Chinua Achebe

A detailed Summary of Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe tells two different stories at the same time. One is of

Okonkwo, the villager whose rise to power is halted because of all of his

misfortunes. The other is of Okonkwo's village, Umuofia, and its struggle to

hold on the cultural tradition while facing colonialism from the west. Things Fall

Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs, and a story about conflict.

There is struggle between family, culture, and the religion of the Ibo, which is

all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs of the Ibo and

the British. We see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are

confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of

both African and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of

the story. In Things Fall Apart, we see a conflict early in the novel between

Okonkwo and his father, Unoka. Okonkwo thought of his father as a failure.

Okonkwo did not take anything from his father starting the real world with

nothing. Okonkwo's goal in life is to obtain great wealth and to have many

wives and children. The people

poor people were encouraged to get an education. The osus' dignity is being

shares a hut with the children of that same family. The tribe has a group of

status symbol. His greatest goal is his desire to become one of the powerful

Okonkwo beats his wives and only gets in trouble because he does this during

many gods. The Ibo god that created the world and others is Chukwu. The Ibo

life finally fell completely apart as his body is found dangling fro a tree.

too powerful, strong, and sophisticated for such common people to fight.

saluting the death of Ikemefuna a piece of his gun shot off and killed a young

others crops are produced, but not as successful as the yam. Some others

lazy and wanted him to be a success like himself. Okonkwo's hard work pays

Approximate Word count = 1657
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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