Perspective in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe - 944 Words

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of how one unified Umuofian community falls due to its own inner conflicts, as well as to the arrival of Christian missionaries. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to change the brutish image of Africa, for the Western world. The use of changing perspectives greatly aided Achebe in accurately portraying Africa as colorful, diverse and complex. For Westerners, viewing Africans as more than tribal and barbaric was a new concept, of which Achebe helped usher in. The story is told through the eyes of many Umuofians, which gives the reader a personal sense for the individuals within the tribe. When all the individual pieces of the story are brought together, the sifting perspectives creates a†¦show more content†¦The Commissioner’s detachment is clear, â€Å"As he walked back to the court he thought about that book [. . .] The story of this man who had kills a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting readingâ⠂¬ (209). The perspective of the Commissioner placed next to that of the Umuofians, brings forward the true views of Europeans and Africans of the time. To completely describe Umuofia and its peoples, Achebe had to use shifting perspective to give an individual sense for the community and its actions. Changing perspective also gave a broad view of the tribe, due to all of the individual’s views patched together. Perspective allows the tribe’s many sides and complexities to show through, straight from the source, individual Umuofians. The community is built by every single Umuofian, it takes all of those feelings, opinion, problems, hopes and fears to form Umuofia. A true picture of Umuofia would not have been complete without the individuals who compose Umuofia being represented. Achebe captures the color and richness of this community, and its downfall, by showing the events through the eyes of the very people who make it what it is. Achebe puts Umuofia in it ’s place within the European world, with perspective as well. Europeans think Africa is merely a good story to read about. While the Africans themselves, haveShow MoreRelatedEssay on Global Perspectives in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe944 Words   |  4 PagesWhen I read Things Fall Apart, I had a clear mind of what a life could be like Okonkwo’s. For the rest of the reading, a question was contacting me in different places of the novel. Okonkwo was an angry man in front of his Nigerian tribe and changed when Christian missionaries came to the Ibo village; also, I responded to the book, and my personal applications to a different culture were related to a missionary trip that was a powerful one back in 1956 in Ecuador. As I kept on reading, thereRead MoreImperialism In The 19Th Century Resulted In European Countries1726 Words   |  7 Pagescountries.When Chinua Achebe published Things fall apart in 1958, a novel criticizing the European aspects of imperialism, his aspiration was to teach readers that â€Å"their past-with all its imperfections-was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them†(Chinua Achebe on the Role of the African Writer, 1964). Chinua Achebe helped change the western perception of African culture by using the characters and story of Things Fall Apart to give readersRead MoreThings Fall Apart: The Relationship Between Cultural Relativity and Superiority1352 Words   |  6 PagesBy utilizing an unbiased stance in his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe promotes cultural relativity without forcibly steering his audience to a particular mindset. 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Aniagolu goes on to praise Achebe as â€Å"perhaps the most well-known, most widely read, most translated, and most widely respected modern African writer, novelis t and polemical essayist†, especially considering he as been crowned as the inventor of modern African literature (1). The praise he has receivedRead MoreThings Fall Apart And Heart Of Darkness Analysis910 Words   |  4 PagesApproach to Compare Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness In everyday life, we are always comparing, even subconsciously with even knowing it. When we compare things, we look at what the similarities are in said items such as a popular brand or a generic one. Comparing things such as two literary works, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and, Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, both have a lot of similarities that we will look at. In Things Fall Apart, it is about