Please italicize the novel title and put the publication year – Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958)

Do not summarize the plot in this reading response.

Please do not use expressions, such as “I think,” “you,” or “we see” in literary analysis papers.

Please do not cite more than 3 lines for each quotation. Use MLA in-text citation style when you mention a character/narrator. Please put the page number of a quotation in parentheses. Do not put the word “page” or “pg.” in parentheses– (i.e.) Achebe describes Okonkwo as a man “possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death.” 

Please read the following questions carefully and provide your detailed analysis with effective textual examples to support your interpretation.

Reading Response to Things Fall Apart (1958)

Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart (1958) centers on the character Okonkwo, a traditional Umuofian who has a strong belief in masculinity, while highlighting the influence of white missionaries and the British colonial power on the clan. Why is it important for Okonkwo to act like a real man on an individual and a societal level? Why did the white man bring a colonial government to Umuofia? Did the colonial government bring peace to the Ibo land? What influence/power does the white man’s court have over the villagers and their way of life? Can the clan’s traditional customs/rules coexist with the white man’s court system? What does Okonkwo think of the influence of the colonizers (i.e. justice/court system, trades, the introduction of Christianity) on the community? Does Okonkwo’s belief in the clan’s traditional culture clash with the new rules imposed by the British colonial power? If so, why? (If not, why not?) What does Okonkwo’s death signify or symbolize in the novel?