Things Fall Apart And Purple Hibiscus Essay - 1374 Words

The Nigerian novels, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, examine the intricate lives of characters and their family dynamics. Okonkwo, from Achebe’s novel, is a powerful man from the village of Umuofia, and Beatrice, from Adichie’s novel, is a submissive and abused wife. Despite Okonkwo and Beatrice both killing a family member, Okonkwo commits this act out of cowardice and fear of being viewed as weak, whereas Beatrice poisons Eugene as an act of self-defense and empowerment, contrasting the weakness she displayed through Eugene’s paralyzing abuse. Beatrice experiences years of systematic domestic abuse from her husband, Eugene, which causes her to feel powerless; whether it is her or her†¦show more content†¦Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was viewed as a disappointment and failure: â€Å"Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor, and his wife and children had barely enough to eat† (5 Achebe). Okonkwo feels deep shame in this perception of his father, and he makes the promise to himself not to repeat his father’s mistakes: â€Å"He was possessed by the fear of his father’s contemptible life and shameful death† (18). This â€Å"possessed† feeling Okonkwo harbors leads to him becoming obsessed with the idea of weakness. Okonkwo devotes his life to not being seen as weak; instead, he wants to be seen as a strong, successful man. Okonkwo goes far beyond his father’s legacy and becomes extremely aggressive and savage. His new uncontrollable nature causes him trouble in Umuofia, and he ends up killing his son. In Purple Hibiscus, polishing the ceramic figurines on the à ©tagerà ¨ is a way that Beatrice pacifies herself after Eugene’s violent episodes, and when Eugene breaks the therapeutic figurines, Beatrice’s submissive nature cracks with them. Throughout the novel, after Beatrice endures Eugene s abuse, she immediately will go and polish the figurines: â€Å"Mama stood hugging herself†¦Mama started at the lowest layer, polishing both the shelf and the figurines† (35 Adichie). When Beatrice returns from the hospital after Eugene punishes her and she miscarriages, she is drawn to the à ©tagerà ¨ as healing from what she sustained. WhenShow MoreRelatedThings Fall Apart And Purple Hibiscus Essay1257 Words   |  6 Pagescharacters in novels Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and the novel Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, are controlled by their beliefs, and irrationally act upon them. Adichie and Achebe effectively utilizes a plot events, to sim ultaneously exalt damage, created by the assertion of religious beliefs onto others. Forcing religion or personal beliefs onto others creates turmoil, as illustrated by both authors, shattering relationships or a consanguinity. Throughout Things Fall Apart, Achebe utilizesRead MoreIgbo Dictionary129408 Words   |  518 Pagesvocabularies are based on the same list that Thomas uses in his Specimens of languages from Southern Nigeria (1914), in which he gives lists from 26 dialects of Igbo and closely related languages. Part V (1914) consists of Addenda to IboEnglish dictionary; apart from corrections to Part II, this volume adds a large amount of material from the Asaba dialect. In general, Thomass material is extensive, but inadequately transcribed and analysed. The CMS mission at Onitsha undertook the collection of a considerable