Characterization In Things Fall Apart Essay

Things Fall Apart Essay

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe contains the literary technique of characterization. All books in literature contain characters, a literary element, but the authors choice to incorporate characterization helps to build the characters. Achebe uses the technique of characterization to aid the readers in understanding the main characters in his novel. Characterization is important because it shows a characters true feeling and personality. The characters Okonkwo, Ekwefi, and the clan as a whole are developed in Things Fall Apart by the literary technique of characterization.

The main character, Okonkwo, is portrayed throughout the novel as a round character. A round character is one who encounters conflict and is changed by it. To create this type of round character, Achebe first reveals Okonkwo as a strong, unemotional, wealth driven man. Okonkwo is characterized as being selfish because he only strives to be the opposite of his father, who was weak. Okonkwo will do anything so he will not be seen as weak, fearful, or powerless. Achebe shows Okonkwos fear of being weak in the quote, Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. (Achebe 61). Okonkwo is characterized in this quote as being the type of person who will do anything so that others will not think of him as weak. Even though it meant killing someone who was like a son to him, Okonkwo cared more about himself then someone who called him father. Further in the book, when Chielo took Okonkwos daughter, Ezinma, into the forest a different side of Okonkwo is shown. Okonkwo decides to follow after Ekwefi, who is following Ezinma. Although it is not directly stated, the author uses indirect characterization to show the caring side of Okonkwo, and that he is worried about his wife and daughter. This side of Okonkwo is not shown often, but that scene is used to characterize him as protective and caring. As the novel progresses, Okonkwo becomes banished from his clan and is sent to his mother clan for seven years. When the missionaries come into the village Achebe shows Okonkwos strong and power driven characteristics by his want to physically harm the people. Ironically the characterization at the end of the novel reveals Okonkwo to be a weak and powerless man because he committed suicide. Through this quote, He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he was told, had gained ground. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the clan. (171). The repetition of he had lost in this quote shows the characterization of brokenness Achebe gives Okonkwo. Through the characterization of Okonkwo Achebe reveals that one should not focus their life on fear. Ones life should be led by hope, and this was something Okonkwos life did not follow.

Although the characterization of Okonkwo was most prominent, Achebe developed the character Ekwefi using characterization also. Ekwefi was shown through the beginning of the book as a strong woman, who had suffered great hardships. She lost many children and suffered constant beating from Okonkwo. Achebe characterizes Ekwefi as this strong woman in the quote, Ekwefi was a woman of forty-five who had suffered a great deal in her time. (40). Ekwefi is also characterized by the author as very protective. She is protective over her one and only daughter, Ezinma, and does not want any harm to happen to her. This trait of Ekwefi is shown in the quote, She hurried through Okonwkos hut and went outside. Where are you going? he asked. I am following Chielo(103). Through this indirect characterization, the reader sees how much Ekwefi is devoted to her daughter. Chielo took her daughter and went somewhere with her. Because her daughter mean so much to her, Ekwefi risked getting in trouble to make sure her daughter was safe. This shows that Ekwefi was a very protective and caring mother. The character of Ekwefi directly contradicts what the Igbo people believe of women. They believe that women are weak, powerless, fearful, and of less importance than males. Ekwefi is strong because she is still able to be a functioning good mother after losing multiple children. She has power over her daughter and Ekwefi is not afraid of getting punished or harmed by following her only daughter into the forests at night. The character of Ekwefi is portrayed by Achebe as a foil to the stereotype of women in the Igbo tribe. The agenda that Achebe reveals through this characterization is that a person does not have to follow his/her stereotype and has the power to be his/her own individual being.

Along with Okonkwo and Ekwefi, the characterization of the Umuofia tribe was also shown through Things Fall Apart. Within the first twenty or so pages of the novel, the clan was depicted as an organized and structured group of people. Achebe revealed them to have their own system of government and leadership. This leadership of the clan is shown through the quote, At lastand then thousand men answered Yaa! each time. Then there was perfect silence. (10). The clan is characterized by this quote as being obedient and respectful. When the conflict with the missionaries first arrives, the clan acts as one stable unit. The characterization of the clan changes once the missionaries become permanently settled into the Umuofia clans land. All the organization and balance the clan had started to dissolve because of the influence of the white men. Achebe characterized this change through Okonkwos feelings, He mourned for his clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women. (183). This quote shows how the clan lost some of its essential foundations and was falling apart. The simile comparing the clan to women tells the readers that the clan became weak. The Umuofia clan was first characterized as structured but then became unorganized and unmotivated by the end of the novel. The bias that Achebe reveals through the characterization of the clan is that even through hardships, people must stick together and remember for what they stand.

Chinua Achebes novel Things Fall Apart contains the literary technique of characterization. Characterization is the authors means of conveying the personality, values, and attributes of a character to a reader. Achebe uses characterization to reveal to the reader the characters of his book. Also, Achebe uses the characterization to address different bias. The literary technique of characterization is used to develop the characters Okonkwo, Ekwefi, and the clan as a whole in Things Fall Apart.