Assignment paper 14 Significance of Things fall Apart

 

Department of English MKBU

 

 

 

 

Name: Kinnari Halvadiya

Sem: 4

Paper No.: 14 African LITERATURE

Sub/ Topic: Significance of Things fall Apart

Batch: 2019 - 2021

Submitted to: S. B. Gardi

v E-mail: kinuhalvadiya17@gmail.com

  

Hello Readers,

This is my Written academic Assignment which is related with my masters, MA English literature sem4. The topic from the novel is THINGS FALL APART. So, here I am going to write about to HOW THE TITLLE OF THIS NOVEL IS SIGNIFICANCE?

Meaning of SIGNIFICANCE?

something that is conveyed as a meaning often obscurely or indirectly. The quality of conveying or implying. The quality of being important: moment. The quality of being statistically significant.

Let’s have a look on the authors of this novel…

Chinua Achebe

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe born on 16, November 1930, and died on 21, March 2013. He was a Nigerian novelist, Poet, Professor and critic. His first novel ‘Thing Fall Apart’ was considered his magnum opus, and is the most widely read book in modern African Literature. He gained world-wide attention for Thing Fall Apart in that late 1950s. Achebe become a supporter of Biafram independence and acted as ambassador for the people of the new nation.

Achebe’s novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society the effect of Christian influences, and traditional African values during and after the colonial era. He also published a number of short stories, children’s book, and essay collection. He awarded man booker prize, peace prize of the German. Book trade, St. Louis literary Award. Chinua Achebe most contribution on African literature.

 

Work of Chinua Achebe:

 

Things Fall A part: 1958

 

No Longer at Easy: 1966

 

The African Trilogy:

 

Hope and Impediments: 1988

 

Arrow of God: 1964

 

Chike and the River: 1966

 

A Man of the people:1966

 

Girls at war and other stories: 1972

An Image of Africa: 1977

William Butler Yeats

 

Born on 13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939)

• He was an Irish poet and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”

(“The phrase "things fall apart" is taken from the poem, “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats, which Achebe quotes more extensively in the epigraph.”)

 

 

Highlight of novel

Ø  At the beginning of the novel, the Ibo society was a peaceful, organic society, but at the end of the novel it falls into pieces. Thus, the novel records not only falling apart of Okonkwo’s life but also his whole society. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel whose title bears the central message of the work. The very title ‘Things Fall Apart’ foreshadows the tragedy which takes place at the end of the novel.

Ø  The protagonist of the novel Okonkwo who was rich and respectable at the beginning of the novel meets a tragic fate at the end of the novel. Achebe portrays how an ambitious, well known, and respected African Okonkwo’s life falls apart. But when he suffers, his whole tribe also suffers.

Ø  One of the greatest warriors of Nigeria. Okonkwo is a leader of the Umuofia clan. He is a highly respected man in his village; the only problem he has to face is his son, Nwoye who, in his father’s eyes, is an ideal and negligent young man of twelve years old.

Ø  The novel against colonialism or anti-colonial struggle in the novel. Achebe expresses his views about misrepresentation of Africans by Conrad & Joyce Cary. In Things Fall Apart Achebe shows a conflict between Igbo culture (Nigeria-Africa) and western culture. The novel is full with Igbo customary activities, people’s worldview and beliefs, and their material possession. In the first part of the novel various ceremonies of the in the first part of the novel various ceremonies of the trebles are narrated.

 

Ø  From the very beginning of the first part: Okonkwo place in the Igbo society is highlighted. In the second part of novel various part of the novel describe Okonkwo exile. Most people in the village suspected him for his industry and success. But now he was banished for seven years from the village. He had been cast out of his clan life a fish on to a dry, Sandy beach, painting.

 

Ø  In the third part of novel Okonkwo returned to his fatherland but he disappointed to see the change in the village. Okonkwo was deeply hurt to see the clan breaking up and falling apart. The novel has a tragic end because Okonkwo committed suicide.

 

Character List

 

Okonkwo  (Oh-kawn-kwoh)

Unoka (Ooh-no-kah)

Nwoye (Nuh-woh-yeh)

Ikemefuna (Ee-keh-meh-foo-nah)

Ekwefi (Eh-kweh-fee)

Ezinma (Eh-zeen-mah)

Ojiubo (Oh-jee-ooh-boh)

Obierika (Oh-bee-air-ee-kah)

Chielo (Chee-eh-loh)

Agbala (Ahg-bah-lah)

Mr. Brown

Mr. Kiaga (Kee-ah-gah)

The Reverend James Smith

The District Commissioner

 

OKONKWO’S LIFE FALLS APART

Okonkwo becomes successful in many ways – he becomes very wealthy, holds a high-ranked position in the community

Okonkwo is a member of the Igbo people in the African Country of Nigeria.

  Okonkwo is a wealthy farmer and is well respected in his clan. At the beginning of the novel, we see Okonkwo as a prosperous leader of the Igbo people. But the novel ends with his tragic end. Thus, we can say that the novel Things Fall Apart depicts how Okonkwo’s life falls apart. He is a warrior and wrestler who gains respect through his athletics. He is also respected because of his wealth.

Ø  Okonkwo's life first begins to fall apart when he kills Ikemefuna, a prisoner who stayed at Okonkwo's home. Okonkwo considers Ikemefuna as one of his own sons.

Ø  Okonkwo takes part in his murder, despite warning from his friend, dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.”

Ø  in the end it contributes to his own tragedy that his own life falls apart.

Ø  Another significant incidence where Okonkwo's life falls apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for seven years. From this event, one can see that Okonkwo's hopes dreams have begun to fall apart.

Ø  Okonkwo lost faith with most of his friends.

Ø  Another episode that showed the downfall in Okonkwo's life was when Nwoye, his oldest and favorite son, converted to the white mans.

Ø  Okonkwo’s life finally shattered after his returning to his village where he finds that everything is changed. After the clansman burn the Church building down, the District Commissioner asks the leaders of the clan, Okonkwo among them, to go and see him for a peaceful meeting.

Ø  Embittered and grieving for the destruction of his clan’s independence, and fearing the humiliation of dying under white law, Okonkwo commits suicide and his life totally falls apart.

Ø  Okonkwo:

Ø  "Those whose palmkernels

Ø  Were cracked for them by a benevolent

Ø  Spirit should not forget to be humble."

Ø  This proverb means that a man whose success is a result of luck must not forget that he has faults. Okonkwo, however, had "cracked them himself," because he overcame poverty not through luck, but through hard work and determination.

Ø  "When a man says yes, his chi says yes also."

Ø  This Igbo proverb implies that a man's actions affect his destiny as determined by his chi. Okonkwo's chi is considered "good," but he "[says] yes very strongly, so his chi [agrees]." In other words, Okonkwo's actions to overcome adversity seem justified, but because he is guided by his chi, his denial of kindness, gentleness, and affection for less successful men will prove self-destructive. (The chi itself is somewhat ambiguous.)

 

Igbo Society Falls Apart:

Ø  Okonkwo and his Igbo society also falls apart. In the first part of the book, we see a socially, politically and religiously organic Igbo society. But this organic society becomes divided and virtually loses all energy at the end of the book. Thus, the novel documents the falling apart of the Igbo tribe due to its own brutal rules as well as the coming of the Christian missionaries and the rule of the English government.

From Achebe's own statements, we know that one of his themes is the complexity of Igbo society before the arrival of the Europeans. To support this theme, he includes detailed descriptions of the justice codes and the trial process, the social and family rituals, the marriage customs, food production and preparation processes, the process of shared leadership for the community, religious beliefs and practices, and the opportunities for virtually every man to climb the clan's ladder of success through his own efforts.

The book may have been written more simply as a study of Okonkwo's deterioration in character in an increasingly unsympathetic and incompatible environment, but consider what would have been lost had Achebe not emphasized the theme of the complex and dynamic qualities of the Igbo in Umuofia.

 

 

 

The Society Itself

Responsible for Falling Apart:

•       At the beginning of the book, we see that the Igbo people have a strong faith in their traditional religion.

•       The supreme God was called Chukwu.

•       There were man superstitious ideas related with their religious belief. They believed in evil spirits and oracle.

•       One of such Oracles is responsible for Okonkwo’s sacrifice of Ikemefuna.

•       Nwoye, the mother of three twin babies, get the opportunity to change their religion they do it and the society ultimately falls apart.

A Full and Fair Representation of Ibo Traditional Life

•       The first part of the novel presents the traditional world of the Ibo with specificity and vibrancy. The imbedded descriptions of the patterns of interaction, daily routines and seasonal rituals of Ibo life creates an overwhelming impression of community and shared culture. We see the established system of values which regulates collective life and how closely related this is to natural cycles and environments. The Ibo’s moral values are contained in sayings and stories, rituals and festivals. Achebe depicts a comprehensive and sustaining social, spiritual, economic, agricultural, and legal order.

•       While Ibo society is marked by the internal coherence of its organization and the poetry of its rituals, this coherence is partially formed by the repression of the individual and the inflexibility of social norms. Achebe shows the violence, dehumanization, and discrimination vulnerable groups experience in Umuofia due to the rigid adherence to tradition and superstition. This includes the customary abandonment of newborn twins, the sacrificial murder of Ikemefuna in the name of justice, and the discriminatory caste structure that denies inclusion to the osu (Chapters 7, 18).

•       Obierika questioning of the stern logic of some customs suggests that many laws are enacted from a sense of duty and inevitability rather than from a firm conviction in their justice or efficacy (Chapter 13). The cultural demand for conformity places a huge moral and psychological burden on individuals who must reckon with the sometimes heartless will of the gods. This internal tension is epitomized in the character of Okonkwo, discussed below.

Igbo Society Encounters the Colonial Masters and Falls Apart:

•       After the entrance of colonial masters, the colonial religion, mostly replaces the traditional religion. When the white man arrives, however, they ignore the Igbo’s values and tries to enforce his own beliefs and religious practices.

•       Obierika says, "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with 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.

• 
  
  
  
• The Igbo people become the victims of the colonial politics and many people die as a result of colonialism. The same things happen to Okonkwo.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

The novel concludes with the end of the Igbo society and the death of the hero. Okonkwo becomes a murderer and then hangs himself. His world has literally fallen apart, and it symbolically represents that Igbo society has fallen apart. Things Fall Apart denotes its theme appropriately. In this way the cultural conflict applied to Achebe’s Things Fall Apart unravels is the cultural politics of the white man Nigeria. It shows the true imperialist face behind it. It shows the disintegration suffered by the rich and varied culture of the Igbo and with the intrusion of the colonizers.

My thought begins and ends, as I have said many times, with Gandhi's statement that

 "We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Not approve of the change, advocate it, or vote for it. Be it. There is no greater or more beautiful confrontation of the second law.

 

 

References:

 

Ø  Kandell, Jonathan. “Chinua Achebe, African Literary Titan, Dies at 82.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Mar. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/03/23/world/africa/chinua-achebe-nigerian-writer-dies-at-82.html.

Ø  Dr. James Sexton and Sexton, James. “English Literature: Victorians and Moderns.” Lumen, courses.lumenlearning.com/englishlitvictorianmodern/chapter/biography-12/.

Ø  Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Pre and Post-Colonial Igbo Society, Faculty Humanities and Social Science Subject English III Literature and Linguistics, 11 Jan. 2013.

Ø  Articles, Literary. Significance of the Title of the Novel 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe, 1 Jan. 1970, www.literary-articles.com/2013/11/things-fall-apart-by-chinua-achebe.html#:~:text=.

Ø  Network, India Writes. “African Anglophone Literature Archives.” India Writes, 31 Dec. 2014, www.indiawrites.org/tag/african-anglophone-literature/.

 

Thank You                              Words: 2176