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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page essay that contrasts and compares Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The writer argues that while these two narratives are very different, in both works, the authors address issues of transformation in regards to how individuals adapt, or fail to adapt, to challenge in their culture. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khkafach.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
both works, the authors each address issues of transformation in regards to how individuals adapt, or fail to adapt, to their culture. In each case, the main protagonist remains stagnant.
In Kafkas case, this stagnation is represented as the road to decay, and in Achebes narrative, likewise, failure to grow, to change, denotes a crucial failure of the protagonist to
acknowledge the cultural winds of change. Achebes novel is powerful story of colonialism in Nigeria, and is extremely complex in the manner that it presents Nigerian culture and the
way that it interacted with colonial forces. Okonkwo, a leader of the Igbo tribe, ethnocentrically fails to note the failures of his culture and accepts all Igbo traditions without question.
Okonkwo fails to recognize that his culture has to change in order to adapt and confront the danger of British intrusion into their country. Essentially, Okonkwo embodies what his culture
esteems, but he carries it to extremes. As one elder, Obierika, remarks near the end of the novel, Okonkwo was "one of the greatest men in Umuofia (his village)" (Achebe,
1959, p. 191). What Okonkwo wants is for the values of his culture to persist and "work" for him in the same way that they have done in the past.
As far as Okonkwos reality is concerned, he sees his culture and his tribe as one single harmonious order and reality. It is the only world that is rational to
Okonkwo. Because of this, Okonkwa does not question the actions of that culture. When the tribal Oracle demands the sacrifice of Ikemefuna, a young boy who has been like
son to Okonkwo, he demonstrates that he has implicit faith in the correctness of Igbo practice. He responds to Obierikas criticism of his participation in the ritual murder of the
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