Culture Clash In Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the story of the rise and fall of Okonkwo, and the story of what happens to a society and culture when colonization by a more powerful culture takes place. One of Achebe’s main purposes is to write a tragedy in the classical form. Aristotle’s definition. According to Aristotle’s definition “A tragedy is a drama or work literature that tells a story of the rise and fall of a person of high status.

” The theme that cries out over the rest is Okonkwo’s, the main character, fear of weakness as seen through his childhood, his oldest son, and eventually his death. The argument in the book is whether Okonkwo is a hero or not. Things Fall Apart connects to a part of World Literature and Culture because it does a great job communicating the times of an old Nigerian tribe to how people of present nature should act and show types of attitudes.

Get quality help now

KarrieWrites

Verified writer

Proficient in: Free Essays

5 (339)

“ KarrieWrites did such a phenomenal job on this assignment! He completed it prior to its deadline and was thorough and informative. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

Achebe brings passion through his unique writing style. True to the tragic hero, Okonkwo is a strong character who rises and falls throughout the book causing tragedy that the character has to face and overcome. The beginning of Things Fall Apart, takes a light and soft approach to how things run in the Nigerian tribe of Igbo. Achebe introduces Okonkwo who 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 worshiped in his village for being a respected warrior, farmer, and family provider.

Things start to rise in Okonkwo’s life when he gains possession of a fifteen-year-old boy named Ikemefuna. After having the young boy in his presence Ikemefuna feels more of a son than his actual son who Okonkwo finds lazy. Tragedy strikes after Ikemefuna have been living with Okonkwo for a while. A respected village elder, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, informs Okonkwo that Ikemefuna must be killed for calling him “father.” Okonkwo lies saying the boy must be returned to his home village. Ikemefuna is later chased down by Okonkwo’s clansmen and killed. Returning home from such devastation brings more tragedy to the table. Okonkwo finds out that his elder has passed sending him into a great stage of depression. The death of a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess Okonkwo must leave and take his family into exile. After being away and starting up a new compound, the District Commissioner is upset with all Okonkwo’s actions he goes to his compound and finds that Okonkwo has hung himself. Achebe fulfilled his purpose in writing the book so that it had a tragedy.

Works in World literature and culture help people of today's societies understand the aspect of life and how things were valued at different times. This helps add a perspective on our developing humanity. I can now better understand the lifestyles, struggles, and hardships of living in past times and how humanity has changed as a whole.

Tragedies can happen to anyone and can even happen one after another just like Okonkwo. In some cases, people who overcome tragedies are told to be known as heroes but in this case, I find that Okonkwo is the complete opposite. A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and gains awareness of circumstances that lead to his fall. Okonkwo could have taken courses of action that could have benefited people of his tribe or individuals. For example, Okonkwo could have helped Ikemefuna, a young boy who he treated like a son, from being returned to his home village, and protecting him against the clansmen who came after him. A hero is not present in the making of this book, and possibly according to Achebe, maybe a hero was not supposed to be present in this book so there was a purpose of going beyond one purpose and argument to reach a whole new level of thought and literature that maybe was not established in the beginning.