Style in Things Fall Apart Essay

Chinua Achebe is a writer who uses colorful vocabulary to make one feel as though they are witnessing one of his works first hand. His style of writing is different than that of many writers. He does not use many words to get his point across but he also is very plain is his writing. He does not talk much about anything other than what he is trying to address to the reader. Achebe is an African writer and addresses Africa in many of his works, however he is very aware of the many different cultures around the world.

In Achebes novel Things Fall Apart Okonkwo is a rough, tough man living in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwos father was known as a woman. He was a man who always borrowed money and never paid it back. All Okonkwos father would do all day was play his flute and drink palm wine, he never did any manly farm work or supported his family. As Okonkwo matured he resented his father and never wanted to be anything like him. As his live progressed he was dominated by the fear of being similar to his father and angry for the life he lived because of his father.

Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. And so Okonkwo was ruled by one passion-to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved. One of these things was gentleness and the other was idleness. (13)

With the following quote Achebe shows how Okonkwo feels towards his father and why he seems to be angry all of the time. The quote states that maybe Okonkwo was not a cruel man by nature. But all of his life he has witnessed first hand what it was like to be a loser in the town of Umuofia. Okonkwo did not want to be anything like his father. In order for Okonkwo to ensure that he did not turn out to be like his father he based his life on fear and anger. He was fearful of even the slightest resemblance to his father and angry for the childhood he lived under his fathers roof.

Achebes essay Language and the Destiny of Man is an essay that is written in order to show how language is evolving and shaping the destiny of mankind. The essay is very straightforward and is written with many references to Africa, but at the same time he addresses the many civilizations around the world. When Achebe writes he is very straight to the point and doesnt do any beating around the bush.

In his long evolutionary history, man has scored few greater successes than his creation of human society. For it is on that primeval achievement that he has built those special qualities of mind and of behaviour which, in his own view at least, separate him from lower forms of life. If we sometime tend to overlook this fact it is only because we have lived so long under the protective ambience of society that we have come to take its benefits for granted.

This quote taken from Language and the Destiny of Man tells the reader that the creation of the human society is one of the greatest accomplishments ever. It states that man is superior to any other species because of this creation. Achebe also says that man tends to forget how important the creation of human society is to the survival of man. Achebe states that it may be due to the fact that man has lived so long in his perfect world that man has taken these ways of life for granted.

When one reads any of Achebes works one always learns something new. His writing tells a story, but also informs the reader of the many importances of life. Achebes Language and the Destiny of Man informs the reader of how language can be the reason man is still alive today, but it is being corrupted and may as well be the reason man does not exist in the future. In Achebes novel Things Fall Apart he tells a story of a man who is the toughest in the land when it comes to physical strength, but when his town is being overrun and there is nothing he can do he begins to fall apart mentally. When reading any of Achebes works one will feel as though they have read a story as well as an informational essay.