Tragic Hero

Why would Achebe, taking into account the cultural context, choose to characterize Okonkwo using the tragic hero archetype?

Chinua Achebe has created a character such as Okonkwo as a tragic hero archetype throughout the book. Okonkwo is a character that is flawed in many ways and ultimately leads to his downfall. It is interesting to see how Achebe has portrayed his main character this way instead of a perfect un flawed character to form a more authentic and cultural voice.  A tragic hero is characterised by Aristotle’s 5 mains points. 

Firstly, Okonkwo is flawed, in which his harmatia is laziness and the fear of becoming like his father.  In fact, his hubris is his hamartia as well. Achebe has describe Okonkwo as a character that is defined by his flaws and as an audience, it makes him more relatable. Relating to the context, the colonization of Nigeria is exhibited to be their downfall. Okonkwo interestingly, never seems to realize his mistakes and never makes his critical discovery. The most important plot in the story is when Okonkwo has to personally kill Ikemefuna, in which he tried to not illustrate feminity and this leads to his exile. In the end of the story, he ends up committing suicide showing the audience that he is powerless.

Achebe took into the account of a flawed character to personally relate the story to us and we are all human being with flaws and to make the reader understand and feel the same way in the position of Okonkwo. Perhaps this is to show a non bias account of the colonization of Africa. Literature often does not emphasize enough coverage of the African culture, which perhaps could be why Achebe has utilized Okonkwo in such a way that he can make Okonkwo flawed not to look like a super being.

Igbo Background

EDITORIAL Magazine

Igbo Culture: A broken culture.

Well, that’s not true. Attention to you, dear reader. Google today as we know it is something we do effortlessly. We do this so competently that we never truly understand the danger of a single story. As I know it, the people of the Igbo community is a culture that holds beauty the common people neglect everyday of their lives. A few years ago, I would never have regarded this wonderful community for what is was. To you my dear reader, I have the nerve about their nature to reveal something. I have had the privilege to witness marriage, delegations, religious rituals and more.

Nigeria consists of very large ethnic groups and consists of 200 different groups. In my travel, I have noticed how many individuals of the Igbo culture believe in myths. I had the chance to talk to many of the people that live in Ummofia, and their believed originate from a myth of Chukwu in which they shared that the world was once filled with water and Chukwu presented the earth with humans. The fable reveals that Chukwu gave them the ability to sow yam seeds above the graves of the deceased. Through this many of them shared that this is why their life evolves around religion. The myth points to agriculture as well, which I have identified as their way of living. The Igbo culture system is based on shifting cultivations of their fields which means that they plant on the same fields for several years.

Their elders rule the Igbo; an organized group based on descents. This lineage is mostly derived from the descendants from father to son. A commoner amongst the Igbo conveniently informed me about the ranks and stages of their political and social structures. First, called the Uno, which consists of natural families. The second, called the Umumma consisted of a number of related houses through different wives and children and lastly the Obodo, which is the highest territory of authority amongst the Igbo community. Igbo communities are also known to be democratic however as I toured around the community, they do not seem to have centralized governments like the west does.

The council of members are members that delegated disputed in a gathering. In my 2 weeks of staying in Nigeria, I had the priviledge to see the council of members delegate disputes between people. They are highly respected by the oldest living representative of ancestors. This is quite interesting in their culture because of how close the connection between the political structures and councils are. It allows connections to be made. Age groups also play significant roles as this allows societies to remember past events without written records unlike the west.

I also got the opportunity to see a marriage ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony. The bride was dressed with jewellery and the Igbo people really emphasized Palm wine, which is traditional in the community. They were happy and I had never witness such a custom before. I interviewed a man in the ceremony in which he acknowledge that marriages in the Igbo custom were regarded as a bondage in towns and a corner stone of whole social structures. I questioned him about how their village celebrates it in terms of reactions and behavior, and he replied “Oh, we take is very seriously. It’s a beautiful ceremony to see to people brought together. We also need to consult to members of the council as we take it seriously and children are valued extremely highly within our community.” Unlike the west, several wives instigated the status of a mans prestige.

I happened to venture near a forest, as we don’t have many forests in England, and many people of the Igbo community gave me stares as I began to ever so slightly walk on the grass. There was talk in the village of twin babies. Igbo cultures are extremely religious and regarded as supernaturally charges in which many cultures do different things with them. At first in all honestly, I thought it was just inhumane. However understanding the importance of religion I looked deeper into understand that the excess of fertility is considered bad just like it is with rain and agriculture. Rules of the Igbo community also examines homicide. “We consider it a serious offense to our Earth Goddess, Ani. If a family member commits homicide, we should not even try to sow seeds. Its useless as we’ve made her angry.” A question came to mind about war. War is a subject the Igbo had to consult to the oracle first, and if they were allowed especially in the 19^th century, they had to commit homicide. Igbo community held a cleansing ritual before joining the lineage again.

Igbo oracles are highly important to the community. This does reflect on their religion and they are believed to reside in religious shrines behind bushes. Oracles are told to receive messages from dead relatives and warned individual communities about impending danger. Individuals consulted the Oracle if they had twins or bad harvest. They were feared and respected. I think that this is a really fascinating to see how they connect to the community. However when asked about the Oracle, I was answered “I’ve never seen her. One was believed that they would die if they ever saw and Oracle.” Therefore they communicated with the priest/priestess. The Igbo people would even pay large sums of money to receive answers.

So you see now the restricted content about the African culture we do ignorantly bypass. Don’t let the media infiltrate your mind with antagonistic views of the African culture because politicians of media should not be the only form of information that dictates your only perspective of how the Igbo community live their live. I personally invite you to experience the thrill of seeing a new world close up.

Most Meaningful Takeaway

I think the most meaningful takeaway in my group would be when we discussed the question, “How do you think  Achebe maintains a cultural voice?

Before hand, we discussed a wide array of questions that  expressed how empowering literature is and how it can be utlized to represent your culture and influence and or inform people about the story written in that text. However this question asks how does Achebe, although writing a very balanced novel about the colonization of Africa by the missionaries in english, still maintains a cultural voice. In relation to that, my group gave many answers such as how Achebe still uses proverbs, and folktales through out the book. The author describes and contextualisez these folktales and proverbs for the reader to acknowledge and understand this aspect of a culture. Folktales and proverbs are specified to one culture because it is almost like Jargon. Only your community understands this and have word connotations linked to them. These words and phrases are used to depict how the Ibo people view their world. Therefore Achebe still invoked a variety of the african culture, illustrating how he grew up within an African environment and expresses the beauty within a culture that only Africans percieved before this novel. Also, we discussed the utilization of symbols within things fall apart.

 The mother of Spirits which is what the egwugwu worship. The Mother of spirits is a representation of the clan of Umofia, and the climactic seen where the egwugwu is unmasked, “she mourned the death of her son as if a great terror was coming.” The egwugwu was part of our discussion, in which they are a symbol to serve culture and independence as a whole. This brings me to religion. Achebe maintains a cultural voice because throughout the novel, the egwugwu serves as repected judges of Umofia and they do rituals and perform as spirits of the Umofia people’s ancestors which is what Umofia clan worships

Lastly, the Achebe maintains a cultural voice by using the essence of time. When we read the book “thing’s fall apart,” we recognised that Achebe uses to express the culture of Africa through flashbacks frequently throughout the novel. Perhaps this is a form of literary writing used by Achebe to convey africans in a cultural voice by their time and the values of it as well. Achebe grounds the book in nature  and is very simple. By simple, it was discussed amognst us that many of these actions that the African people or missionaries commit are left to be decided by the reader themselves. He laregly emposes of emotions, which perhaps could mean that Achebe expresses his writing soley based on the perspective of Igbo people and that is how he maintains a cultural voice. 

President Obama's 2012 speech to the UN.

The text presented in a speech derived from Obama to the United Nations in 2012. The text can be presented as a political speech, which can be identified through the use of Rhetoric devices toward a specific entity to express or convey the event discussing the 2012 Benghazi attack. As we can see, Obama has used many real life situations and events and many literary techniques such as Anaphora and Alliteration within his speech to appeal to his audience to create an awareness of the bombing in Libya situation in 2012.

President of the United States, Barack Obama delivered this speech to the UN, which informs us that the intended audience was for a wide variety of people. For instance, this speech could have been delivered to only an American audience to promote awareness, however the fact that this was sent to the UN emphasizes that this was to be delivered on a more global scale, as the citizens of the US are not the only nation who should be aware. Perhaps this speech was delivered to appeal to a vast range of audiences for the UN to take action of the situation that happened in Benghazi. We can also infer that there are many references to the unity of the American people, emphasizing how this attack on Benghazi does not affect only the Libyans, however other countries on a global scale, therefore offering to the UN that this is not just a problem in Africa as Obama has stated “These are not simply American values or Western values - they are universal values.” The United Nations has a reputation for being humane and also appears to be very powerful on an international scale, which is perhaps why Obama has delivered this speech to the UN.

Discussing about the structure of this speech, Obama has employed the starting of this speech using Anaphora using the name “Chris.” Immediately, the audience is informed by Chris and his actions by being an American. This literary device is used to emphasize how Obama wanted to portray Chris as an “embodiment of America” to inform the public of deeds they should aspire to be. This also employs Ethos toward the public, as Obama expresses that Chris, although employed these deeds, he was also killed, expressing that the bombing in Libya killed the “best of America.” Throughout the speech, Obama has referenced the claims and situations back to the UN, such as “They are not simply an assault on America, they are also an assault on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded” emphasizing on how this attacks are betraying the purpose of the UN which gives the UN more reason to take action upon this situation. This is also an example of Antithesis, which relates back to the idea that this is not just for America, but also for the range of other countries that could potentially be affected by this event.

Obama also employs a vast range of certainty, emphasizing that this situation should not be avoided, in anaphora such as  “We will,” and “We must” and the aspect of time is considered in the context that we should strive for a better future, appealing to logos for leaving the audience to rationalize why they need to make a change for the future.

Through the variation of context in Obama’s speech, he finished the speech with the situation of the bombing of Benghazi to illustrate the important of taking action to the UN through the event previously mentions and examples through the literary devices used. This allows the audience to relate to the pathos through the speech inspiring them on what to do for the future generation. There are different themes that vary throughout the speech although the overall idea is that of the Benghazi attack.  The themes mentioned of that are the future, international scale, and political rights. For example, the phrases such as “a new era of responsibility”, and “The future must not belong to those who target Coptic Christians in Egypt” which is also used as anaphora to imply a change for a better future. “We are strengthened by our differences, not defined by them” is illustrated by Antithesis to exhibit the contrast by a united nation in which Obama has implied to the UN that the attack on Benghazi overall should not be overlooked as mankind should not bomb one another by our differences in race or religion and lastly, “I will our efforts to combat the scourge of human trafficking” is used to another theme of human rights used for Obama to point out that the Attack on Benghazi was inhumane, in which the UN should oppose.

Overall, the tone of this speech throughout seems very immediate and stern. These two although very similar tones to fluctuate on each other throughout the speech. In the beginning of the speech, Obama uses a very stern mood and atmosphere toward the public, through initiating what “the best of America” is embodied in and how we need to strive for it. It also employs a stern tone because of how Obama has used different events across the world such as On the same day our civilians were killed in Benghazi, a Turkish police officer was murdered in Istanbul only days before his wedding; more than ten Yemenis were killed in a car bomb…” exhibits the concern Obama has toward the UN, and this speech employs a stern tone and atmosphere through phrases such as “It is time to leave…” and “We cannot afford…” suggesting the essence of time, and how an act needs to be taken at this moment in time, exhibiting the urgency in his speech, however even though there are two tones, they all undergo the same mood reflected upon the audience. The use of hope is also evident within this speech however, suggesting some sense of relief and time to act for a better future, in which Obama has identified in “I’ve witnessed after nearly four years as president, I am hopeful…” and also ensuring the public that “Partnership to ensure that women and girls can fully participate in politics and pursue” which is used as alliteration, to show the people that there is light at the end of this tunnel- however seems to be a oversimplification to the UN that this is what will happen is this situation is addressed in Libya.

As previously mentioned, this speech makes use of many literary devices. For example, Obama has opened the speech already with anaphora using the word “Chris”. Also, the term “We” in the beginning of the speech employs pathos to the audience, as it makes the audience involved in such affairs of helping to change the word by making the decisions. Antithesis is also a major literary device used within Obama’s speech. Perhaps Obama has used this literary technique to create emphasis on the second clause of the sentence, for example the phrase “we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them” emphasizing that differences strengthens us, juxtaposed to how they are not.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/09/25/remarks-president-un-general-assembly