What does Chinua Achebe address in things fall apart?

Answer 1

The last paragraph centers around the Commissioner in Lower Niger.

There are 179 words in the paragraph.

There are 800 characters without spaces.

There are 978 characters with spaces.

There are 12 sentences

There is one sentence fragment in the paragraph.

There are

66 a's

12 b's

22 c's

29 d's

91 e's

19 f's

17 g's

61 h's

61 i's

0 j's

8 k's

25 l's

26 m's

51 n's

63 o's

13 p's

0 q's

44 r's

38 s's

82 t's

23 u's

6 v's

18 w's

0 x's

8 y's

1 z.

There are 3 commas.

The commissioner went away. It doesn't specifically say where the commissioner went away to, or away from. One could assume the author was talking about away from the messenger who spoke last. However, the commissioner could also be going away from Obierika, Okonkwo's best friend who continues to drown himself in remorse. He could simply be going away from Okonkwo's body. He could be going away from all of these.

The commissioner is a man, as shown by the use of masculine pronouns, him, he.

The commissioner has soldiers. He has multiple soldiers. He probably has more soldiers than are immediately stated there. He has at least 4 soldiers. It doesn't say if the messenger is included as a soldier. He probably brought multiple soldiers since he didn't know if Okonkwo would try to kill more people. It doesn't say what weapons they have. You would assume guns, but it could also be knives. Maybe they have guns and knives. Perhaps they also have hammers. It doesn't say what type of uniforms they wear, but since they're soldiers you assume that they would wear uniforms for easy identification.

The commissioner has worked for many years to bring 'civilization' to Africa. It makes you wonder what civilization is. If the civilization in Africa was considered true civilization, could he bring it back to Europe? Does this imply there is no civilization in different parts of Africa? If other countries brought civilization to Africa would it compete with his civilization? Would he consider these other civilizations civilization? Achebe used the words 'different parts'. This does imply that there is more than 1 part. Indeed, the use of 'different parts' implicitly implies at least three different parts of Africa. One wonders what the commissioner considers parts. Or are these parts as considered by the author? Perhaps the commissioner's and author's definition of the word 'parts' differ. One could be talking about different landscapes, such as desert, lakes, tundra, whereas another could be talking about geographic parts. As the author is speaking we have to assume the author's definition, which is not implicitly defined in the paragraph. This sentence also implies that the commissioner is not from these parts of Africa. It could be assumed that the commissioner is from Europe, though that may not be true. The Commissioner might be from Northern Africa, or other 'civilized' areas of Africa, such as Egypt. Indeed, the District Commissioner might even be African, or Middle Eastern as opposed to the commonly assumed Caucasian.

The commissioner has learned many things during these years. This leads you to believe that the Commissioner is an educated man. He believes social status can be lost through actions.

Okonkwo hanged himself in a tree. In order to cut him down, you would need a knife of some sort, perhaps a machete.

The Comissioner thinks about writing his book. It seems that he has not started writing the book yet, or is maybe perhaps only at the note taking portion of his book writing exercise. He believes that every day brings new material to his book.

Notice how the Commissioner talks about putting Okonkwo in merely a paragraph in his book. However, Okonkwo is the star of this book! The commissioner uses the thought a reasonable paragraph. One now wonders what makes up a 'reasonable' paragraph. Is there such a thing as an unreasonable paragraph? The Commissioner refers to the Igbo as 'primitive,' and claims that they could undergo 'Pacification'. The title of the book seems to imply the necessity of pacifying the tribes.

Answer 2

The District Commissioner thinks that Okonkwo is not worth a chapter in his book, and yet this entire book is about Okonkwo. The District Commissioner has toiled in bringing civilization to the land, and yet in doing so he has broken apart Igbo society.

Answer 3

At the end of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo kills one of the messengers sent to stop the villagers' meeting. As the other messengers get away, Okonkwo realizes that his village will not fight back. Rather than be imprisoned and executed by the colonialists, he kills himself.

Answer 4

Things Fall Apart addresses a variety of issues including

• the treatment of women in Africa
• societal expectations
• crime and punishment
• courtesy
• interaction of different cultures and religions
• father issues

Answer 5

Things Fall Apart is called Things Fall Apart because that is exactly what happens. The Igbo's way of life, and the way Okonkwo's life was just fell apart mainly because of Colonization.

Answer 6

Achebe addresses a variety of issues, including child raising, dealing with European colonialism, and cultural pride.

Answer 7

go to spark notes, they have every chapter summary and explain the key points.

Answer 8

what is the central conflict of the story