- Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.
Things Fall Apart is a cultural novel written by Achebe Chinua that concerns itself with the traditional and religious aspects of a society located in Nigeria. I chose to discuss the third option of this task as the novel is very engaged in the significance of social status and reputation.
Social status in the Igbo culture persists as one of the dominant factors of importance. To the Igbo people , it is of utmost importance to know every single person in their tribe as accurately as possible. Due to the lack of political structures , the Igbo people organised themselves in patrilineages, which were lineage groups organised along lines of descendent from father to son. A system was created based on relationships amongst families. A person would firstly belong to the smallest social unit, "uno", or house. That consisted of a man and his wife/wives and their children. The second group would be the "umunna" consisting of a number of related houses. The third and final group was "obodo" which was a group of lineages that formed a village or town. This system is linked with social status as every lineage is blood related, meaning that the name of every family carries great responsibility as all its ancestors will live under the same name.
Unlike women, the man were assigned to the task of acquiring titles. By achieving those titles, they would earn social appreciation and respect to an extent, depending on their title and involvement with the council. Some men would manage to attain notable titles , meaning that they were acknowledged as great men with honour or chiefs. The majority of the Igbo men tried their very best to achieve as many titles as possible, if not all of them, but not everyone succeeded. Having a title was a critical moment for the men in the Igbo tribe as without the initiation into certain titles , they could not dress in certain ways , shake hands in certain ways or take a piece of the sacred Kola nut before others did. To them, amongst their culture and religion, social recognition played a big role in their lives and shaped their future. A man who failed to progress beyond the most junior titles was no longer a man in the eyes of the Igbo people. Instead he'd be viewed as a boy throughout his entire life and would be buried without dignity. The importance of social status does influence the people who lived under those conditions to abandon any other factor in their lives and place the titles on the highest pedestal , closing them off to any other ideas.
Social status in the Igbo culture persists as one of the dominant factors of importance. To the Igbo people , it is of utmost importance to know every single person in their tribe as accurately as possible. Due to the lack of political structures , the Igbo people organised themselves in patrilineages, which were lineage groups organised along lines of descendent from father to son. A system was created based on relationships amongst families. A person would firstly belong to the smallest social unit, "uno", or house. That consisted of a man and his wife/wives and their children. The second group would be the "umunna" consisting of a number of related houses. The third and final group was "obodo" which was a group of lineages that formed a village or town. This system is linked with social status as every lineage is blood related, meaning that the name of every family carries great responsibility as all its ancestors will live under the same name.
Unlike women, the man were assigned to the task of acquiring titles. By achieving those titles, they would earn social appreciation and respect to an extent, depending on their title and involvement with the council. Some men would manage to attain notable titles , meaning that they were acknowledged as great men with honour or chiefs. The majority of the Igbo men tried their very best to achieve as many titles as possible, if not all of them, but not everyone succeeded. Having a title was a critical moment for the men in the Igbo tribe as without the initiation into certain titles , they could not dress in certain ways , shake hands in certain ways or take a piece of the sacred Kola nut before others did. To them, amongst their culture and religion, social recognition played a big role in their lives and shaped their future. A man who failed to progress beyond the most junior titles was no longer a man in the eyes of the Igbo people. Instead he'd be viewed as a boy throughout his entire life and would be buried without dignity. The importance of social status does influence the people who lived under those conditions to abandon any other factor in their lives and place the titles on the highest pedestal , closing them off to any other ideas.
As the story commences, the first character introduced to the reader is Unoka and his reputation in the Igbo tribe. He is the father of the main character of the story , Okonkwo. Even after his passing , Unoka's characteristics and actions greatly influence Okonkwo's personality , thus making his appearance in the novel relevant.
Unoka was known as "agbala", in other words a woman or someone who hadn't acquired any titles in his lifetime. He was a peaceful man who could be described as effeminate , as his characteristics closely resembled those of a softhearted woman in the eyes of Igbo culture. His major weakness was his laziness which lead to him being overloaded with debts and the distrust of the Igbo people. Unoka also didn't succeed in supporting his family in any major way , instead he preferred to play on his flute and get drunk often. He was looked down upon and at his death did not receive the privilege of being buried, as he was not considered an adequate member of the Igbo society. Understandingly, his actions were payed in terms of social recognition by his children.
As a consequence of his fathers life decisions, Okonkwo's outlook on his personal life and his attitude towards certain people were changed completely , in the hope of not ending up like his despicable father. This greatly narrowed his capability to understand and accept concepts that weren't similar or familiar to him in the story.
As Okonkwo is introduced as a character, his success as a young man is the first thing being mentioned , with the underlying intention of providing the reader with some insight of the character. Okonkwo was known for his conquering of "amalinze the cat" , who had never been defeated by any grown men, let alone 18 year olds such as Okonkwo. An event like that spread like wildfire and soon Okonkwo was famous and respected, if not feared ; his fathers lingering image rotting in the flames. This was a significant turning point in Okonwko's life, earning him many titles and opportunities of growing prosperous lands and marrying several women. Rising above all the material factors, however, was his personal pride which fulfilled him. To him, it was the self assurance of his capabilities and how he did not , in any way, take after his lazy and weak father.
To Okonkwo, social status is everything. It is clear that he was more than willing to sacrifice his personal feelings and moments of weakness for the reputation of being cold and manly, to exert power and fear through the village. He feels that by doing so, no one would dare to remind him of his father or even link them in any way. His greatest fear is , in fact, to appear weak and in any way replicate the qualities of his father. He takes a dramatic and fierce approach with the purpose of eliminating every last bit of personality that he carried in himself by replacing it with action and purpose. When his son Nwoye begins to show some of his grandfathers personality traits such as being lazy or acting softhearted, this greatly alarms Okonkwo. He often beats him and tries to change his son as he fears that he'll turn out like his father and bring disgrace to the entire family.
To him, anyone in his family that portrays his father in the slightest is immediate danger to his hard work over the years. Through Okonkwo one can identify the perfect example of what the importance of social status in a society can do to an individual and how it affects those associated with him.
Unoka was known as "agbala", in other words a woman or someone who hadn't acquired any titles in his lifetime. He was a peaceful man who could be described as effeminate , as his characteristics closely resembled those of a softhearted woman in the eyes of Igbo culture. His major weakness was his laziness which lead to him being overloaded with debts and the distrust of the Igbo people. Unoka also didn't succeed in supporting his family in any major way , instead he preferred to play on his flute and get drunk often. He was looked down upon and at his death did not receive the privilege of being buried, as he was not considered an adequate member of the Igbo society. Understandingly, his actions were payed in terms of social recognition by his children.
As a consequence of his fathers life decisions, Okonkwo's outlook on his personal life and his attitude towards certain people were changed completely , in the hope of not ending up like his despicable father. This greatly narrowed his capability to understand and accept concepts that weren't similar or familiar to him in the story.
As Okonkwo is introduced as a character, his success as a young man is the first thing being mentioned , with the underlying intention of providing the reader with some insight of the character. Okonkwo was known for his conquering of "amalinze the cat" , who had never been defeated by any grown men, let alone 18 year olds such as Okonkwo. An event like that spread like wildfire and soon Okonkwo was famous and respected, if not feared ; his fathers lingering image rotting in the flames. This was a significant turning point in Okonwko's life, earning him many titles and opportunities of growing prosperous lands and marrying several women. Rising above all the material factors, however, was his personal pride which fulfilled him. To him, it was the self assurance of his capabilities and how he did not , in any way, take after his lazy and weak father.
To Okonkwo, social status is everything. It is clear that he was more than willing to sacrifice his personal feelings and moments of weakness for the reputation of being cold and manly, to exert power and fear through the village. He feels that by doing so, no one would dare to remind him of his father or even link them in any way. His greatest fear is , in fact, to appear weak and in any way replicate the qualities of his father. He takes a dramatic and fierce approach with the purpose of eliminating every last bit of personality that he carried in himself by replacing it with action and purpose. When his son Nwoye begins to show some of his grandfathers personality traits such as being lazy or acting softhearted, this greatly alarms Okonkwo. He often beats him and tries to change his son as he fears that he'll turn out like his father and bring disgrace to the entire family.
To him, anyone in his family that portrays his father in the slightest is immediate danger to his hard work over the years. Through Okonkwo one can identify the perfect example of what the importance of social status in a society can do to an individual and how it affects those associated with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment