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Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
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Big Ideas for 2nd Quarter
power of story
discovering purpose, passion, and leadership potential
dignity, integrity, self-respect
determination
power through conviction
responsibility
innovation
Themes
Story is a basic principle of the mind. One story helps make sense of another.
The stories we hear and the stories we tell shape who we are and who we become.
The power of stories and poetry is lost if we don't listen.
The power of leadership can come from within - not from what we do, but from who we are.
Literature inspires. Language leads.
Leadership can be a magnet or a beacon rather than a bullhorn or an organizational hierarchy.
Effective leaders share similar qualities.
Out of adversity comes strength of character.
Character counts.
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1. Compare Obierika to Okonkwo. Obierika is a man "who thinks about things." Consider Obierika as a kind of foil to Okonkwo --a parallel or contrasting character. Note the instances when Okonkwo fails to heed the advice of others, especially of Obierika: what are the consequences? Three times in Part I, Okonkwo breaks Igbo taboos: what drives him to do so in each case? What are the consequences to Okonkwo, to his family, and to his community?
2. Even though Achebe works to educate his readers about African culture and to combat demeaning stereotypes, he does not present Igbo society as ideal or perfect. Part I of Things Fall Apart is a complex, sometimes critical portrait of this culture. What aspects of pre-colonial Igbo culture does Achebe seem to question or criticize? How does Achebe use characters like Obierika, Okonkwo, and Nwoye to offer such social criticism of Igbo society? How do the people of Umuofia react to change?
3. In what way(s) can Things Fall Apart be considered a "response" to depictions of Africans in Western literature such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness--or other images of Africa as portrayed in the Western media, film, books, etc., with which you are familiar? How does Achebe's novel "correct" such European depictions of Africa and Africans, and offer the reader an Afrocentric (Africa-centered), rather than a Eurocentric (or Western-centered), perspective? (For help, see Achebe's "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness")
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Quotations
"...only the story...can continue beyond the war and the warrior. It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters. It is the story...that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind. Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story; rather it is the story that owns us and directs us." Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
"In choosing to quote Irish poet William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming," Achebe implies that the process of cultural breakdown is not limited to Ibo society but is - to use a word Achebe dislikes - universal. For the society as a whole, the process of falling apart is never final." Novel Study Guide, HBJ
We don't know one-tenth of the stories knocking about. But if you want to understand a people's experience, life and society, you must turn to their stories. I am constantly looking for that moment when an old story suddenly reveals a new meaning." Chinua Achebe
"Story is a basic principle of mind. Most of our experience, our knowledge, and our thinking is organized as stories. The mental scope of story is magnified by projection - one story helps us make sense of another." Mark Turner, cognitive scientist. The Literary Mind: The Origins of Thought and Language
"Literature, whether handed down by word of mouth or in print, gives us a second handle on reality… [It enables] us to encounter in the safe, manageable dimensions of make-believe the very same threats to integrity that may assail the psyche in real life."
Chinua Achebe
"The world is big. Some people are unable to comprehend that simple fact. They want the world [and its peoples to be] just like them and their friends, its places like the manicured little patch on which they live. But this is a foolish and blind wish. Diversity is not an abnormality but the very reality of our planet."
Chinua Achebe, Bates College Commencement Address 27 May 1996
"Americans have their vision; we have ours. We do not claim that ours is superior; we only ask to keep it."
Chinua Achebe
"Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so slightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners."
Virginia Woolf
It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.
"Invictus" Henley
There was a child went forth every day;
And the first object he look'd upon, that object he became;
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many years, or stretching cycles of years.
"There Was a Child Went Forth" from Leaves of Grass Walt Whitman
I am a part of all that I have met.
"Ulysses" A.L. Tennyson
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Writing for Week 7:
Character Analysis Essay and Public Speaking (Not a choice)
Writing Due Friday: Character Analysis
Use this character analysis chart as a pre-write, analyze Achebe's character development of Okonkwo and the minor characters in Things Fall Apart. Note the function of the major and minor characters, character development, motives and causes for action, and describe the function of the moral dilemmas in the novel.
Another character analysis chart
Speaking--all speaking engagements should last five to ten minutes.
Recite a poem, speech, or excerpt from a speech or essay from this unit.
Analyze poetry using Think-Pair-Share.
After reading the quotations on the power of story and the selected texts, remember five stories from your life that tell what's most important about you (your character, your motivation, your compassion, your passions, your humor, your friendships, etc.). Share one or more with your classmates. How will you use these stories in the future? Be sure to watch Ira Glass on Storytelling #1 (5 min 24 sec).
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Other Things To Read, View, or Watch
Achebe, Chinua. "The Role of the Writer in a New Nation".
Hughes, Langston. "Mother to Son".
Hayden, Robert. "Those Winter Sundays".
Stevens, Cat. "Father and Son". Discussion.
Whitman, Walt. "There Was a Child Went Forth"
Whitman, Walt. "One's Self I Sing"
Henley, William Ernest. "Invictus"
Tennyson, Alfred Lloyd. "Ulysses"
"Joseph Campbell--On Becoming an Adult." Retreived from YouTube.com. Uploaded by campbellfoundation on Jul 1, 2010. http://youtu.be/aGx4IlppSgU. (5:40).
http://youtu.be/kKH1O7y8WXA
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