An Alternative Hero Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart

Jeremy Pilz Mrs. Cloud Things Fall Apart Essay 27 March 2017 An Alternative Hero An archetype in literature expresses â€Å"a realm of human experience in many myths and fantasy stories† that can go deeper than â€Å"any rational or intellectual thinking† (Gillespie). The archetype of the monomyth, or â€Å"The Hero’s Journey† first originated from a mythological researcher named Joseph Campbell. The monomyth consists of â€Å"several basic stages that almost every hero-quest goes through, no matter what culture the myth is a part of† (Hamby). The Hero’s journey is vaguely apparent in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which depicts the African clan leader, Okonkwo, as the archetypal hero. Achebe reveals throughout the novel that Okonkwo’s ability to†¦show more content†¦Okonkwo does successfully fulfil the fourth stage of â€Å"The Hero’s journey, that is, â€Å"Meeting with the Mentor†. The mentor Okonkwo meets with is Nwakibie. Nwakibie gives Okonkwo â€Å"twice four hundred yamsà ¢â‚¬  in order for him to prepare his farm (Achebe 22). Following this meeting, Okonkwo continues to pursue his quest to claim a title and wealth. Even during the difficult harvest Okonkwo â€Å"threw himself into it like one possessed† and was â€Å"possessed by the fear of his father s contemptible life and shameful death† (Achebe 18). Okonkwo was accepting the quest wholeheartedly because he did not want to leave a weak legacy as his father had. The next stage that Okonkwo enters are the â€Å"Tests†. Okonkwo meets Ikemefuna and becomes â€Å"fond of the boy ‒ inwardly of course†(Achebe 28). This budding relationship as well as the influence of the Oracle advising for the death of Ikemefuna provides a â€Å"Test† for Okonkwo to deal with. When it came to decide, Okonkwo decided to â€Å"cut [Ikemefuna] down† (Achebe 61). Even though Okonkwo had this promising relationship with Ikemefuna, the idea that Okonkwo was â€Å"afraid of being thought weak† like his father influenced his decision. Okonkwo thus failed this stage of the monomyth. â€Å"Tests† are used to transform the hero or â€Å"make them stronger†(Hamby). In this instance Okonkwo did not transform, he continued to want to be strong and wealthy in order to trump the legacy of hisShow MoreRelatedChinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart2170 Words   |  9 Pageswidespread influence of Chinua Achebe’s novel Thing s Fall Apart not only has earned it a number of accolades, but also led to its reputation as one of the most influential works of fiction by an African writer of all time. According to an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the novel has sold about eleven million copies in fifty different countries, was a part of Harold Bloom’s 1994 selection of the canonical works of world literature, and The Sunday Times named Achebe one of the â€Å"1,000 makersRead MoreThings Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe3287 Words   |  14 PagesChinua Achebe’s postcolonial novel Things Fall Apart was first published in 1958 and narrates the fall of a great Ibo (Nigerian) warrior, Okwonko, after the arrival of white colonialists. Tony Harrison’s Selected Poems was published in 2006 and includes poems taken from his renowned sonnet sequence School of Eloquence, which draw upon Harrison’s own upbringing and pay tribute to the challenges of the British working class. Finall y William Golding’s dystopian novel Lord of the Flies, first publishedRead MoreOne Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 Pagesglobalization, both of which can be seen as hallmarks of the opening decades of the twentieth century. This intermingling of the forces and processes that were arguably essential components 2 †¢ INTRODUCTION of two epochs we routinely set apart as centuries suggests the need for flexibility in demarcating phases of world history, and for determining beginnings and endings that accord with major shifts in political and socioeconomic circumstances and dynamics rather than standard but arbitrary