Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and Term Paper

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Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, and "Tintern Abbey," by William Wordsworth. Specifically, it will analyze imagery (metaphor, simile, symbol, etc.), and discuss the ways in which the imagery of these texts creates relationships either between humans and nature, or between humans and the divine. What kind of relationship is created by the imagery in each case, and how? How do the details of the two texts' imagery create differences and/or similarities in the relationships you're discussing? Imagery in a piece of writing may not be apparent at first, it may hide underneath the theme and structure of the piece, but unlike landscape to a blind eye, imagery can be seen by reading a little more closely, and taking the time to really think about what the author was trying to say with his or her work.

LANDSCAPE TO A BLIND MAN

Imagery plays an important part in much of fiction, and especially as fiction relates to the natural world around us, as both these texts clearly demonstrate. Well-written imagery in fiction can evoke memories, create memories, and give a greater understanding of the world around us. In "Things Fall Apart," Achebe writes about a culture that is far different from our own, and so he must use imagery to invoke understanding in the reader. Much of the story involves the natives attempting to get along with their white colonial invaders, and Achebe uses local folklore, especially as it relates to nature, to showing the moving dilemma facing the native Nigerians. He uses this metaphor of the kite and the eagle to illustrate how everyone should try to get along with each other: "Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break" (Achebe 21-22). Later, Uchendu says, "The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. We have albinos among us. Do you not think that they came by mistake, that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?" (Achebe 130). Here again, the imagery is clear, the natives must make way for the white men to survive, and their beautiful folklore and language help to keep the theme in the novel at the forefront, while bringing the culture of these people out in the open to be admired.

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The natural world is foremost in the Ibo's life, and Achebe illustrates this again and again throughout the story. Here, he uses a simile to show how a corn cob is like the face of an old woman. "The name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi, or the teeth of an old woman" (Achebe 36). Because the imagery is so beautiful and descriptive, the reader is immediately aware of the old woman, missing teeth, just like the corn cob with the "scattered grains." It is a reference to the natural world that is common enough for everyone to understand and picture in their minds. The music and rhythm of the drums also portrays how the people identify with the rhythm of their lives, when they are "possessed by the spirit of the drums" (Achebe 33) and the drums' "frantic rhythm was... The very heart-beat of the people" (Achebe 35-36). This imagery of the drums and their rhythm continues throughout the story, and continually ties the people to their culture and beliefs, which can do nothing but alter with the advent of the white man. This is probably some of the most effective and important imagery in the text, because it carries forward the theme of the natives against the white man, while clearly illustrating how at home the natives are with their lives and their culture. They are happy, but their happiness, just as their way of life, will not last forever, however, their images and memories will.

Whitman uses a lovely and clearly defined….....

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