Things Fall Apart And Nwoye
Family plays a quintessential role in our development as individuals: from cultivating our personalities, to influencing our behaviours, to setting our core beliefs and values. However, as time passes, it becomes part of our innate nature to question these foundations set by our familiesー foundations that have held us up for the majority of our young lives. This concept of family values is a focal point in Chinua Achebe's riveting novel Things Fall Apart and is explored through the character Nwoye. When comparing the life of Nwoye with Achebe's own life, we discover that he is developing the idea that while family sets the initial building blocks in place for how we perceive the world, as we mature and gain new life experiences, we begin to
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For Nwoye and Achebe these values set the basis for our identity to be built upon. Nwoye is brought up with traditional Igbo values. His father, Okonkwo, stresses the importance of not being seen as “a woman” (65) and frowns upon feminine qualities such as being sensitive, emotional and sympathizing with others. Furthermore, he is told “stories of violence and bloodshed” (53) which emphasize masculinity and violence. Despite Nwoye more gentle, sympathetic nature and a preference for the “stories his mother used to tell” (53), he still emulates his father's ways as he knows that “it [is] right to be masculine” (53) as these are the values instilled in him. Achebe similarly was raised in an Igbo village born to parents that were Christian converts. He as a result, was raised in a Christian household with Christian values, and was given Christian education in English. Subsequently, despite the fact he was born in an Igbo village, he was still an outsider to their cultural practices and traditions as the values his family instilled within him were more aligned with those of European Christians. For both Nwoye and Achebe, while the values they were taught by their families differ, what remains constant is that once this basis is set, their worldviews are established through the lenses of those
For Nwoye and Achebe these values set the basis for our identity to be built upon. Nwoye is brought up with traditional Igbo values. His father, Okonkwo, stresses the importance of not being seen as “a woman” (65) and frowns upon feminine qualities such as being sensitive, emotional and sympathizing with others. Furthermore, he is told “stories of violence and bloodshed” (53) which emphasize masculinity and violence. Despite Nwoye more gentle, sympathetic nature and a preference for the “stories his mother used to tell” (53), he still emulates his father's ways as he knows that “it [is] right to be masculine” (53) as these are the values instilled in him. Achebe similarly was raised in an Igbo village born to parents that were Christian converts. He as a result, was raised in a Christian household with Christian values, and was given Christian education in English. Subsequently, despite the fact he was born in an Igbo village, he was still an outsider to their cultural practices and traditions as the values his family instilled within him were more aligned with those of European Christians. For both Nwoye and Achebe, while the values they were taught by their families differ, what remains constant is that once this basis is set, their worldviews are established through the lenses of those