Literary Analysis Paper for Point of View for book “Things Fall Apart”

“Things Fall Apart” is a legendary piece of literature, due to its significant importance, in the ranks of arts, this story, represented various realities of life in a creative way. However, the key message of this story signified the tendency of change, which is embedded in the very fabric of human life. This book depicted the phenomenon of change, through describing different events taking place in a community of nine villages (Achebe).

The central role this artwork is Okonkwo who is very strong individual in physical terms. Due to this reason, he is the legitimate leader of his society before he committed a murder of a boy, which led towards his painful departure. The story also showed the ruthlessness of humans based on cultural belief, which motivated Okonkwo to kill a helpless child (Achebe).
Humans are being discouraged from fulfillment of their dreams in the name of religion, culture and fate for number of centuries. Consequently, few people are controlling the future of others whereas; most of the humanity is committed towards managing the routine. In the view of this essay, people like Okonkwo are present in our lives also, but they are hiding behind some noble cause. Humanity should seek them out, in order to evolve towards a better future.

In addition to the realism, Achebe deployed a wide range of artistic techniques to make the tale interesting for the readers. However, symbolism is used when Okonkwo’s wife named her children with words and phrases that are active pleas for divine mercy. However, mercy did not come her way and her children kept on dying. Achebe also managed to employ various creative techniques in order to support the major theme of change in human life.

However, the story started with calm and silent existence of the villagers but with the passage of problems initiated to emerge and grow in intensity. Nevertheless, the major incident was the murder of a young man that resulted in exile of Okonkwo, which assisted the plot to reach a highest point of tension. Afterwards, the subtle change started to take place in the lives of the villagers. This change fundamentally emanated from fluxed religious system of the society, where priests played a significant role in attracting the people towards the concept one God (Vokes).
Achebe used connotative language as a tool to describe the natural environment of at an initial stage of the story. However, the most prominent feature of this book is artistic transition of various events into other more significant ones (Morris and McClure). More especially the mishap that led to the departure of Okonkwo towards his motherland caused the ingredient of tension and tragedy to appear realistic.

Achebe through this novel signified the presence of a continuous change in human life. However, the central character of the story is a steady individual. But, life kept on testing him by putting him through various incidents.

At the same time, religious beliefs of the people experienced a forced transition towards Christianity. During the course of this story, the villages transformed into a unified force, because of the externalities they faced. Achebe successfully demonstrated the role of danger, as a catalyst in the process of unification in societies.

In the beginning, communal characteristics of the society showed to be primitive because of people’s beliefs in spirits and ghosts. However, with the passage of time, villagers started to believe in logic and a permanent social system initiated to affirm its roots within the minds of villagers (Achebe).

The most important characteristic of a successful fiction is its realism because, with the help of this feature a reader can readily connect his or her life with the literature, which helps reader in applying the message of literature to a real life setting. “Things Fall Apart” quite successfully demonstrated the existence of a continuous change in human life, through creating different incidents in the life of Okonkwo.

By the end of the story, villagers also transformed into better human beings by negating the presence of supernatural creatures because of vigilant guidance of priests, which compelled them to believe in one God.

On the other hand, Achebe emphasized on personal freedom by transforming an imaginary collectivist society into individualistic one. The basic purpose of social transition in the story is to highlight the rewards of freedom in front of those who are suffering from the pains of psychological slavery.

References
Achebe, C. Things Fall Apart (1959)
Morris, P and M McClure. “The Assessment of Changes in Intercultural Sensitivity Among Undergrad Students in the College of Agriculture: Measurement Over Three Semesters.” The International Journal of Diversity in Organisations, Communities and Nations 10(6) (2011): pp. 170-181.
Vokes, R. “Rethinking Anthropology of Religious Change: New Perspectives on Revitalization and Coversion Moments.” Reviews in Anthropology (2007): pp.311-333.