Sunday, January 5, 2020

Tragedy in Chinua Achebe´s Things Fall Apart Essay

Set in Africa in the 1890s, Chinua Achebes ‘Things Fall Apart’ is about the tragedy of Okonkwo during the time Christian missionaries arrived and polluted the culture and traditions of many African tribes. Okonkwo is a self-made man who values culture, tradition, and, above all else, masculinity. Okonkwo’s attachment to the Igbo culture and tradition, and his own extreme emphasis on manliness, is the cause of his fall from grace and eventual death. Within the Obi tribe, Okonkwo is an important man, who has risen from nothing to a man of great wealth and social status. Okonkwo is obsessed with masculinity, and he has a very narrow view of â€Å"manliness†. Okonkwos relationship with his dead father is the root of his violent and ambitious†¦show more content†¦Ikemefuna, a ‘surrogate son’ of Okonkwo’s exemplifies all that Okonkwo wants his own son to be like and almost loves him because he imparted ideas and actions of masculinity into Nwye. In the story, Ikemefuna must die by the hands of the Obi men and in spite of his affections for the boy Okonkwo goes along with the group. Okonkwo’s fear of appearing weak and unmanly causes him to not only volunteer to join the party that will execute his surrogate son but also violently stabs him with his machete. He delivers the killing blow, even as the boy calls him Father and asks for his help. Okonkwo is determined to prove he is unshakeable. We see such an attitude in Okonkwo even in chapter XI, where the priestess of Agbala caries Ezinma to her cave. Because he considers any show of feeling to be a weakness and as a way of affirming his masculinity, Okonkwo does not follow the Priestess immediately, but instead waits for a suitable manly interval. Okonkwos seven-year exile from his village only reinforces his notion that men are stronger than women. He keeps reminding himself that his maternal kinsmen are not as war-like and fierce as he remembers the villagers of Umuofia to be. During Ezeudus funeral in chapter XIII, Okonkwos gun explodes, killing one of Ezeudus sons. Even though the death is accidental, the act is an abomination to the Igbo. Okonkwo is to be exiled for sevenShow MoreRelatedRedefining The Tragic Tragedy Of Chinua Achebe s Famous Things Fall Apart2188 Words   |  9 Pagesreader. Through pain and suffering, heroes of tragedy fill the audience with not only terror and pity, but also relief through a cathartic experience. Over two thousand years ago, Aristotle first defined what characteristics make up a tragic hero. He claimed that heroes of tragedy must be fundamentally decent, of noble status, and eventually destroyed by a situation that exposes their one tragic flaw. 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