Literary Devices in Things Fall Apart Essay

How does Achebe use literary craft to achieve his purpose? (p.3 to p.31)

Locust generally means eating away of an entire crop/feeling/person/ strength, etc. However in Things Fall Apart, Locust symbolizes the destruction of the village by the white colonist. Although they have not caused any problems for the Africans yet, they are descending upon the village to feast and explore the resources available in their surroundings. The way Achebe states the locust emphasizes their presence of the insects because the people of Iglo are surprised by the arrival of the white men in their place. Soon enough, they will begin to find resources and cause trouble and began some sort of war against the Iglo in order to gain power. The use of symbolism shows the readers that there is something dangerous is about to happen as the book progress since the white colonist have just settled down for now.

Yam and folktale are also symbolized for feminine and masculinity. Throughout the book, Okonkwo asks the wealthy clansman for 400 seed yams in order to start a farm. Since his father left him nothing, he had it rough as he had to start from scratch to get to the top. Yam was symbolized a crop grown only by men as the work behind it was intensive and ones farm and harvest states their work ethic and their wealth later on. Okonkwo son seems to be lazy and tends to enjoy listening to his mothers folktale but its something Okonkwo seems to oppose strongly as he believes that it symbolizes femininity. He believes that these false stories are showing too much childish love and affection rather than showing values of morals. He also fears that his son Nwoye is too much like his wives and daughters as hed rather listen to folktale than do manly practices with his father. The use of symbolism shows us that Okonkwo is too focused on being less affectionate and more demanding as he always ignores to associate himself with anything too feminine.

When a lazy man that spends money on useless things owes you a large amount of money, would you go to their house and calmly interact with them in a highly sophisticated manner or would you be really irritated? In Things fall apart, Unoka is known for being embarrassments for his family as he spends his money and never pays back anyone and have not accomplished anything praise worthy in his life. However, When one of his debtor comes back to talk about the money issue, they do not straightforward go into the subject. Achebe use Irony as they both practice their tradition through palm wine and kola nuts to clearly demonstrate the calmness and peacefulness of the customs of Okonkwo. They practice their ancestral spirit then deeply communicate about the problems going around the community as they try to increase their cultural value and decrease any tension between each other. The use of Irony represents that in the Iglo culture, the people respect each other and value their culture more than their status, wealth, etc.