Literary features in　< things fall apart>

　　Journal # 4.Literary features in Things fall apart. 　
　　The book things fall apart had an interesting style of writing. The story itself and the language used to narrate the story where not well polished and smooth. We both thought that Chinua Achebe didn’t get into many details, nor did he work on his writing skills too much. The whole story seemed a little ambiguous, as if it is a very long ago myth. We did not see much descriptions going on, like those you’ll find in most literature. But instead, we noticed that the whole book was pretty much explaining ‘this happened and that happened’, without making a strong enough impression in our minds. I think the author is trying to express something by the style of writing. Maybe to convince us that this isn’t fiction, but part of the history. 　 小荷作文网 www.zww.cn
　　As Brianna pointed out, Okonkwo lived out a myth. There is no actual account of his existence except this novel. And myths, tend to start in the middle of the hero’s life, briefly explaining what happened before this time and continues to narrate the rest of the hero’s life. The first chapter started by telling us how famous Okonkwo was and his goal was to be more famous. Now the former probably strengthened his position of a hero, and the latter is what hero will search for. Thus, we were told the rest of his journey. A hero often needed to be in a stage where he fights with his own personal weaknesses. And in Okonkwo’s case, he battled with himself till the very moment he died in the battling process.　Much Nigerian cultural backgrounds could be observed and stated. Some may seem bizarre and ridiculous. According to the tone when introducing these religious and traditional rules, I think Achebe did not approve these traditions. Like men could have multi wives and could constantly beat them up but don’t get punished. Like how the society valued men’s worth by simply looking at their number of titles (that’s what Okonkwo was working for all his life.) But I don’t think we should judge any culture, since no one should be considered primitive just because of that. 　 小 荷 作文网 www.zww.cn
　　Culture had a very deep effect in characters and their personalities. As for Okonkwo, he lived under his father’s shadow during his childhood. He hated to be seen as a cast model of his father. So he tried so hard to earn fame, earn respect so that he would be treated differently than his father, that he would be seen differently from that lazy, weak man. 　“Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” Brianna also brought up the idea that what we experience during childhood will leave a deep mark in the unconscious side of our personalities which will definitely dramatically affect the way we treat others and handle situations later in life. I don’t remember where this idea first came from, Sigmund Freud or Karl Jung. Okonkwo’s personality was definitely affected by this; his fear was to show his fear. And his character weakness was that he was afraid to show weakness. Those are, what made him a tragic hero. 　
　　“His life had been ruled by a great passion—to become one of the lords of the clan. That had been his life-spring. And he had all but achieved it. Then everything had been broken.” 　
　　Okonkwo went through turns and twists in his life. Unlikely of a hero story, he didn’t not get something better than he was looking for. Infact, I don’t think he left the world with anything but anger. He lost Ikemefuna, the one he was especially fond of. He lost his son, Nwoye, the one he didn’t have much faith in. He tried so hard to gain fame and respect, but was cast out the tribe for seven years. During this time, he didn’t change. He was still that stubborn angry man he used to be. Though everything fell apart, he was not the kind of person to give up. His life was well planned, he imagined all the things he would do once back with his group, but events did not follow the plans. He certainly didn’t learn anything from his life. And that is what confuses me the most, what is the author trying to express? 　
　　“He had already chosen the title of the book, after much though: The pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.” 　
　　From what I’ve read in the analysis, I came into conclusion that Okonkwo was just an unimportant element of the story. The main point Achebe was trying to make through telling the story of Okonkwo was that the Africans were not what we think as primitive, simple and backward. The society was rather complex and people in the society had personal emotions, struggles just like the rest of us. And it is certainly not right for the British to butt in and try to change that by forcing them participate in the development of Christianity. Achebe told the unnoticed history and corrected the twisted reality.