EngLit

Salageanu Adela · Trimis: 05/01/2012 12:07 Titlul subiectului: THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe

In Chinua Achebe’s book, Things fall apart, we can see the fall of a world, the world of Okonkwo who lived in the village Umuofia. He was known “throughout the nine villages and even beyond” because he was a great wrestler and also was hard working, he was a wealthy farmer with three wives, although he was young. Okonkwo did not like his father, I might say that he hated him because his father was a debtor and lazy, he did not thought about the future. Unlike his son, his father, Unoka, was not a good fighter, he was a coward, and he had no title, thing that was important in their village. Okonkwo didn’t want to resemble with his father, so he was quite harsh with his family, his children and very rarely you could get a smile from him.
In the family of Okonkwo arrived a boy from another village called Ikemefuna, which Okonkwo saw as his child, but because of the other people from the village, Ikemefuna was killed. In the book are presented the daughter of Okonkwo, Ezinma and a son, Nwoye. Okonkwo loved his children, especially Ezinma, he wanted to have a son like her. Umuofia was a village that had it’s laws which were known by the people, it had its traditions ("The Feast of the New Yam") and their specific food and diseases which was I can say destroyed by the arrival of the whites, the missionaries. By accident Okonkwo killed the boy of Ezeudu and was sent by the clan in Mbanta, his mother’s village, in exile for seven years. In Mbanta along with his family he built a new farm, a new life. When Okonkwo returned to Umuofia, there were some changes, the world that he left seven years ago changed.

Adelinne · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 62

Izabella Strimb:

Achebe is the first native whom we came past, so we obviously expect a different view on everything written in the book. As we read the book, we can notice that the language has a simple structure, less descriptive than the other novels we studied, and the sentences are rather short.
The novel deals with a significant objective, which is weather change should be seen as a good thing, or a destruction of tradition. This also creates a great tension in the novel. Many are excited about the change, others struggle to keep up and to hopelessly adapt. European influence says no to agriculture, building, which is new to them, but still they can not think of a world without harvesting, farming, building which were once crucial to their survival..
The clan has also certain beliefs, which they can not afford to loose. For example the “chi” = individual’s personal good. They have a proverb which is found in chapter 14: …” a man could not rise beyond the destiny of the chi”.
Another Igbo proverb is found in chapter 4 which says : …” when a man says yes his chi says yes also.”
Animal folklore an imagery was also important to them. Animal anecdotes were used in rituals and beliefs. It was important to this culture because these stories led them to logical explanations.
Achebe calls the white settlers locust , because they feed and explore their resources We have a comment in chapter 15, where Obierika says that …” other white men were on their way. They were locust…”
The tone I rather ironic,satirical, and tragic.. The narrator is in the third person, omniscient, and jumps to one character to another to another in order to see different perspectives and thoughts. The main focus is however on Okonkwo

alexa_iliescu · Trimis: 12/01/2012 23:56 Titlul subiectului:

I think this novel is ment to show that the people from that village, and not only them, but all the blacks had their own beliefs, their own stories, their own customs. I also think that Achebe wanted to show the fact that those people were not canibals, but natural people who work, celebrate, get married and have children. He highlighted that they are not stupid or dimwitted. In this novel are presented old wise men, like Uchendu, who tells Okonkwo that he shouldn't be ashamed of living in his mother's village and makes him understand how important is a mother.
I also noticed that Okonkwo never asked his wives for any pieces of advice. He always went to his friends for that.
Okonkwo didn't want to be like his father. Therefore, he worked hard in order to gain a respectable place in the village. Also, because of this, he never showed off his feelings, in order not to be thought as being weak. But, in my opinion, this became a dangerous obsession. Many times, he acted without thinking before. He beat his wives for a small reason, during the holyday. One of the old men told him that even if he had caught his wife with her lover, he wouldn't have had the right to beat her like that and during the holyday. In my opinion, from that old man's words we learn that it is not necessary the use of violence if somebody wants to confirm his authority. Okonkwo was a very proud man. He chose to commit suicide rather than being caught by the whites.
We learn that the blacks were normal people, who had their own rules, who lived happily until the whites came. For them, things fell apart faster than they could have ever imagined.

larisapop · Trimis: 23/01/2012 23:27 Titlul subiectului:

While reading this book I concentrated involuntarly on the way women were considered and treated and I got to the conclusion that any sign of weakness was not acceptade of appreciated. It is the same case with men who are even a little sensitive. This is why Okonkwo doesn't show any weakness when Ikemefuna dies. He doesn't love so much Nwoye because he is not so interested in the things men are normally interested and Okonkwo would like to have Ezinma as a son. When some women say something, for example a story, everyone knows and says that women stories are not as good as those said by men. There is always a discrimination against women, but they don't seem to notice it. It's like something natural in their comunity.
_________________
You don't write because you want to say something, you write because you've got something to say.

Reka Orban · Dunker Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 16

In my opinion this novel is not just a story about one person, it`s a story about an entire civilization, that becomes overwhelmed by the ideas that the Europeans bring.. this book is mostly about the consequence that the British had over the African civilization, by colonizing them.
Nothing good came out of that, in the native tribes. The missionaries wanted to spread the Christianity and to convert the native people, and because of that “things fall apart” in the native tribes of Africa.
And they succeed in transforming the Ibo tribe in a Christian one. As a result of this, Okonkwo, is very upset about the result of his village, that he ends up committing suicide.

Ticala Ioana · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 56

''Things fall apart"is a novel about the life of Okonkwo a leader in Umuofia.
He focuss on his three wifes,on his children and on the influences of British colonialism on his traditional Igbo who was a community during the 19th century.
He is described like being a hard working man,without weakness.He is courageous with his family and neighbors ,because he is the leader of his village and this thing shows us that he is a brave man.He has a strong fear because he is terrified of being weak like his father.Because of this thing he behaves rashly with his family.He is a tragic charachter because he brings suffering to himself and to his family.
He's major fear is to become like his father and does not repay his debts.Because of this fact he makes many mistakes,and one of his mistakes will conduct him to death.
Here are some important themes and symbols of the novel:
The struggle between change and tradition
Okonkwo resists the new political orders because he feels that they are not manly and he will not be manly if he tolerate them.
He has a resistence of cultural change because he has a fear of losing social status.His sense of self-worth is dependent of the traditional standards by which society may judges Okonkwo.
Symbols
Locusts that descend upon the village that shows us the arrival of the settlers who will exploit the resources of the Igbo.
The language that Achebe uses to describe this insects indicates their symbolic status.
Fire-Okonkwo is associated with flame because he has a dangerous anger and this is the only emotion that allows him to display.

Adyna · Plunger Data inscrierii: 10/Dec/2009 Mesaje: 28

Here I agree with Alexandra. For so long, the natives were considered to be insignificant. For example, those who were colonized by British: they had to learn English: reading, writing, speaking; they had to adapt the British culture and tradition, they were somehow not on their own. And I liked seeing here that everything is changed, that the natives are not those cannibals and people without intelligence and soul anymore. The narrator presents them as people with morals, intelligence, rules, etc. Okonkwo is an intelligent men who managed to change his social condition (he is much better than his father), he is smart, ambitious and hardworking. I consider that his bad part was that of not wanting to show affection. He didn’t want this in order to not look weak, even though he is sensitive. For example the ocazie when he killed Ikemefuna and after that he get into depression (he wanted to be brave at the beginning).

Adelinne · Diver Data inscrierii: 11/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 62

Right form the first lines Okonkwo’s fame is presented to us and later on his family’s released to us

Unguras Flavia · Dunker Data inscrierii: 13/Noi/2009 Mesaje: 20

I think this novel is the valuest one in the African Literature having a profound effect on readers. Things Fall Apart is actually the first literary novel to come out of Africa by an African
Achebe is interested in the effects of Western customs and values on traditional African society. For this, he tries to repair some of the damage done by earlier European depictions of Africans. He chooses to describe a complex portrait of a traditional Ibo village. He does not paint a vision of an desăvârșit society, but introduces us to a range of timeless and empathetic characters. His purpose is to reflect the fact that Africa contains much of value and had a culture even before colonisation. In other words, this book is an eye-opening read, an answer to the books in which Africans are depicted as primitive and mindless savages This is one good reason for undermining Conrad’s vision of Africa in the “Heart of darkness”. “Things Fall Apart” might be an ironic response to Conrad’s novel, making it clear that African tribes were not complete savages like Conrad and others portrayed them to be.
This book centers around the life of Okonkwo, the heroic symbol of his culture, and also one of the greatest men in Umuofia. But because of his faults he eventually was exiled. When he returns after seven years, he find out that missionaries and colonial governors have arrived and are in the process of destroying his tradition and culture, to convert the people from the village to their religion. Okonkwo strongly tries to keep the tradition, to fight against the missionaries (he even kills one of them). He cannot bare the situation knowing that he failed. With his world radically changed he commits suicide. Things fell apart as he once told his son:

peride_ cristina · Trimis: 06/02/2012 17:51 Titlul subiectului:

Achebe wrote this book (i think) to show how colonialism fells like from inside, from the point of view of the colonized and not from the p.o.v of the colonizers. It doesn't focus too much on the process of the colonialism, although there is some of that in the novel, but is intended as a reminder to westerns and to his own people that they had had a culture of their own before the coming of the English. The fact that the novel is written in English and not in its native tongue, is part of the complexity of the colonial experience. The first two thirds of the novel depicts Ibo civilization with its networks of relationships to the past and to nature and to the supernatural. And in that culture, the community is always more important than the individual as the proverb says ~no man is greater than its people, and no man ever wins judgement against his own clan~
The community is seen as the contact in which the individual finds fulfillment - as Okonkwo does when he is called one of the great men of his time. He occasionally breaks the community laws but when he does, he accepts the penalty because his culture is structured on virtues of courage, toughness and hard work. When Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna the village understands even if it doesn't quite approve, because at the ocazie of killing Okonkwo is putting aside his personal feelings - because he really loves the boy - to obey his community instructions.
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Peride Cristina

izabellstrimb · Plunger Data inscrierii: 17/Mar/2011 Mesaje: 35

ADRIANA IENCIU :
Beautiful story, that tells us, that the villagers have their own story, their own life with their ups and downs, where language, traditions are the most important. Change is not welcomed from all of them, so the story deals with embracing this change, and at the same time, refusing it. I liked the way characters evolved. We have so many in common with this novel. For example if are put in a new situation, or we have to face something new, we all react differently / try to adapt/ blocked in a dilemma and so on. This is exactly what happens in Things Fall Apart. Some of them adapt, others rebel. These villagers are like today’s elder people, who don’t know other ways of harvesting, farming but the old ways. These traditional methods are crucial in the novel. When the European came, all these ancient methods became imbalanced.

izabellstrimb · Plunger Data inscrierii: 17/Mar/2011 Mesaje: 35

Ienciu Adriana:
I believe that the language used by Achebe is important, because it was meant to be understood by everybody. I’ve noticed that the narrator transmits his sympathy for the people from Umuofia, but still he chooses to remain anonymous.There are several conflict in the novel, like between Okonkwo and his family , his wives, because he is forced to beat them in order to show masculinity, an manhood. He was desperate to show that he is not a softy. So the conflict is inside him too.

romanadriana · Trimis: 25/02/2012 17:32 Titlul subiectului:

This subject shows us a sensitive history of a tribe ending with the coming of white people this fact is suggested by the title itself. The plot of this story is made by the description of village,clothes,relation among peolple.The construction of the family impressed me,besides the fact that men have three wives they help eachother,they weren't jealous. Wemen were considered lower than men,they had a sort of aristocracy in their tribe. The narrator is a black,he has a lot of knowledge about the life of that tribe:for instance the economy of the tribe was based on agriculture. I found interesting in this story the indigeous institutions(church,hospital). Moreover the simplicity of the language was good because we could understand better the real picture of African life with their pains and pleasures.
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HI

izabellstrimb · Plunger Data inscrierii: 17/Mar/2011 Mesaje: 35

ENE MARIA (RECUPERARE)
I liked the novel very much, because it shows us regular viligers with their own beliefs, religion, customs. We can really identify ourselfs in it, because we also have a religion, certain perspectives, customs. To be honest, I don't know how I would react if I would be asked to give them up.