Communicating with Words in Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart

Words are the most complex, yet simple form of communication between human beings. They form an eternal bond to the future by preserving ideas from the past and present. Just as a picture depicts a specific event, words form sentences that can enlighten that event in greater detail. It is the writer’s responsibility to choose the most appropriate way to organize words into a painting of a stunning sunset or a thesis of scientific theory. The beauty of words is that there is neither a wrong nor correct way to use them. One common way to use words in African culture is in proverbs. These short sayings employ folk tales and everyday occurrences to offer the wisdom necessary to explain crucial rudimentary morals. Chinua Achebe states in his novel, Things Fall Apart, that â€Å"†¦proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.† (7). Interpreting this in such a way so that eating words is a metaphor for gaining knowledge, proverbs act as the fuel, or moving force, of African life. Conversation in the Ibo culture is highly valued because it exposes the intentions of who is speaking. Proverbs are used to justify the opinions and motives of the speaker by using words of wisdom. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, is an ideal example of someone using proverbs to show the necessity of an intelligent conversation. In order to talk Okoye into lending him more money he says, â€Å"’Our elders say that the sun will shine on those who stand before it shines on those who kneel under them.’† (7). ThisShow MoreRelatedThings Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe740 Words   |  3 PagesBefore Things Fall Apart was published, most novels about Africa had been written by Europeans, and they largely portrayed Africans as savages who needed to be enlightened by Europeans. For example, Joseph Conrads classic tale Heart of Darkness (1899), one of the most celebrated novels of the early twentieth century, presents Africa as a wild, dark, and uncivilized continent. In Miste r Johnson (1939), which in 1952 Time called the best novel ever written about Africa (Cheerful para. 15), IrishmanRead MoreAnimal Farm Paradox Analysis1013 Words   |  5 Pagesgrammatical components in order to give the writing a sense of balance (Parallelism). It typically applies repetition within the sentence, supplying an aspect of rhythm or flow to the piece, which can be utilized by the author to emphasize certain things (Parallelism). Function: The primary function of parallelism is to supply sentences with balance and rhythm, giving the sentence a steady flow (Parallelism). The steady flow created through repetition in parallelism can serve to help the author emphasizeRead MoreCross Cultural Translation By Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart And Eva Hoffman s Lost Essay1934 Words   |  8 Pagesliterature are Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation. In these texts the authors’ use contrasting cultures to dismantle Eurocentric, or in the case of Lost in Translation west-centric, points of view. When discussing Things Fall Apart the focus of this paper will be primarily on commonalities found between cultures, primarily religion and systems of justice. Both texts then show language as a universal means of expression, with strong cultural meanings in Things Fall ApartRead MoreThings Fall Apart2539 Words   |  11 PagesSociety (Things Fall Apart) Women are often thought of as the weaker, more vulnerable of the two sexes. Thus, women’s roles in literature are often subdued and subordinate. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, women are repressed by an entrenched structure of the social repression. Women suffer great losses in this novel but, also in certain circumstances, hold tremendous power. Achebe provides progressively changing attitudes towards women’s role. At first glance, the women in Things Fall Apart may