Okonkwo Character Analysis

As the main character of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo has a key role in developing not only the plot but also the themes of the story. The themes of change vs. tradition and fate vs. free will are mainly based around Okonkwo and the audience sees them play out over the course of the story. In the beginning of the story, all of Okonkwo's success is attributed to his will. He takes credit for all of his good fortune and says that it is a result of his own hard work and cannot simply be attributed to good luck. However, as things begin to fall apart around Okonkwo he no longer takes responsibility for what is happening to him. It was originally stated that "Okonkwo said yes very strongly; so his chi agreed." however we later see a reversal of this when Achebe says "Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation.".

As mentioned previously, the novel is strongly centered around the theme of change vs. tradition. Okonkwo is a true symbol of tradition that refuses to bend to change despite the immense pressure he is put under. Okonkwo refuses to adapt to his changing environment and is strongly against any form of change to his current lifestyle.While this idea of conserving traditional practices is good, Okonkwo fails to realize that change is inevitable and this eventually leads to his downfall within the novel. 

Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart in order to give the world a more accurate portrayal of Africa that they had not yet seen. However, he made the choice to not present the Igbo culture as a utopia and rightly so. While he wanted to portray the culture in a better light than it had been previously, he also wanted to show that the Igbo culture has its flaws as well. If he presented Okonkwo as an unbelievable man with absolutely no flaws then that would make the rest of his story less believable as well. By establishing Okonkwo as a tragic hero he makes the statement that while the Igbo culture is no utopia, it still has its values and should be respected.

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's purpose is to drive the plot and themes that are present within the novel. He shows how tradition is often reluctant to accept change and that in the end tradition often loses. Overall, Okonkwo is a representation of any native who was resistant to the oppressive colonization in Africa.  

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Most Meaningful Takeaway: Chinua Achebe Interview

The other day, we had an in-class discussion on an interview with Chinua Achebe. I think the part of the discussion that I found most interesting was when we talked about the representation of Africa in the media. Achebe was inspired to write Things Fall Apart after reading all the western authors' portrayal of Africa and the many African cultures. Achebe believes that these authors portrayed Africa this way in order to justify the slave trade as some people were beginning to question the practice. However, we discussed that this negative portrayal of Africa might not have been completely on purpose. Instead we brought up the idea that these authors simply lacked an understanding of the African cultures and people and therefore could not see the true complexity. This may have lead to them simplifying things that they could not fully understand and in turn lead to their highly simplistic and negative portrayal of Africa. I found this part of the discussion interesting because in the interview Achebe was strongly opinionated on the matter that this portrayal of Africa was simply aimed to justify the slave trade so it was intriguing to explore a different way of seeing things that was not included in the interview.

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Practice Paper One: Political Speech

The text I am analyzing is Barack Obama's key note address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention which can be found here:

               This text can be identified as a political speech as it contains many typical features of a speech such as persuasion, rhetorical devices, and an extensive use of ethos, pathos, and logos. These distinct features along with fact that it's directly addressing an audience means that this text can indeed by identified as a political speech.

               Without clear context, the target audience of this text can be found by looking at clues within the text to give us an idea of who this speech is aimed at. The line " And fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you tonight: We have more work to do" gives us many hints as to the audience. The author is directly addressing Americans but goes on to identify different political parties which leads us to the assumption that this is most likely directed to voters in America. Also, in the line " let me express my deepest gratitude for the privilege of addressing this convention" we see that the author is addressing a political convention of some sort. Taking into consideration the audience, the purpose of this speech is mainly to persuade the audience to vote for a certain presidential candidate. This can clearly be seen towards the end of the speech when the author says "I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as President, and John Edwards will be sworn in as Vice President, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.".  This shows that the author is trying to persuade the audience to vote for John Kerry and John Edwards by convincing them that these candidates are the better than other candidates.

               The author begins by telling the history of his family and how he came to be in the position of authority that he resides in now. They go on to talk about America and it is clear that they hold it in very high esteem however they then point out the struggles that some Americans are facing at the time. The author then introduces the political candidate that he is trying to convince the audience to vote for and he goes on to discuss John Kerry's values and beliefs as a presidential candidate. At the end of the speech the author urges the audience to vote for John Kerry in the presidential elections. The main idea of this speech is that the people of America should vote for John Kerry because he is a patriotic man who knows what is best for his country and will also do whatever he can to help the people of America. The author has "no doubt that...the people will rise up...and John Kerry will be sworn in as President." and believes that "this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come.".

               The tone of this speech is informative, instructional, and hopeful. The author uses many stories and instances to inform the audience of the reasons why they should vote for John Kerry and also the problems facing America. The tone is slightly instructional when he tells the audience that they should go and vote for Kerry and Edwards. However, his tone is also hopeful as he expresses his hope that the people of America will answer this call to action. The author creates a mood of unification in the speech. He removes any barriers such a race or political party in order to unify the audience and address them together as one people. This is clearly seen when the author states that "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there’s the United States of America.". In these two sentences he creates a potent mood of unification among the audience and the people of America.

               Seeing as this text is a political speech, the author utilizes many rhetorical devices in order to make the speech effective. Pathos is used to help the author connect with the audience. To achieve this the author tells stories of people he has met such as "the father that I met who was losing his job and choking back the tears, wondering how he would pay 4500 dollars a month for the drugs his son needs without the health benefits that he counted on". This statement and others like it appeal to the emotions of the audience. The author also uses ethos when he discusses the core American beliefs, values, and ideals and attempts to establish John Kerry as the embodiment of these beliefs. There are also many examples of anaphora within the text such as the repetition of "John Kerry believes in". This repetition is used to emphasize the beliefs of the candidate and  point out the main ideas. The author's use of symploce in order to connect and identify with the audience is seen when he says " if you feel the same energy that I do, if you feel the same urgency that I do, if you feel the same passion that I do, if you feel the same hopefulness that I do". Metaphor is used to effectively sum up the author's hope for America when he says  "out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come". This extensive use of rhetorical devices helps create emphasis on certain key ideas within the speech and also works to further persuade the audience of what the author is saying.

               In conclusion, this text is a speech due to its heavy use of rhetorical devices and the fact that it's trying to persuade the audience to do or believe something. This target audience of this speech is clearly American voters and it calls them to take action and vote for a certain political candidate. The author's utilization of rhetorical devices along with the persuasive nature of the text creates a strong a well-focused speech.

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