What are cowries in Things Fall Apart?
Cowries: Shells used for currency. Agbala: The Oracle of the Hills and Caves. The shrine to Agbala was a cave that worshippers entered through a round hole in the side of a hill. Inside the cave, the priestess of Agbala proclaimed the will of the god there to those who sought the god.
What are important quotes in Things Fall Apart?
Things Fall Apart Quotes
- “There is no story that is not true, […]
- “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving.
- “There is no story that is not true.”
- “If you don’t like my story,write your own”
- “If I hold her hand she says, ‘Don’t touch!
How was Okonkwo successful?
As a result, Okonkwo’s becomes successful in many ways – he becomes very wealthy, holds a high-ranked position in the community, has three wives, and is known for his skill as a wrestler and warrior. He can beat his wives without guilt. He can threaten Ekwefi with a gun when she talks back.
What is Unoka’s reaction when Okoye asks for his cowries back?
How does Unoka react when Okoye asks him to repay the two hundred cowries owed to him? laughs, then cries, then shows wall of all debts and says he pays highest one first. Why is Okonkwo considered one of the greatest men of his time?
What is the significance of cowries in the novel?
Drawing on the Book “ The Shell Money of the Slave Trade,” cowries were recognized as an important means of payment and a symbol of wealth/power by native Africans up until the 20th century.
What do cowrie shells symbolize?
In Mende culture, cowrie shells are viewed as symbols of womanhood, fertility, birth and wealth. Its underside is supposed, by one modern ethnographic author, to represent a vulva or an eye.
What is the most important theme in the second part of the novel Things Fall Apart?
Theme #2. The novel, Things Fall Apart, also deals with the battle between progressive social transformation and traditions. Most people including Okonkwo do not accept the new religious and social order brought by the British missionaries.
Who said the white man is very clever?
Obierika says, “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one.
Why is Things Fall Apart a tragedy?
Tragedy. Things Fall Apart fits the definition of tragedy because it documents both the personal downfall of Okonkwo and the broader erosion of the Igbo cultural world that Okonkwo wishes to defend. Things Fall Apart even has a tragic-sounding title.
What is Okonkwo’s tragic flaw?
Okonkwo is a tragic hero in the classical sense: although he is a superior character, his tragic flaw—the equation of manliness with rashness, anger, and violence—brings about his own destruction.
What is the summary of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe?
The novel chronicles the life of Okonkwo, the leader of an Igbo community, from the events leading up to his banishment from the community for accidentally killing a clansman, through the seven years of his exile, to his return, and it addresses a particular problem of emergent Africa—the intrusion in the 1890s of …