrasses Okonkwo, but the hostage kid from the next village over is the tough, manly type Okonkwo had hoped for in a son.  Okonkwo tries to rally the men of his village to just chop the Christians up with some machetes, but the men of umoufia aren’t as macho and violent as they once were. So, Okonkwo kills the messenger with his machete to show them how real men handle their business. Even that doesn’t work, and realizing that there’s no more hangs himself.

v Nwoye:

                Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, struggles in the shadow of his powerful, successful, and demanding father. He undergoes many beatings, at a loss for how to please his father, until the arrival of lkemefuna, who becomes him a gentler form of successful masculinity. His reluctance to accept Okonkwo’s masculine values turn into pure embitterment toward him and his ways. Although Okonkwo curses his lot for having borne so “effeminate” a son and disowns Nwoye, Nwoye appears to have found peace at last in leaving the opprears to have found peace at last in leaving the oppressive atmosphere of his ather’s tyranny.

v Ezinmaa:

         Ezinma, Okonkwo’s favorite daughter and the only child of Ekwefi, is bold in the way that she approaches and even sometimes contradicts. She and he are kindred spirits, which boosts her confidence and precociousness. She grows into a beautiful youg woman who sensibility agrees to put off marriage until her family returns from exile so as to help her father leverage his sociopolitical power most effectively. The one of thing that brings Okonkwo out of his funk is his daughter, Ezinma. Not only is she beautiful, but she’s like the son he never had. And his real son, Nwoye, is more like the daughter Okonkwo never wanted.

v Mr.Brown:

                  Mr. Brown successor, revered smith, is zealous, vengeful, small-minded, and manipulative; he thus stands in contrast to Mr. Brown succeeds in winning a large number of converts because he listens to the villagers’ stories, beliefs, and unconditionally.

v   Works Cites:

Ø http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/things-fall-apart/critical-essays/major-themes-in-things-fall-apart

Ø http://www.gradesaver.com/things-fall-apart/study-guide/themes