Things Fall Apart Essays - African Writers Series, Free Essays

Things Fall Apart Essays - African Writers Series, Free Essays Things Fall Apart In the book Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe is trying to give an explanation of what it is like to live in an African society. The story is about a man named Okonkwo who is a member of the Ibo tribe. Achebe is telling the story of Okonkwo from his childhood till his death. Before I read this book I did not have a very good idea of how people lived in Africa, and the ideas of I did have about life in traditional African societies turned out to be untrue. Achebe did a very good job of illustrating a traditional African society, and by reading this book I now have a much better idea of what life is like in a non-western society. I think that this was Achebe's goal in writing this book, to educate people about some of the struggles people have and life in traditional African societies. The title Things Fall Apart is a good choice for a title of this book. The main character, Okonkwo, did not like the way his father lived. He thought that a man should be strong and do typical male tasks. But Okonkwo's father, Unoka, did not fit mold according to Okonkwo. Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, and told himself that he would make a better life for himself and his family. Okonkwo was able to do this, he became very successful in the Ibo tribe and had gained a very high standing in the tribe. It was his goal to become an elder in the tribe, and it looked like he was going to achieve that goal. Okonkwo was banished form the tribe for seven years for killing a boy, and was forced to live with his mother's tribe for the seven years. Okonkwo lost all of his titles and his standing in the Ibo tribe. After the seven years had passed, Okonkwo went back to the Ibo tribe and had to start his live over. Over the seven years that Okonkwo was away, the Ibo tribe changed a lot. Most of these changes were do to the missionaries which had come to Africa to try to convert people to Christianity. Okonkwo could not accept these changes, and in a rage of anger he killed a clansman. This was the worst crime a man could commit. After Okonkwo did this he realized that there was no hope for redeeming himself and no way that he could become an elder. So he hung himself because he could not live with the fact that he would never regain his standing in the tribe. He would have most likely been killed for committing this crime anyway. Basically Okonkwo's life fell apart on him, hence I feel that the title Things Fall Apart is very fitting for this book. I thought that Achebe did a good job at writing this book. After getting into the book I found it very easy to read and follow. It took a while to get use to the names of the people in the book, and the Ibo words and phrases. I thought that the purpose of this book was not directly stated, but it was implied. The purpose was to show people what it is like growing up in a traditional African Society, and Achebe did a good job a showing that. The book is chronologically organized, starting with Okonkwo as a child and ending with his death. I feel that the audience level for this book would be high school and above. I think that there are a lot of implied messages and ideas that mature readers will pick out easier than younger readers. I feel that the book is not biased, and I feel represents the African people as well as the white missionaries fairly. So overall I feel that the book was very well written and found it enjoyable to read. I found it ironic that both Okonkwo and his father, Unoka, ended up the same way. Both ended up being put in the evil forest after their death. Unoka ended up in the evil forest because he did from a strange disease, while Okonkwo ended up in the evil forest because he had killed a clansman. I found this ironic because it seemed the Okonkwo tried to everything different from his father. Okonkwo did not agree with the way Unoka lived, and he told himself that he was not going to live that way.