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Summary: Things Fall Apart details colonialism in relation to Nigeria
Review: Chinua Achebe writes this novel to inform the reader about the various struggles African culture had to endure in order to avoid total destruction. Not only did the culture survive but the people as well. They continued practicing their own beliefs until death. This was not the case with every person in the Ibo tribe though. Alot of people converted because of the harsh treatment they would be subjected to if they refused accept Christianity. They were taught that their culture and rituals were wrong and uncivilized. They were systematically stripped of any type pride and dignity. Then they were brainwashed with European teachings and ideologies. The novels main character is a man named Onkonkwo. Onkonwko experiences several inner and outer struggles which are symbolic in the novel. Reading this novel will help one understand the power struggle Africans experienced with the introduction of colonialism into Africa.
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Summary: Feminist Implications
Review: This novel could be analyzed and discussed from any of several vantages. I won't re-write the reasons for what everyone else has said - that this is a timeless classic - although that is true. I instead want to recommend this book for any student of women's issues, particularly any African-American student of women's issues, because I am surprised at the lack of discourse on this novel from a feminist point-of-view. As I am using the word, feminist merely means "from a female vantage." This novel is chock full of material which should stimulate discussion on this basis
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Summary: Complexity in simplicity
Review: The language is simple but the ideas and themes conveyed are complex. Achebe is indeed a master of imagery. The rich African culture is highlighted in this novel, the many rituals, festivals and customs compell readers. This book can be read on two levels, firstly for it's simple story, secondly for it's underlying depiction on the harms of European colonisation
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Summary: This book will broaden your horizons.
Review: Chinua Achebe's masterpiece transcends national boundaries, providing a poignant account of societal devastation and of the human condition. In eloquently understated prose, the book exposes many of the horrors that lie buried deep within European colonial and Christian missionary history.
This book should be on the reading list for every high school in America.
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Summary: Beautiful imagery and exotic beliefs make this a must-read.
Review: Chinua Achebe, in "Things Fall Apart", shows the exotic lives and ways of the Ibo people of pre-colonial Nigeria. The ways of the people are so appealing and so well-explained to Western readers, that we feel as though we are gathering yams from the farm, and offering agricultural sacrifice to our long-dead ancestors.
Achebe uses beautiful imagery to show how simplistic life before colonization was. The old-ways of the Ibo tribe are shown to be dogmatic to the main character, Okonkwo, who plays out to be more like a Greek tragic hero than an African farmer. Throughout the novel, are several Ibo words, adding to the strength of the imagery of the Ibo lifestyle.
"Things Fall Apart" is a great read for anyone interested in African culture and/or the colonization effects of Western society.
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Summary: Things Fall Apart is a world classic about colonization
Review: Things Fall Apart is a look into the Ibo world before and after British colonial penetration. It exemplifies the steps of colonization and its devastating implications on native peoples throughout the world whether they are the Maoris of New Zealand or Chicanos in the Southwest
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Summary: Great Book that Documents the British in Africa
Review: Great book that shows that the Ibo Clan before, during, and after the British arrive. Very easy to read and hard to stop reading. The book totally immerses you in the different customs proacticed by the Ibo. Also shows the effect of British laws and religion on the way of life of the African clansmen. I would recommend as a must read
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Summary: Things Fall Apart
Review: Chinua Achebe's 1959 novel, "Things Fall Apart" is an extraordinarily well written and moving work. It explores the traditions and cultural practices of the Ibo people of Nigeria in Western Africa at a moment of dramatic, astounding, horrific transition. Achebe provides us with a narrative seen through the perspective of Okonkwo, a man of quality and power in his village. At the same time, Achebe's deep knowledge of European and American literature and the effects of European cultures on the native culture of Nigeria courses through the novel. "Things Fall Apart" begins with the recounting of Okonkwo's history - his rise from a family with a poor, indolent father to being a wealthy and successful farmer, warrior, and leader. When a neighbouring village offends his own, Okonkwo represents his villages interests in a conference, in which retribution returns with Okonkwo in the form of Ikemefuna, who is sentenced to death, but forms a vital link in Okonkwo's strictly run household between himself and his own son, Nwoye. The action of the novel follows the ramifications of the culturally-demanded execution of Ikemefuna on Okonkwo and his family. Achebe's novel shows an astute sense of awareness of the various political structures of Ibo society. Particularly, gender relations are brought into high relief throughout the novel - the councils led by men; their rank and status signalled in part by the number of wives a man has; and by Okonkwo's insistent, but shielded love for his daughter Ezinma, whom he continually wishes was a man. Relationships between families are complicated with the coming of European colonists whose Christianity and industry endanger the Ibo way of life. With tightly controlled narrative and emotionally understated elegance, Achebe's novel presents a proud individual, Okonkwo, representing the final undisturbed generation of a long-lived people. His internal and external struggles are compelling and for the receptive reader, potentially devastating. A brilliant novel.
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Summary: Good
Review: It really was a plain novel. I wasen't too excited about it because I have read numerous novels with the exact same story line. But I guess you just have to appreciate a good novel when you see one. The only thing that I have against it is that it has too many Ibo words. You would easily think that it was meant for an Ibo audience, even with the glossary. It's not a good thing when you have to go back and check wtih the glossary every other page. It's a good book though - loved the ending.
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Summary: A Difficult, Worthwhile Read
Review: The first time I read this book, I hated it. Just flat hated it. That was my junior year of high school. Flash forward a few years to college, and it's on the reading list again. "Why, oh why?" I moan. Then I read the thing. And you know what I discover? It's a masterpiece. Chinua Achebe describes "Things Fall Apart" as a response to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", which is, comparatively, a denser, perhaps less accessible read. The parallels are there: the ominous drumbeats Marlow describes as mingling with his heartbeat are here given a source and a context. We, as readers, are invited into the lives of the Ibo clan in Nigeria. We learn their customs, their beliefs, terms from their language. Okonkwo, the main character, is the perfect anti-hero. He is maybe Achebe's ultimate creation: flawed, angry, deeply afraid but outwardly fierce. To have given us a perfect hero would have been to sell the story of these people drastically short. Achebe's great achievement is in rendering them as humans, people we can identify with. So they don't dress like Americans, or share our religious beliefs. Who's to say which method is correct, or if there has to be a correct and incorrect way. Achebe provokes thoughtfulness and important questions. His narrative is easy to read structurally, but the story itself is painful and frustrating. It is worthy of its subject. "Things Fall Apart" provoked some of the best classroom discussions I've ever experienced. As a reader, it has enriched my life. My thanks to Achebe for his marvelous contribution to literature. This book has a permanent place on my shelves.
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