Personal History Holds the Pencil

Thesis:

Chinua Achebe’s provision of a balanced view of both the Europeans and Igbos in Things Fall Apart is a corollary of the combination of his Christian upbringing and reverence for traditional Igbo life, using paradoxical characters from both cultures such as Okonkwo and Uchendu plus Mr. Brown and Reverend Smith to attain an unprejudiced audience interpretation.  

Topic Sentence 1:

Achebe’s characterization of Uchendu and Mr. Brown respectfully depicts some of the favorable attributes such as openness and wisdom of their respective cultures, providing an idyllic view of both civilizations in order to subvert the foreign view of Africans as primitive and evoke the notion of peaceful colonization.

Topic Sentence 2:

To juxtapose the aforementioned characters, Achebe depicts Okonkwo and Reverend James as possessing some of the antagonistic or unfavorable characteristics such as hypermasculinity and hostility that can be identified with individuals of their respective cultures, removing any idyllic dispositions and providing a realistic perspective based off his own experiences and beliefs.

Topic Sentence 3:

The ways in which the characters of Okonkwo, Uchendu, Mr. Brown and Reverend Smith interact with one another is representative of Achebe’s internal battle of cultures and perhaps problematic hybridity, cases such as Uchendu’s criticism of Okonkwo and Okonkwo’s confrontation with Mr. Smith ultimately allowing the author to create a desired holistic view of both civilizations and groups and how they interact.

Context of Interpretation

Things Fall Apart evokes salient significance of gender roles within the Igbo society presented, hence one’s context of interpretation, consisting of such components as culture, beliefs and time period, will engender differing personal understandings and perspectives of the way in which males and females are delineated.

• Outline of how the culture a reader resides within influences their understandings, perspectives and opinions formed
• The world consists of a myriad of differing cultures, each with their own paradigms, ideals and expectations; such aspects can influence entire demographics’ perspectives formed on the theme of gender roles between the text. 
• Cultural beliefs and values of gender roles differ internationally
• Customs, traditions and expectations and how they relate
• How religion affects views of gender roles within differing cultures

• Outline of how the personal beliefs a reader possesses influences their understandings, perspectives and opinions formed
• Although many personal beliefs would be derived through their respective culture, each individual is different from the next hence their interpretation of certain features and aspects of the novel would also differ.
• How personal views can affect views of gender roles
• How personal experience and the emotions as a result affect views of gender roles
• Personal expectations beyond those of the culture

• Outline of how the time period a reader resides within influences their understandings, perspectives and opinions formed
• People within alternate time periods would indubitably view certain material differently and hence form differing and perhaps opposing opinions and understandings, hence considering one’s place in time and the changes between time periods is significant due to general changes in values, beliefs, expectations etc.
• Highlighting differences between times since the book was written and further in the future and how these may affect the interpretation of gender roles
• Any changes in values, beliefs, expectations etc. and how the former would compare and contrast to the latter