Things Fall Apart Theme Chapter 23 to End

The main theme of Things Fall Apart is to never let fear control your life. Okonkwo was haunted by his father's embarrassing reputation, and was so terrified of following in his father's footsteps, so he vowed to never become like his father. Okonkwo strived to be heartless, angry, strong, and to never feel any emotion other than anger. But little did he know that the entire time, his "anger" was actually fear. Ikemefuna, a boy who Okonkwo raised and who called him "father" was to be killed, and, so that he would not appear weak, Okonkwo helped to kill the boy himself. Achebe writes "Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak" (53). The fact that Okonkwo could mindlessly kill somebody so close to him really conveys his crippling fear of being thought of as weak. Ironically, Okonkwo ends up hanging himself, consumed in depression, at the end of the book. In the Ibo culture, it is considered dishonorable to commit suicide, so he is never given a proper burial. Guess who else never got a proper burial? His father, the man he was trying his entire life to never become. Fate works in funny ways.http://www.gunaxin.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Daddy-Issues-10-560x304.jpg

Things Fall Apart Figurative Language Chapters 19-22

Okonkwo describes Enzinma and Ekwefi as dual rainbows in the quote: "The rainbow began to appear, and sometimes two rainbows, like a mother and her daughter, the young and beautiful, and the other an old and faint shadow" (Achebe 163). By using this figurative language, Okonkwo is suggesting that Ekwefi's beauty was once strong and vivid, and is now fading. He believes, Enzinma, however, to be a in her prime, beautiful, and strong like a brand new rainbow  who has yet to lose her color. Okonkwo is a shallow man, caring only about a woman's beauty, and not her personality. He makes it clear that he hardly thinks of women as human. In his mind, women are no more than sexually-available children, as they are incapable of doing simple tasks that only men can do.


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Things Fall Apart Imagery Chapters 15-18

While Achebe uses imagery from all five senses quite often throughout the book, the one that most stands out is smell imagery. When describing the village, Achebe explains: "A vague scent of life and green vegetation was diffused in the air" (130). The description of the village is best brought across by the sense of smell. The reader can relate to the smell of the village like a warm summer day in America. Everybody knows the smell of wet grass in the morning. The smell of a market place full of life. This personalization can be different to each reader, but it is an endearing description.https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&ved=0ahUKEwiuw83LguLMAhXFYCYKHZfFDDAQjBwIBA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwide-wallpapers.net%2Fdownload%2Fwet-grass-3-wide-wallpaper-1680x1050.jpg&psig=AFQjCNGud1lqJJpGInF3hmuKIBFkDLMX-w&ust=1463605781045358

Things Fall Apart Proverbs Chapters 12-14

One of the proverbs used by Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart is "You grew your ears for decoration, not for hearing" (62). This quote is said by a mother to her daughter, Akueke, tp suggest that her ears are useless because she never listens to her mother's advice and warnings. She suggests that she's been warned of things not to do, and that disregarding her mother's advice, Akueke is damning herself to make bad choices and end up in bad situations. This could be foreshadowing Okonkwo's ultimate downfall because he never listened to his parents at Akueke's age, and now he is going down a bad path.

Okonkwo often refers to himself as "fire" and uses metaphors such as "Living fire begets cold, impotent ash" (Achebe 134). In this proverb, Okonkwo further secures his label as a cocky and careless person. Fire tears through everything, burning anything in its path, in order to get where it wants to go. It leaves behind nothing but cold, silky ash where there once was a mighty building or an innocent creature of earth. This can be used to describe Okonkwo because he did exactly that to Ikemefuna in chapter 7. With the blade of his machete, he scorched Ikemefuna and left nothing but sadness and a lifeless boy behind.http://addins.whig.com/blogs/betweenthelens/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Hamilton-Fire-Folo148a.jpg

Things Fall Apart Characterization Chapters 9-11

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe clearly creates Okonkwo as a round character. In the first few chapters, he appears to be a flat character, showing only anger and fear, but no other emotion. No happiness, no caring, and no kind feelings towards anybody. However, starting at about chapter 8, Okonkwo begins to develop and becomes a round character, showing a hidden aspect the reader had never seen: a conscience. After killing Ikemefuna, he lies awake at night, thinking about what he's done. He doesn't eat, and he becomes depressed. He then chins up, and is back to his careless. violent self again until page 96 :"Tears of gratitude filled her eyes. She knew her daughter was safe. 'Go home and sleep,' said Okonkwo. 'I shall wait here'". In this quote, the tender side of Okonkwo shines through, as he suddenly appears to care about Ekwefi and Enzinma.

Ekwefi is Okonkwo's second wife, and mother of Enzinma. She had ten children, nine of which died within the first few years of their life due to what the Ibo people thought was a curse. When Enzinma, her tenth child, lived through the death zone of her other children, Ekwefi became very protective of her only child. When Enzinma falls ill, Ekwefi believes she is dying and Achebe demonstrates the emotion of terror and angst in this quote: "Ekwefi screwed her eyes up in an effort to see her daughter and the priestess, but whenever she thought she saw their shape it immediately dissolved like a melting lump of darkness. She walked numbly along" (93). This quote demonstrates just how much she cares for her daughter, and the fog in the mind when she even considers her daughter dying.

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Things Fall Apart Quotation Analysis Chapters 7-8

Chapters 7 and 8 are a turning point in the book, as Achebe establishes just how heartless Okonkwo can be by killing Ikemefuna. Achebe describes the moment in which Okonkwo kills the boy in this quote from page 53: "Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak". This quote holds a lot of weight because of how shocking the action is. The fact that Okonkwo could kill a boy who he lived with, a boy who called him "father", for the simple reason of not wanting to look weak is a horrifying and shocking revelation for the reader. This action foreshadows the rest of Okonkwo's raging and the consequences of them. 

After his violent and heartless killing of Ikemefuna, the reader sees Okonkwo as a heartless, cowardly man, too afraid of failure to be a good person. However, in chapter 8, one begins to perceive a different, more caring and mournful Okonkwo in this quote: "He did not sleep at night. He tried not to think about Ikemefuna, but the more he tried the more he thought about him" (Achebe 55). The fact that Okonkwo does, indeed, feel emotions other than anger and fear is an important revelation for the reader. Although he was able to kill Ikemefuna in cold blood in the moment, it does come back to haunt him. His own well being is suffering due to the loss of another human being, which makes Okonkwo a more vulnerable character.                

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Things Fall Apart Syntax Chapters 4-6

Achebe begins the book with short, simple sentences that simply get the point across without much detail. Very simple statements such as "'Take away your kola nut'" (25), are used often in chapters 4-6, but get more complex as the story goes on. Although the chapters consist of mostly short imperative sentences, there are also medium imperative sentences. The mixture of these two styles helps to convey Okonkwo's personality. He is the strong, silent type, and the use of medium and short sentences is a great way to give the reader an idea of how he would speak in person, and it gives them a sense of being close to the character.

When Okonkwo is speaking, he tends to use shorter sentences, however, when Achebe in describing a scene, he uses longer, more pulled out sentences such as , "The young men who kept order on these occasions dashed about, consulting among themselves, and with the leaders of the two wrestling teams who were still outside the circle, behind the crowd" (40). By using this sentence structure, he conveys the feeling of blissful chaos among the Ibo people. One gets a sense of the way that life moves very quickly for these people, and how much is going on at any given time.




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