Things Fall Apart

The Feast of the New Yam can be described as a way of praising the earth goddess and the clan's ancestral spirits before harvest began. It was traditional to not allow anyone to consume the new yams until this was complete and was further described as Achebe suggests, "Men and women, young and old, looked forward to the New Yam Festival because it began the season of plenty- the new year," (36). Similar to other New Year customs, these people use the Feast of the New Yam to mark the start of a new beginning and making improvements. The old yams are thrown out and the new yams are supposedly healthier and fresh. The old yams were symbolic of old/ bad habits, and the new crops represent resolutions and a chance to start over. Similar to present day, the New Year is a joyous celebration and is a time for excitement and relief. The great wrestling match occurs on the second day of the celebration and serves as a connection between the people of Okonkwo's village and their neighbors.

Okonkwo's duty is to stay alive so that he and his family may go back to their village.

Abame was massacred in revenge for the killing of a white man on an iron horse.

Abame was foolish for killing a man who said nothing.

The men of Abame, being foretold that white men would bring doom to their village, foolishly killed a white man and his horse, tying the horse to a tree.

In response, three white men and a very large numbers of other men surrounded the market, then opened fire. Everybody at the market place was killed except the old and the sick who were at home and a handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake and brought to the market.

Depending on who they were, generally Okonkwo's voice, although sometimes his grunts, his snoring, his advice, or his rage. Rarely, his gun.

Many of the osu (outcasts) become converts, and as Christians help bring Christianity to other villages.

No, in the sense that it is being used. While it is true that Okonkwo was ignorant of colonialist customs and traditions before they came, the same could be said about the District Commissioner about the Igbo tribes and customs. The entire book of Things Falls Apart shows a deep complicated culture, with a full judicial system, social norms, stories, proverbs, songs, and ritual.

Okonkwo is only ignorant in the sense that everyone is ignorant, and a native by the fact that he had not emigrated to another country.

Okonkwo's people are very culturally bound by special rules and practices. Okonkwo is a very traditional man. His culture emphasizes the importance of manhood. We know that Okonkwo has fought many people which shows he's not afraid of getting hurt. If you combine his cultural values and his experience as a fighter it is safe to assume that Okonkwo is a fearless fighter.

If you see someone doing something unusual, there must be an unusual cause.

A toad must be threatened in order to run in the daytime. Toads do not like to run in the daytime because it is hot, and they tend to be lazy.

This is later expounded when Okika says "Whenever you see a toad jumping in broad daylight, then know that something is after its life."

Answer 2:

It is directly related to the Igbo community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria, where a proverb is portraying their traditional ideas and truths that shape day-to-day Igbo life. These principles are often expressed through indirect language and symbols in the following examples:

* A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing."

* The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree tothe ground said: "I would praise myself if no one else did."

* [Because] men have learned to shoot without missing, [Eneke the bird] has learned to fly without perching."

* "You can tell a ripe corn by its look."

These traditional expressions demonstrate the great respect and courtesy that the Igbo people show to one another because the speaker uses veiled language when making comments about herself (in the lizard example, not allowing creative to find expression for self-gratification and the bird example, for avoiding the question); from the toad prince (in the toad example, that was lured away from the norm by Magnificence); the person he is addressing (in the corn example for instance could be saying that you would recognize an Artist by the way they look.) This symbolic language represents a high level of cultural sensitivity and sophistication.

An especially significant concept is the belief in personal chi at its simplest level; chi parallels the Western concept of soul, although chi is a more complex idea. The Igbo believe that an individual's fate and abilities for the coming life are assigned to the chi, and each individual is given a chi by the Creator (Chukwu) at the moment of conception.

Before each reincarnation, the individual bargains for improved circumstances in the next relationship with Chi...

The chi thus becomes one's personal god that guides one to fulfill the expected destiny. On the one hand, the individual is ruled by his chi, but on the other hand, only the individual can make the most of the fate planned through the chi, and in turn rule Chi in a symbiotic dance of balance and bliss ... Together!

Shine on!

Umuofia was a single village of the 9 Igbo villages.

Polygamy.

Jake Sully would probably be compared to Nwoye, a man who found a different culture and then adapted to it, casting away his old life regretfully.

Nwoye is Okonkwo's first son, and serves as a contrast to the manliness of the Igbo his father exemplifies.

Nwoye's like for the feminine, in particular the stories his mother tells, causes him to not relate well with his father. Further, Okonkwo expects him to be as strong as he was, and to have taken a woman by now, but he is not as strong, and has not yet taken a woman. Okonkwo fears that Nwoye will be like his grandfather Unoka, who was a lazy drunkard debtor and tied without title or property.

Agbala is the oracle of the hills and caves who speaks to the people through her priestess.

Enoch was a bold Christian who challenged the tribe on their traditions. His father was the leader of the snake cult, and it was rumored that Enoch killed and ate the python, getting cursed and disowned by his father. Enoch kills an egwugwu, sparking off tensions between the tribe and the Christians.

The priestess is a woman who communes with a particular oracle or god. The priestess could commune with the dead whom had been committed to the earth.

For most of the book, Chielo is the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves, for Umuofia. In earlier times, a woman called Chika is the priestess.

Achebe shows us how rituals and religion can be both a positive and a negative influence in Things Fall Apart. Sadly, people with different religions can be torn apart by their respective, conflicting beliefs.

While listening to his father's war stories, he realizes that to be manly he should enjoy these stories. However, he knows that he secretly enjoys his mother's stories more, even though by manly standards they are for foolish women and children. He also wants to please his father by being manly.

Okonkwo disowns Nwoye after he joins the Christians, claiming Nwoye is no longer his son, no longer his children's brother. Okonkwo tells his children, "You have all seen the abomination of your brother."

Okonkwo regrets that Ezinma was born a girl.

Ani is the Earth Goddess and the owner of all land. She is the ultimate judge of morality and conduct. She is the source of all fertility. She was in close communion with the departed fathers of the clan.

Mbaino is the village which Ikemefuna lives in before he is forced to live with Okonkwo in Umuofia in order to repent his father's crime.

It is significant because in essence, things begin to "fall apart" for Okonkwo after Ikemefuna is killed by Umuofia. Okonkwo becomes haunted by his choice to kill Ikemefuna. In fact, Ikemefuna's death begins Okonkwo's downfall.

Unoka was afflicted with swelling of the stomach and limbs, before he was left to die in the Evil Forest by the villagers.

Okonkwo breaks the sacred Peace of Ani, also known as the Week of Peace, by beating Ojiugo, his third wife. He is forced to sacrifice to the goddess and repent.

His neighbours look down upon Okonkwo for the sacrilege, and also for not being outwardly repentant, as they think he is not genuinely repenting.

Okonkwo takes great pride in her daughter and believes that he is the child that best knows his own thoughts. She is the first surviving daughter with his wife Ekwefi.

Okonkwo often wishes Ezinma were a boy.

He is inwardly fond of her; her beauty is like her mother's was when she was the Village Beauty.