Lit anal # 2 "Things Fall Apart"

1.)Okonkwo, the main character, is a hardworking man ,who is brave and strong emotionally and physically. Okonkwo has three wives and children. Okonkwo is very well known by his neighbors and holds power over them. Not only that but he is also wealthy and courageous. He is the leader of his village. Okonkwo is respected and is selected by the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy who was taken as a prisoner by Okonkwo’s village as a peace settlement between two villages after Ikemefuna's father killed an Umuofian woman. The boy lives with Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond of him although he lacks emotion toward him physically. The boy sees Okonkwo as a father figure and looks up to him. The Oracle of Umuofia later on pronounces that the boy must be killed to the order of his father’s actions. Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village, advises Okonkwo to not have anything to do with the murder  of Ikemefuna because it would be too painful for Okonkwo to bear. Okonkwo participates in the murder of the boy despite the warning from the old man so he doesn’t seem weak to the public. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna despite his begging toward Okonkwo to protect him. After Ikemefuna's death, things begin to go downhill for Okonkwo. During a gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and his family are sent into exile for seven years to appease the gods which he has offended. While Okonkwo is away, white men begin to arrive in Umuofia with the intent of introducing a new religion. As the number of convert’s increases, the foothold of the white people grows and a new government is introduced. The village is forced to respond to the imposition of the white people's nascent. When Okonkwo returns from exile, Okonkwo finds his village a very different place because of the presence of the white men. He and other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian church set by the white men. In return, the leader of the white government takes them as prisoners and holds them for ransom for a short while, further humiliating and insulting the native leaders. As a result, the people of Umuofia finally gather for what could be a great uprising. Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant about following Umuofian custom and tradition, despises any form of cowardice and advocates for war against the white men. When messengers of the white government try to stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills one of them. He realizes with despair that the people of Umuofia are not going to fight to protect themselves his society's response to such a conflict. When the local leader of the white government comes to take Okonkwo to court, he finds that Okonkwo had hung himself, because he didn’t want any change to be occurring.

2.) The theme of which was most relevant to me was pride and how it affects a person’s life. A great leader and role model had a lot of pride and didn’t show any obvious sign of weakness in public or around family. He was born a warrior and believed himself to be strong. His pride led him too far when he became emotionally involved with Ikemefuna.  After this he had many problems. After getting exile and coming back to his community he had to understand that most of the things changed, but he didn’t listen. He wanted things his way and nothing else. For him pride came before the fall, and this brought him to his destiny, his death.

3.The tone of the book is ironic and tragic and told in a very clear and direct way as if it were a story being passed on from one to another. An example would be when Okonkwo’s disillusioned ideas of regaining his position of greatness upon return from his exile create a tone of pathos.  The fable like tone still remains, but the parables start to become integrated with stories of tragedy and the white man, as opposed to all relating stories about family or village values. Another example of tragic was when Okonkwo helped killed Ikemefuna. This was very tragic in the eyes of the readers because he had raised the boy like his son.  An example of irony is seeing throughout the book because men are allowed to have more than one wife as long as they are able to raise them. Now a days, men can’t even handle one.

4.)The setting in Nigeria is extremely important; it allows Okonkwo’s life to straddle. We the reader has a window into the dramatic changes that occurred in Igbo culture and society as a result of imperialism. For example, we see two different manners in which crimes of murdering a clansman are treated Okonkwo is exiled for seven years under Igbo laws while another man Aneto is hanged by the white court for a similar crime. (pt. 2. pg.130)Imagery is something that is seeing clearly throughout the whole novel. Some examples yams and Egwugwu. Growing yams is labor intensive, and the size of a man’s fields and harvest say much about his work ethic. Yams are grown to gain wealth and also to feed one’s family. Egwugwu are a symbol of the culture and independence of the Umuofia. They are seen as ancestral gods, though in actuality they are masked Umuofia elders. (pg.36)Symbolism: Okonkwo is compared to the fire a lot of times throughout the story. This shows his passion to do things his way. He's nickname was Roaring flame. (pg. 111)Allegory: Mothers and daughters in the novel have a tendency to share folktales, but they are also one of Okonkwo’s son Nwoye’s favorite forms of entertainment. Because Nwoye prefers folktales over bloody war stories, Okonkwo fears that his son is too effeminate. (pg.145) Foreshadow: This technique is a lot throughout the novel. For example when Okonkwo helped killed his son we knew something bad was going to happened because he was prohibit to help.(pg. 167) Syntax: The syntax that the author uses is very simple to understand. For example "leave her to me", the medicine man told Okonkwo in a cool, confidence voice. (pg. 103) Personification: the author uses some personifications in this novel for example he talks about yams etc. (pg. 156)

CHARACTERIZATION

1.)Two examples of direct characterization are Okonkwo and Unoka. Son and father are very important to this novel because the author say certain things about them, in straight forward words.  Two characters that had indirect characterization were Obierika and Ikemefuna. These two characters were somewhat important to the plot, but not really. We had to make our own conclusions to figure out their qualities.

2.)  The author's syntax or diction doesn’t change throughout the whole novel. His descriptions about the characters are very simple and straight forward. He says this is how this character is and this is why, period.

3.)The protagonist is a static character. Okonkwo had a lot of pride and because of that he couldn’t see what the real world was about. He wanted things his way and that brought his death.

4.) I myself would like to meet this character because it reminds me of myself. I also have pride, but I know how and when to reason when I have to. I think me and Okonkwo would have been good friends because we think alike and also differences.