Okonkwo's Relevance in Things Fall Apart

Prompt: Why does Achebe choose a tragic hero for his protagonist in his colonial counter narrative? 

How does Achebe use Okonkwo to develop specific themes in Things Fall Apart?

Many literary works have tragic heroes and in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is portrayed as the tragic hero. A tragic hero hero is a literary character whose error in judgment leads to his/her own downfall. Due to Okonwkwo's fate and the error in his judgments, he ended up committing suicide, which I believe is very tragic. An important thing to note would be that Okonkwo himself didn't realise or acknowledge the flaws in his decision but it was rather Obierka who marked these flaws. In that way, Obierka could be a representative of Okonkowo's conscience.

The purpose of Achebe chosing to portray Okonkwo as the tragic hero would be to depict the downfall of a culture, identity and community; in this case it would be the Igbo community. The community was at its peak when Okonkwo's position in his village was at its greatest, the colonizers started to seep into their village when Okonkwo was exiled by the village and finally the colonizers had full control of Umofia village and other neighbouring villages around the same time as when Okonkwo hung himself. This shows how the progress of Okonkwo as a character was parallel to that of the basic storyline. Additionally, Okonkwo was the protagonist in this novel yet he also had numerous flaws which were directly and indirectly stated throughout the novel. Achebe's purpose of doing this was to use Okonkwo as a symbol to portray the Igbo community. The Igbo community had many good qualities and one could even call their society 'ahead of its time,' however Umofia was no utopia and it also had its flaws. From this, it can be concluded that no person, place or society represents utopia and they all have their flaws; some more visible than others. 

Achebe uses Okonkwo to signify any theme that is about to emerge or make an appearance in Things Fall Apart. The main theme in the this novel is fate. Okonkwo committed many sins throughout the novel and he did pay for it however, the one misdeed he was a part of which was not on purpose because the gun was faulty and it shot by itself led to him being exiled. This was the first instance in the novel where the audience sees that fate in not on his side and through this scene in the novel. Achebe demonstrates the theme of fate. There have been events on a minute scale before this main event which showed Okonkwo's misfortune such as his very first yam harvest; that particular year, the rain patterns were very inconsistent which led to a bad harvest. The only difference between the minute scale events and the main event of him being exiled is that Okonkwo didn't suffer too much in those as he did when his gun accidentally shot the boy. 

Word count: 500

What was the most meaningful takeaway from today’s discussion relating to the cultural or literary context of Achebe’s work?

During today's discussion on Achebe's interview and his book, 'Things Fall Apart,' we discussed factual questions, interpretive questions and evaluative questions.

One significant factual question that sparked a discussion was, ' What was the purpose of Achebe writing this book and why was he surprised by the reaction he received?' I believe that Achebe's purpose was to tell the story of his region because he was aware that the rest of the world wasn't and maybe still isn't greatly informed about Nigeria's, Igbo's to be specific, history. He also only chooses to write about his homeland and not other countries, such as America where he resides, because he believes that there are already enough people telling stories about America. He was initially surprised that he received positive responses from people of non- colonised countries. That is when he realised that everyone has faced oppression of some sort, whether it be on a nation wide basis or a one on one interaction.

There are many significant interpretive questions that were discussed. One highly controversial issue was why Mr Brown was name 'Brown' and not any other last name? Did it have any significance? Many people said that because he was portrayed as more of a protagonist even though he was white, the author named him brown to show acceptance by the Igbo community. I think that is a valid point but I don't think that is the main purpose of naming him Brown because firstly, it is a common white name and secondly if the author really wanted the audience to think about the name, he would've named Mr Brown as Mr Black since that would make more sense taking into consideration the region he's from. Another interesting question that came up was, ' What's wrong with showing the negative aspects of Africa?' and one of the many interesting answers that came up was that if one creates a derogatory stereotype about a community, they eventually start to believe it which affects their performance negatively which can lead to a slow development of the community. The next question that was discussed was, ' Do you think that sometimes the people of from post colonised have countries have an overly pessimistic view of the west?' The most agreeable answer was that they have the 'right' to which I do agree with however, I believe that the self proclaimed right is misused at many instances. I believe that there is a big difference between being objectively critical and pessimistic because once you cross the line of being objectively critical, you start seeing flaw in every little thing of the other community. The whole concept of accepting and respecting other cultures, nations and communities is broken down when one starts being pessimistic and I believe that to move forward, it is important for people to stop holding grudges from events that happened years ago. Additionally, if you want your culture to be respected, how can you expect that from a community you're constantly criticising? Coming from a post colonial country and after living in five countries, the major issue I have seen within my own group of friends is that they tend to believe that their culture is most superior iin subtle ways.

An evaluative question that came up during the discussion was: ' Do you agree that one can make a substantial impact in their country without living there?' I believe there are two sides to the answer. For example, Achebe made a significant impact towards his nation and people without living there because he wrote a book and informed many globally about the past of a part of Nigeria, Igboland. In contrast to that, he isn't doing much to change the situation that exists in his country and he himself stated that he would return to Nigeria when it's more safe and liveable because he has a family to think about but I think that is a bit hypocritical that he expects his nation to improve in these aspects but he himself isn't actually contributing towards taking any actions to improve the situation in Nigeria and therefore; I think in this context, Achebe is the opposite character of Okonkwo.

Paper 1- Tryst withe Destiny Speech

Link to the speech: http://www.citehr.com/187478-freedom-midnight-speech-jawaharlal-nehru.html

‘Tryst with Destiny,’ is a speech that was delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, at the parliament house in New Delhi on August 15^th 1947, the day of India’s independence from the British rule. This speech was addressed to the entire nation as it was played on the radio for it to be heard by the Indian crowd. The analysis of this speech will demonstrate how the literary devices and structure of this essay convey Nehru’s message that gaining independence is when the real hard work begins. Additionally, the tone and mood derived from the analysis will set the purpose of this speech, which is to keep the nation motivated to strive for greatness through consistent hard work, for its intended audience.

            The very first paragraph of this speech distinctly addresses the audience by stating, ‘At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will Awake To Life And Freedom,’ which indicated that since the world isn’t the intended audience, they will be asleep and India, the country as a whole, will be awake and listening as they are the intended the audience. Furthermore, the first sentence of the first paragraph contains the pronoun ‘we’ which further groups the people as one and since it was the first day of freedom in India, the feeling of being unified as one nation would’ve been present. By establishing the audience in the first paragraph so the audience is aware that they are the ones the message is addressed to, Nehru makes the forthcoming message of his speech more distinct and precise. The purpose of this speech is to make the audience stay motivated and to serve to the nation to each individual’s best ability; the evidence of this purpose is first mentioned in the second paragraph, ‘It Is Fitting That At This Solemn Moment, We Take The Pledge Of Dedication To The Service Of India And Her People And To The Still Larger Cause Of Humanity.’ In 1947, India had just become a new nation so to prevent the country from having huge fallback the prime minister gave this speech. Also the fact that the very first prime minister was addressing this issue to the Indian public would’ve had a significant impact on the audience. The intended audience fulfills the purpose of working with full output each individual can give as it is only the Indians’ responsibility to move the country in the right direction after independence.

           

The content of this speech brings about the theme of it as well. The speech discusses what the bright future of India will look like and Nehru really emphasizes on striving to do better as seen in the sixth paragraph, ‘That Future Is Not One Of Ease Or Resting But Of Incessant Striving So That We May Fulfill The Pledges We Have So Often Taken And The One We Shall Take Today,’ while also highlighting the issues that are yet to be solved, ‘The Service Of India Means, The Service Of The Millions Who Suffer. It Means The Ending Of Poverty And Ignorance And Poverty And Disease And Inequality Of Opportunity.’ The content leads to the underlying theme that arises which is responsibility and to be more specific, responsibility of each Indian individual towards the nation. The purpose of this theme is to reinstate Nehru’s message of accumulating all the hard work and diligence from the population in order to progress as a nation.

The language used in the speech creates the tone and mood of this text. The overall tone of this text is very inspirational, since Nehru as seen in the fourth paragraph ‘Are We Brave Enough And Wise Enough To Grasp This Opportunity And Accept The Challenge Of The Future,’ fifth paragraph, ‘The Past Is Over And It Is The Future That Beckons Us Now,’ and eighth paragraph, ‘So We Have To Labour And To Work, And To Work Hard, To Give Reality To Our Dreams. Those Dreams Are For India.’ These phrases and many more throughout the entire text creates a positive vibe of responsibility as that is one of the many results of freedom and the author of this speech believes that to properly take on responsibility, the audience needs to be inspired. Additionally, since it is Nehru, a highly revered figure, inspiring and encouraging the nation, the public is more likely to feel the need to take on responsibility. Further more, the mood of this speech is very patriotic. Evidence for this mood is indicated in various phrases throughout the text such as, ‘service of India and her people,’ ‘India discovers herself again,’ ‘birth of freedom,’ ‘dreams are for India,’ ‘It is a fateful moment for us in India,’ ‘And To India, Our Much-Loved Motherland, The Ancient, The Eternal And The Ever-New, We Pay Our Reverent Homage And We Bind Ourselves Afresh To Her Service,’ and the last line, ‘ Jai Hind.’ All these phrases have been consistently used in the speech and evokes an emotion of patriotism amongst the audience and this fulfills the purpose of making the Indian crowd want to develop India as a nation by embracing the responsibility.

This particular speech has a very specific structure and uses a plethora of literary devices. The structure of this text imitates that of a political speech. The first paragraph addresses the audience, the people of India, and the upcoming content, freedom. In addition to that, the first paragraph radiates confidence and affirmation through the phrases such, ‘ we shall’ and, ‘India will.’ The following three paragraphs recounts the struggle for freedom and finally the fifth paragraph is a call to action for every individual to be responsible with the freedom they have acquired. The reason Nehru discusses the struggle of freedom first and then addresses the main issue is because he wants the nation to reminisce the past and to build up the mood of patriotism before placing a duty in front of them to do as this method is more likely to make the nation take on responsibility rather than by throwing this duty to the nation first thing. From that paragraph onwards, Nehru discusses the issues of being a free nation and then every once in a while bringing up the past struggle of freedom, such as in 7^th paragraph, so the audience is repeatedly reminded of the obstacles faced for freedom and through this reminder, the audience will see the responsibility they have to take on as significantly little. Nehru ends off the speech by stating, ‘Jai Hind,’ which means salutation towards India. This final phrase reinstates the mood of patriotism and this is done so the audience accepts their responsibility towards the nation with love and honor towards India.

There are many literary devices used. The very first one is visible in the first sentence, ‘Long years Ago we made a tryst with Destiny,’ and this is an example of anastrophe as tryst could be replaced with a more common word such as promise, and destiny could’ve been replaced with future and this shows a departure from normal word usage for the sake of emphasis. As the sentence progresses, an example of allusion is seen: ‘and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially,’ as this statement refers to the agony part of the partition during the time of freedom making it a short reference to a familiar event. These two literary devices used in the first paragraph do a very good job in evoking emotion by using ethos as it briefly mentions the pain suffered during the time of partition. Since the wounds of that event are still fresh in the people’s minds, it is bound to create a very emotional reaction from their side. In the sixth paragraph, the author states, ‘The future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we have so often taken and the One we shall take today,’ and this is an example of antithesis as the author uses parallel ideas to let the assembly and the people of his country what is and what could be. Further on in that paragraph, and example of polysyndeton is visible, ‘ It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.’ This phrase is used to stress the significance of each word spoken and it serves the purpose of highlighting the prevailing issue of that time. In the last section of the eight paragraph, Nehru says, ‘ Peace is said to be indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments,’ which is an example of anaphora as it repeats the same word at the beginning and successive phrases to stress the importance of what Nehru is saying. The whole basis of the freedom India achieved was on keeping it peaceful therefore Nehru believed that to avoid future internal conflict, stressing on that statement was vital. All the mentioned examples of literary devices play a role in addressing the issue effectively along with the possible solutions. Showing that there is a way forward after freedom gives the audience an incentive to take responsibility.

In conclusion, the tone and mood of this speech, ‘Tryst with Destiny’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, has a great impact on the audience in terms of fulfilling the prime minister’s purpose of motivating the audience, people of India, to continue the hard work. Furthermore, the structure of a political speech and the use anastrophe, allusion, antithesis and polysyndeton plays a significant role in conveying Nehru’s message to its intended audience.