1 / 11

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe Final Notes on the Book. Characters. Okonkwo-protagonist Unoka-Okonkwo’s father Ikemefuna-Okonkwo’s adopted son/ Okon . kills Nwoye-Okonkwo’s 1 st son Obierika-Okonkwo’s BFF. Characters cont. Ezinma-Okonkwo and Ekwefi’s only surviving child

jodie
Download Presentation

Things Fall Apart

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe Final Notes on the Book

  2. Characters • Okonkwo-protagonist • Unoka-Okonkwo’s father • Ikemefuna-Okonkwo’s adopted son/Okon. kills • Nwoye-Okonkwo’s 1st son • Obierika-Okonkwo’s BFF

  3. Characters cont. • Ezinma-Okonkwo and Ekwefi’s only surviving child • Ekwefi- Okonkwo’s second wife • Ojiugo-Okonkwo’s third wife • Chielo- Priestess/Oracle

  4. Setting • Time: 1890s • Place: Africa, Nigeria, Umuofia, Iguedo, Mbain • Mbanta-The motherland, where Okonkwo and family were banished for 7 years.

  5. Motifs: Recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. • Change • Exiled • Missionaries • Status • In Iguedo (Okonkwo’s home) • Exiled

  6. Motifs redefined • Struggle between tradition and change • How is masculinity perceived, what makes a man.

  7. Symbols: objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. • Locusts • Fire • Frying Pans?

  8. Missionaries • Felt they were serving an elevated race, helping a donwntrodden race. • Came to Africa expecting horrible people. • Most were biased and discriminatory • Saw that some spiritual beliefs had to be destroyed before the Africans would accept Christianity • Insulted African traditions frequently

  9. Racism • Atlantic slave trade beginning around 16th century • Estimated 15 million Africans were taken from their homes to serve as slaves to Europeans. • Basil Davidson, “…racism grew out of slavery.” • Europeans treated their slaves as subhuman. • Hence other Europeans then assumed that a slave, hence Africans, were an inferior race of people. Almost a different species.

  10. Igbo Culture • Kola nut • Yams, hens and goat farmers • Multiple wives • Children work/families • Trophies • Earns respect by wrestling, doing good things for the tribe • Earns titles (symbols of honor) • Music, entertainment, food and drink

  11. Tragic Hero: According to Aristotle • * Usually of noble birth* tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. (hamartia)* a reversal of fortune brought about by the hero's tragic flaw (peripeteia)* His actions result in an increase of self- awareness and self-knowledge* The audience must feel pity and fear for this character. • Other traits, • His downfall is usually due to excessive pride (hubris) • He is doomed from the start; he bears no responsibility for possessing his flaw, but bears responsibility for his actions. • He has discovered fate by his own actions, and not by things happening to him • He is usually a king, a leader of men - his fate affects the welfare of a whole nation or number of people. Peasants do not inspire pity and fear as great men do. The sudden fall from greatness to nothing provides a sense of contrast. • The suffering of the hero must not be senseless: it must have meaning! • The hero of classical tragedies is almost all male

More Related