Stoic Okonkwo - Things Fall Apart

Zeno of Citium founded Hellenistic Philosophy which created the school of stoicism

As the characters of Things Fall Apart continue to develop Okonkwo's personality traits are heightened, thus giving the audience a clearer understanding of his characteristics.  From the first three chapters Achebe describes Okonkwo to be extremely hardworking, as he builds his fortune of yams from nothing.  Continuing on, Achebe goes into the relationships within Okonkwo's family, specifically addressing the newest addition, Ikemefuna.  The third person omniscient narrator allows the audience to know how Okonkwo feels within himself, therefore allowing the audience to connect with Okonkwo.  "Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy - inwardly of course.  Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly" (24), through his fondness of Ikemefuna, Achebe makes Okonkwo relatable.  If Achebe had not made the narrator omniscient the audience would resent Okonkwo for his consistently angry attitude; however, knowing that in his heart Okonkwo feels connected to Ikemefuna the audience can more easily sympathize with Okonkwo's situation.  Okonkwo's stoic character likely reflects most of the men of the Igbo culture, for it is important to them to hold power within the household and therefore the village.

Setting - Things Fall Apart

Withing the first three chapters Achebe portrays the distinctive setting of the Umuofia land and the Igbo customs.  To Achebe these two characteristics were vital in correctly delineating to the audience, in order to defend and redeem the true African lifestyle.  The main things of importance for the people of Umuofia is the size of one's land and yam crop.  Achebe makes this evident with, "Okonkwo's prosperity was visible in his household" (11) and "...a wealthy man...who had three huge barns, nine wives and thirty children" (15).  Okonkwo has been working his entire life to change the fate his father had given him by going out and starting his own yam crop as a teenager.  Seeing his father's failure made him have a thirst for ultimate success, pushing Okonkwo to put a tremendous effort in his work.  It seems normal to the audience that social class would be based on the success one has; however, Achebe sets the Igbo apart from the white world by emphasizing their success of the crop by the weather, "but the year had gone mad.  Rain fell as it had never fallen before" (20).  No canal system or other agricultural advancements are mentioned, suggesting that they solely relied on mother nature.  This idea sets the time frame to be more primitive with little technology.

Things Fall Apart - Video Response

Chinua Achebe when choosing to write about the African culture had to make key decisions in his to fully comunicate to the world his goal.  One of the main factors was choosing to write the novel in English, for it opened the text to countless cultures.  Additionally, Achebe created his main character to be a man devoted to tradition and building his name; therefore, the true culture is able to be delineated.  Reading Heart of Darkness was a vital inspiration for Achebe, giving him the driving force to portray the nonstereotypical version of the African culture.  Because of the great emotional response Achebe had to Heart of Darkness, without reading Conrad's depiction of Africa Achebe would not have created such an impactful work.

Introduction to Me

My favorite place ~ the ocean