The Novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe

The cultural critique of the indigenous African community depicted in the novel is significant for its analysis. For Okonkwo, the traditions and culture of the Igbo community became one of the principal determinants of his character, including the perception of the role of a man. As Nyeenenwa (2022) points out, Igbo culture is characterized by a “quest for materialism, wealth, and achievement” (p. 92). These aspirations underlie Okonkwo’s masculinity, as the protagonist strives to take leadership positions in the community through material wealth and his achievements as a warrior. Moreover, the novel depicts the division of society into more and less successful men. The author notes Okonkwo’s “brusqueness in dealing with less successful men” (Chinua, 1959), and there are particular words that refer to men who have not achieved anything, like ufulefu and agbala. Therefore, the concept of classes is of great importance when analyzing the protagonist’s personality and the motives for his actions.

Another critical aspect of the novel is the distribution of gender roles. The man is at the center of the culture of the Igbo community, while women are needed only to help with the household and strengthen the status of the husband (Kiran & Pareek, 2022). Most of the women in the novel are victims of a brutalized patriarchal society, without rights or opinions of their own. This disdain for the female characters in the novel is the basis of the gender criticism of Chinua Achebe’s novel. One prominent example is the concept of ‘bride price’ and bargaining to get a wife at a lower ‘cost’ (Chinua, 1959). For the final portfolio, the gender critique of the novel is crucial as it helps to understand better the patriarchal society depicted by the author.

Since the concepts of race and religion are less significant within the theme of my final portfolio, their critique can be omitted. Despite the contrasts between the indigenous African community and missionaries, the themes of race and religion are only indirectly touched upon in the final paper. Of much greater importance are the differences and similarities in the behavior of the representatives of these two groups.

References

Chinua, A. (1959). Things fall apart. [eBook edition]. Anchor Books.

Kiran, A., & Pareek, S. (2022). Narrativizing patriarchy within the framework of Things Fall Apart. Specialusis Ugdymas, 1(43), 8519-8528.

Nyeenenwa, S. (2022). A Cultural Critique of Chinua Achebe’s Book “Things Fall Apart”: The Igbo Ethnic Group’s Excessive Desire for Materialism. GNOSI: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Human Theory and Praxis, 5(1), 77-94.

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