Thursday 27 May 2021

English language teaching- 2 assignment

 


  • Name  : chudasama payal 

  • Batch:  2019-20

  • Roll no: 18


  • Submitted by: smt.Gardi Department of English MKBU 


  • Paper name : English language teaching-2

  • Topic : Different  between  assessment and evaluation 

  • Paper:   16


  • Sem : 4


  • Course: M.A. English  





Introduction: 


According to the American Heritage Dictionary, assessment means appraisal. Then, according to the same dictionary, evaluation is estimation or determining the value of something. ... That fact is that assessment in education is done in order to improve the process.The term ‘evaluation’ is derived from the word ‘value’ which refers to ‘usefulness of something’. Therefore, evaluation is an examination of something to measure its utility.


Simply put, evaluation is a systematic and objective process of measuring or observing someone or something, with an aim of drawing conclusions, using criteria, usually governed by set standards or by making a comparison. It gauges the performance of a person, completed project, process or product, to determine its worth or significance.


☆ Different between  assessment and evaluation: 


When it comes to education, assessment means the same as the general meaning of the word, but we have to remember another fact. That fact is that assessment in education is done in order to improve the process. The assessment pays attention to learning, teaching, as well as the outcomes.

When it comes to the timing of an evaluation, it is rather a final process that is determined to understand the quality of the process. The quality of the process is mostly determined by grades. That is such an evaluation can come as a paper that is given grades. This type of paper will test the knowledge of each student. So, here with the grades, the officials come to try to measure the quality of the programme.


Assessment and Evaluation are two different concepts with a number of differences between them starting from the objectives and focus. Before we go into details about these differences that set assessment and evaluation apart, let us first pay attention to the two words themselves. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, assessment means appraisal. Then, according to the same dictionary, evaluation is estimation or determining the value of something. So, these processes are used in the field of education very often to test the quality of teaching and learning processes. That is done to let the educational institutes find out what more can be done to improve the education offered by those educational institutes.


☆What is Assessment?

Assessment of a process means we are understanding the state or the condition of that process through objective measurements and observations. When it comes to education, assessment means the same as the general meaning of the word, but we have to remember another fact. That fact is that assessment in education is done in order to improve the process. The assessment pays attention to learning, teaching, as well as the outcomes.


When it comes to the timing of an assessment, it is an ongoing process that is determined to improve learning. Think about this. An assessment can be a small paper given to the students by their lecturer. The intention of such a paper is to understand how well the students know the components of the subject. This shows how much they have learnt. Also, some lecturers like to give assessment tests at the beginning of the course to find out what the students already know about the subject. This is done so that the lecturer can have a general idea and can arrange the course content to suit the needs of the students.


● What is Evaluation?

Evaluation is determining the value of something. So, more specifically, in the field of education, evaluation means measuring or observing the process to judge it or to determine it for its value by comparing it to others or some kind of a standard. The focus of the evaluation is on grades.


When it comes to the timing of an evaluation, it is rather a final process that is determined to understand the quality of the process. The quality of the process is mostly determined by grades. That is such an evaluation can come as a paper that is given grades. This type of paper will test the knowledge of each student. So, here with the grades, the officials come to try to measure the quality of the programme.


☆What is the difference between Assessment and Evaluation?



• Definition of Assessment and Evaluation:

----- Assessment of a process means we are understanding the state or the condition of a process through objective measurements and observations.


• Evaluation is determining the value of something.


• Timing:

• Assessment is more of an ongoing process. It is formative.





• Evaluation is more of a final process. It is summative.


• Focus of Measurement:

• Assessment is known as process-oriented. That means it focuses on improving the process.


• Evaluation is known as product-oriented. That means it focuses on the quality of the process.


• Administrator and Recipient:

• The relationship administrator and recipient share in assessment is reflective. There are internally defined goals.


• The relationship administrator and recipient share in evaluation is prescriptive as there are standards that are externally imposed.


• Findings:

• Findings are diagnostic in assessment as they are for identifying areas that need improvement.


• Findings are judgmental in evaluation as they come to an overall score.


• Modifiability of Criteria:

• Criteria are flexible in assessment as they can be changed.


• Criteria are fixed in evaluation to punish the failures and reward the success.


• Standards of Measurements:

• These standards of measurements in the assessment are set to reach ideal outcomes.


• These standards of measurements in the evaluation are set to separate better and worse.


• Relationship between the students:

• In the assessment, the students are trying to learn from each other.


• In the evaluation, the students are trying to defeat one another.


• Outcome:

• Assessment shows you what needs improving.


• Evaluation shows you what has already been achieved.

Assessment is the process of objectively understanding the state or condition of a thing, by observation and measurement. Assessment of teaching means taking a measure of its effectiveness. “Formative” assessment is measurement for the purpose of improving it. “Summative” assessment is what we normally call “evaluation.”

Evaluation is the process of observing and measuring a thing for the purpose of judging it and of determining its “value,” either by comparison to similar things, or to a standard. Evaluation of teaching means passing judgment on it as part of an administrative process.


The process of collecting, reviewing and using data, for the purpose of improvement in the current performance, is called assessment. A process of passing judgment, on the basis of defined criteria and evidence is called evaluation.

Assessment is diagnostic in nature as it tends to identify areas of improvement. On the other hand, evaluation is judgemental, because it aims at providing an overall grade.

The assessment provides feedback on performance and ways to enhance performance in future. As against this, evaluation ascertains whether the standards are met or not.

The purpose of assessment is formative, i.e. to increase quality whereas evaluation is all about judging quality, therefore the purpose is summative.

Assessment is concerned with process, while evaluation focuses on product.

In an assessment, the feedback is based on observation and positive & negative points. In contrast to evaluation, in which the feedback relies on the level of quality as per set standard.

In an assessment, the relationship between assessor and assessee is reflective, i.e. the criteria are defined internally. On the contrary, the evaluator and evaluatee share a prescriptive relationship, wherein the standards are imposed externally.

The criteria for assessment are set by both the parties jointly. As opposed to evaluation, wherein the criteria are set by the evaluator.

The measurement standards for assessment are absolute, which seeks to achieve the quintessential outcome. As against this, standards of measurement for evaluation are comparative, that makes a distinction between better and worse.


☆ Conclusion:


So, after reviewing the points above, it would be clear that assessment and evaluation are completely different. While evaluation involves making judgments, assessment is concerned with correcting the deficiencies in one’s performance. Although, they play a crucial role in analysing and refining the performance of a person, product, project or process.Assessment is a process used to improve a performance or outcome. Evaluation is a process used to determine the quality of a performance or outcome and to make decisions based on the quality. Both processes can be formative (undertaken while an educational process is ongoing) or summative (taken at the conclusion of an educational process). Before starting either assessment or evaluation it is essential for instructors to clarify the purpose of the process. It is then critical to communicate this purpose to everyone involved and to establish whether this will be conducted as assessment or evaluation. Finally, one should be cautious whenever an assessor will ultimately be an evaluator or when assessment is initiated without buy-in of the assessee.


☆ Citation:

  • Secolsky, Charles, and D. B. Denison. Handbook on Measurement, Assessment, and Evaluation in Higher Education. Routledge, 2017.


  • Angelo, Thomas A., and Patricia K. Cross. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. Jossey-Bass Pub, 2005.

  • National Research Council, et al. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards. National Academies P, 2014.

  • MOHAN, RADHA. MEASUREMENT, EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION. PHI Learning Pvt., 2016.




Wednesday 12 May 2021

Mass Communication and media studies assignment

 


                      Assignment 


  • Name  : chudasama payal 



  • Batch:  2019-20



  • Roll no: 18



  • Submitted by: smt.Gardi Department of English MKBU 



  • Paper name : Mass communication and media studies 


  • Topic :  Discuss about  E-Media 


  • Paper:   15



  • Sem : 4



  • Course: M.A. English  

  • Email I'd: chudasmapayal1997@gmail.com



☆ What is Electronic media?

Electronic media is the media that one can share on any electronic device for the audience's viewing, unlike static media (Printing) electronic media is broadcasted to the wider community. Examples of Electronic media are things such as the television, the radio, or the wide internet.


☆ What is the purpose of using Electronic media?

The purpose of using electronic media can be for many reasons, one of the reasons is that you can use it to market yourself and anything else from businesses to products and so on. Electronic media is an efficient way to communicate to one another, either by the use of media devices and networks or social media sources such as Television or the Internet these are a few of the many ways you can use Electronic media to your advantage.


☆ What are the different types of Electronic media?

There is a wide range of Electronic media that broadcast a variety of different things like advertisements and promotions. Different Electronic media types are below:


• Television

• Radio

• Internet

• Shops


Television is one of the most used Electronic media devices because franchises can pay for advertisements to show millions of people, thus bringing in more business for the franchise owner.

The Radio is similar but does not give the audience visuals, just sound. This method of Electronic media can be effective and much more affordable than Television but does not engage the listeners as much as visual ads.

The Internet is one of the most profitable Electronic media devices, with a single click of a button ads will fill the webpage and is definite to catch a few glimpses for fellow web surfers. This not only spreads through Electronic media but can profit the creator of the web page throughout time.

Shops have Electronic media in most places, whether it be on an electric billboard or ATM screen Electronic media is sure to be in almost everywhere you go.


☆ What’s involved with selecting Electronic media?

Well this depends on what type of business you have and whether you wish to use Electronic media or not, most or almost all business use Electronic media in some way to attract new or more customers, just say you choose to advertise using Facebook which is a basic Electronic media module which you can use to your advantage, businesses usually use the “check-in” method where if you check into their store they will give you something in return, either a discount or some points on a membership card, this generates more customer flow to the store and in turn allows more profit to be made.


Electronic media is the basis of e-commerce marketing, firstly you will need a method of approach whether you would like to use online marketplaces or social/mail like places to promote your business, then soon after obtaining online contacts you will be seeing customers showing up to your business or buying from your online market.


☆How does Electronic media impact business performance?

Electronic media is a way for your business to be heard but not only heard, seen too. As your Business becomes its own entity online, you have a brand and your brand has a face, if managed well it is sure to increase revenue. If not then your business may struggle to get back up from the floor with many other competitors.


☆What terms are used for Electronic media?

Broadcasting: To transmit or send information through the use of various Electronic media devices.Media: The wide world of mass communication through Electronic media.


Electronic media exists today in many forms: radio, television, videotape, audiotape, telephone, telegraph, computer file, etc. In our exploration of the technologies that have led us from the spoken word to the word processor (we're almost there), I will discuss the forms of electronic media most relevant to the dissemination of writing. The seminal form of electronic communication was the telegraph, developed by Samuel Morse in 1834. It was so important that most electronic media today can be traced back to the telegraph. Communication by telegram afforded businesses a competitive edge- they could talk to other branches of their company almost instantly. The industrialization of the U.S.A. was dependent upon use of the telegraph.

In attempting to refine telegraph technology, Alexander Graham Bell discovered that he could broadcast his voice across a telegraph wire in 1876. Following Naisbitt's `path of least resistance'... Bell's telegraph research became what we now know as the telephone. This innovation was followed by other advances in electronic communication media: radio was introduced in 1895, television in 1927, early computers in 1942, the photocopy machine in 1946, the transistor in 1947, and ultimately the minicomputer of the 1960's, which exploited a technology called `integrated circuits' to downsize enormous computing machines to fit onto a desktop.


Between 1960 and 1980, computer based information systems evolved into practical resources for everyday use. Computer technology is advancing in every walk of life to the point which ``change is occurring so rapidly that there is no time to react.'' The desire to share information between computers has inspired both local and wide area networks. One such network is the Internet, a network of computer networks which connects the academic community through a common communications protocol. The Internet allows people to share files, text articles, and electronic mail, with two large improvements over print-based communication: 1. Dissemination of information is instantaneous--you can send a letter to seven different people in seven different countries, and the message will reach them (their computer account, at least) within minutes. 2. Paper is not used.


This potential for electronic distribution of text has prompted several writers, such as Lancaster and Naisbitt to propose that we are approaching a paperless society, where it is faster and less expensive to communicate through electronic channels: ``It is becoming cheaper to handle words electronically than to handle them physically, to the point where the physical mode is becoming too expensive for ordinary use.'' It is easy to fit electronic publication into Naisbitt's progression--writing is improved by printing, and now it is both easier and faster to adopt an electronic media for the dissemination of writing. It is now possible for, say, a student to type a paper on a word processor and upload it directly to a computer network, where thousands of people are free to read it as though it were a printed work.


As a new technology, all forms of electronic communication are causing a shift in the interpretation of copyright law on an international level. The idea of an intellectual work and moral rights of an author must now be considered. Government regulation of communication and potential conflicts with the first amendment are another consideration. These problems are not unlike the resistance offered to writing and to printing when they were in their infancy. It will be interesting to see, given today's rapid pace of technological change, how we communicate in the twenty-first century.


All of the major means of communication that have ever been embraced by Society remain with us to this day. Speech has successfully adapted and coexisted with many subsequent communication techniques. Certain printed publications will undoubtedly be replaced by electronic alternatives. This is especially true in fields where the rapid dissemination of information is important, as it is among scholars. When an electronic system is established for the purposes of scholarly communication, it will force publishers of journals and books to adapt their emphasis, but it will not force them out of print.


Before the scientific journal, ``...the only way new scientific ideas could be made public was through specially printed and published books.'' The book was soon replaced by the journal, because it afforded members of the scientific community a faster way to: establish priority claim, participate in critical debate, and gain access to needed information. Swiftness in providing scientists with these three objectives was the primary reason for choosing the journal over the book.


To assure the quality of journal content, a complex system of peer-refereeing evolved. In the model of this system by Ziman, an `invisible college' of referees and editors determine which articles to publish, decline, or return for revision. This system may have been born with the introduction of the printed journal, but my own experience on the Internet convinces me that such peer review is growing into an integral part of the online or electronic journal also.


Specialization or `twigging' among scholarly fields has led to an exponential growth of the number of academic journals published- there are more journals in print today than any one person can ever read. How does the resourceful researcher track down relevant and well written articles? They consult a `Journal of Journals' such as an index to journals, review of journals, or abstracts of journals. Accessibility to scientific journals is declining- due to astronomical increases in price. Some journals are priced beyond the budget of university libraries. There is also a substantial time lag between the submission of articles and their actual publication. It is for these reasons, F.W. Lancaster notes that scholars are turning to faster, informal alternatives to meet their information needs.


I believe that the scientific and academic communities are already accepting the electronic journal as the logical successor to the printed journal. There is some skepticism about it, just as people were once wary of the validity of the written word as compared against their tried and true spoken language. In the context of formal scholarly communication, a ``paperless society'' is indeed on the historical horizon. If the primary criteria for judging effective scholarly communication is swiftness, then an electronic equivalent will soon replace the printed journal. Only when physically necessary will a work be output to paper. The resulting society may not ever become paperless, but will certainly succeed in using less paper.


As a result of electronic media technology, the role played by the book will be re-written for the 21st century. According to Daniel Bell, the book is already obsolete as a means of information storage and retrieval. I think that Business will be the first (and possibly the only) field to completely abandon the ink and paper publication. The speed afforded by electronic media and the power of the computer to manipulate information make it hard for a competitive business not to adopt the latest communication technologies. Aside from the fact that they have been passed by in the race to provide immediate dissemination of information, both the book and the printed journal will continue to enjoy their place in society as sources of learning, pleasure, and as aesthetic, collectible objects. In the practice of electronic publishing, we have not lost the book--we have merely gained an alternative means to distribute intellectual work.


Implementing a computer-based system to facilitate scholarly communication has its own set of concerns and issues. The Internet is an existing attempt at such a system. It offers users the benefits of access, file transfer, and electronic mail(which includes electronic journals) with remote systems around the world. Internet member organizations are still straightening out their kinks, which include hopelessly `local' user interfaces which might instruct a remote user to `press the red button to log-in,' and resolving whether to charge local users directly for access to the network.


In his proposal for an ideal National Research and Education Network, Dr. E. Brownrigg suggests ten principles be adopted for such a scholarly system. These principles provide for protection of each user's first amendment rights, the freedom of all users to publish onto the network, a free market status for the network administration, remote access, privacy from government eavesdropping, and recognition of intellectual property which includes copyright enforcement and royalty distribution. The existing Internet has a long way to go before it achieves these goals.


Perhaps by the end of this academic year, students will be encouraged to submit their research papers and take-home exams electronically. Imagine yourself trying to evaluate this exact same intellectual work as it beams out at you from your computer monitor. It is bound to happen someday.


Electronic communications lets you combine numerous media - text, graphics sound, video, etc. - into a single message. That can result in far more meaningful communications tailored to the nature of your particular audience. In contrast to broadcasting, narrowcasting reflects the ability to develop numerous communications for subsets of your market or constituencies.

Electronic communications is interactive. It engages audiences in active, two-way communications. That requires a new way of thinking about advertising copy and the handling of public relations. The pay-off, however, is a self-selected audience, engaged and actively participating in the communications process.

Many organizations are using electronic communications facilities, such as the World Wide Web, as internal communications tools to enhance team work. Many individuals at different locations can work on the same documents, hold meetings and integrate research findings.


Electronic communications removes the power of communications gatekeepers to both positive and negative effects. Most organizations are used to controlling the messages that go out to its constituents through managers, spokespeople and others. But with the Internet, constituents begin to talk among themselves, requiring new approaches and a new emphasis on listening and reacting, not just talking.

With the Internet you have the ability to transmit and receive large amounts of information quickly to and from individuals and workgroups around the world. This changes the way activists, for example, can galvanize communities, inform legislators and change public opinion. It changes the sources and depth of your constituents' knowledge levels. It also lets those constituents reach you with new kinds of communications they may never have attempted before.


☆ Conclusion: 


Two-way communication is nothing new. But electronic communications creates a new form of many-to-many communications that lets geographically distributed groups communicate interactively and simultaneously through text, sound and video. You can hold inexpensive video conferences or press conferences from your desk, or conference with people at several desks located across the world. One of the burgeoning phenomena of the Internet is businesses and organizations sponsoring, supporting and moderating discussion groups about issues, products, strategies - anything of interest to the organization and its constituents. Sponsorships are also solicited for popular resources, such as indexes and other Internet search tools, and these provide a further communications and marketing opportunity.




☆Citation:

  • Medoff, Norman J., and Barbara Kaye. Electronic Media: Then, Now, and Later. Taylor & Francis, 2013.


  • Green, Jeremy S. E-media: How to Use Electronic Media for Effective Marketing Communications. 2000.

  • Pringle, Peter K., and Michael F. Starr. Electronic Media Management. Elsevier, 2006.

  • O'Hair, H. D. Risk and Health Communication in an Evolving Media Environment. Taylor & Francis, 2018.

  • E Media Professional. 1997.




Monday 10 May 2021

The African literature Assignment

                    Assignment 

                  




  • Name  : chudasama payal 


  • Batch:  2019-20


  • Roll no: 18


  • Submitted by: smt.Gardi Department of English MKBU 


  • Paper name : The African literature 

  • Topic : Significance of the Title of the Novel 'Things Fall Apart'

  • Paper:   14


  • Sem : 4


Course: M.A. English  
Email I'd: chudasmapayal1997@gmail.com

🌸 QUESTION :


Significance of the Title of the Novel 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe


☆ Introduction:

As a story about a culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. ... To some extent, Okonkwo's resistance to cultural change is also due to his fear of losing societal status.


Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel whose title bears the central message of the work. The very title ‘Things Fall Apart’ foreshadows the tragedy which takes place at the end of the novel. The novel depicts the tragedy of an individual as well as the tragedy of a society. The protagonist of the novel Okonkwo who was rich and respectable at the beginning of the novel meets a tragic fate at the end of the novel. Achebe portrays how an ambitious, well known, and respected African Okonkwo’s life falls apart. But when he suffers, his whole tribe also suffers. At the beginning of the novel, the Ibo society was a peaceful, organic society, but at the end of the novel it falls into pieces. Thus, the novel records not only falling apart of Okonkwo’s life but also his whole society.


☆ The Title- A Literary Allusion:


The phrase "things fall apart" is taken from the poem, “The Second Coming” by W.B Yeats, which Achebe quotes more extensively in the epigraph. Achebe’s literary allusion to Yeats’ poem might deepen or extend by comparison and contrast the meaning of Achebe’s title and his novel.  The beginning four lines of the poem are referred to as a preface of the novel.


“Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,”


"Things fall apart" can be said when something we believed would last forever, comes to an end. The title Things Fall Apart refers to the fact that without proper balance, things do fall apart. The notion of balance in the novel is an important theme throughout the book. Beginning with the excerpt from Yeats' poem, the concept of balance is stressed as important; for without balance, order is lost. In the novel, there is a system of balance, which the Igbo culture seems but at the end of the novel the society people can not listen to the leader, so a chaotic situation is created.


  ☆ Okonkwo’s Life Falls Apart:


At the beginning of the novel we see Okonkwo as a prosperous leader of the Igbo people. But the novel ends with his tragic end. Thus, we can say that the novel Things Fall Apart  depicts how Okonkwo’s life falls apart. Okonkwo is definitely a man of importance for his society. He is a well-known person throughout the nine villages and beyond. He is a warrior and wrestler who gains respect through his athletics. He is a fierce-free individual. He hasn’t lost one fight or any battles. And for this the people of the village love him. He is also respected because of his wealth.


Okonkwo's life first begins to fall apart when he kills Ikemefuna, a prisoner who stayed at Okonkwo's home. Okonkwo considers Ikemefuna as one of his own sons. It has been decided from the oracle that Ikemefuna will be killed. Okonkwo takes part in his murder, despite warning from his friend, “That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death.”  But when he hears Ikemefuna’s crying, ““My father, they have killed me!” as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.”  Okonkwo’s fear of being weak, which is one of his tragic flaws, drives him to rashness, and in the end it contributes to his own tragedy that his own life falls apart.


Another significant incidence where Okonkwo's life falls apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for seven years. From this event, one can see that Okonkwo's hopes and dreams have begun to fall apart. His hopes of being a rich and popular individual had drifted away with this disturbing incident. Okonkwo had no longer had his farm or animals. Also Okonkwo lost faith with most of his friends. This goes to show that Okonkwo lost faith with his friends, like his father lost faith with his friends.  Another episode that showed the downfall in Okonkwo's life was when Nwoye, his oldest and favorite son, converted to the white mans.


Okonkwo’s life finally shattered after his returning to his village where he finds that everything has changed. After the clansman burns the Church building down, the District Commissioner asks the leaders of the clan, Okonkwo among them, to go and see him for a peaceful meeting. The leaders arrive, and are quickly seized. While they are in detention waiting for the fine to be collected from their people, they are beaten severely by the court messengers and their heads are shaved. They are held in jail until the clan pays a heavy fine. Embittered and grieving for the destruction of his clan’s independence, and fearing the humiliation of dying under white law, Okonkwo commits suicide and his life totally falls apart.


 ☆ Igbo Society Falls Apart:


Like Okonkwo his Igbo society also falls apart. In the first part of the book we see a socially, politically and religiously organic Igbo society. But this organic society becomes divided and virtually loses all energy at the end of the book. Thus, the novel documents the falling apart of the Igbo tribe due to its own brutal rules as well as the coming of the Christian missionaries and the rule of the English government.


☆ The Society Itself Responsible For Falling Apart:


At the beginning of the book we see that the Igbo people have a strong faith in their traditional religion. The religion of the Igbos consisted in the belief that there is a suspense God, the creator of the universe and the lesser gods. The supreme God was called Chukwu. The other gods were made by Chukwu to act as his messengers so that people could approach him through them. People made sacrifices to the smaller gods, but when they failed, the people turned to Chukwu. Ancestor worship was also an equally important feature of the religion of the Ibo people. There were many superstitious ideas related to their religious belief. They believed in evil spirits and oracles. One of such Oracles is responsible for Okonkwo’s sacrifice of Ikemefuna. This incident underlines the superstitious brutality of traditional Igbo society. We also find the brutality, injustice and the inhuman activities in some other rituals or rules such as  people who are affected by some severe diseases are carried on the Evil Forest to die and they do not get any burial and twain babies are thrown out in the Evil Forest just after their birth. The ultimate result of such brutality is when the people, who are dissatisfied with these rules such as Nwoye, the mother of three twin babies, get the opportunity to change their religion they do it  and the society ultimately falls apart.


☆  Igbo Society Encounters the Colonial Masters and Falls Apart:


Prior to the coming of the white the political life of the Igbo people was also very organic and strong. They were very loyal to their political leaders. After the entrance of colonial masters, the colonial religion mostly replaced the traditional religion. When the white man arrives, however, they ignore the Igbo’s values and try to enforce his own beliefs and religious practices. Missionaries would convince these tribesmen that their tribe worshipped false gods and that its false gods did not have the ability to punish them if they chose to join the mission. Like many others, Okonko’s son Nwoye is also affected by the colonial religion.


The only point in the book in which the title is referenced is Chapter Twenty, when the main character, Okonkwo, and his friend, Obierika, are discussing the invasion of white men into their community. 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. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." This passage clearly ties the destruction of the Igbo people's way of life to sneaky, divisive action on the part of European missionaries and imperialists.

 

Colonial politics affects the Igbo society. Okonko’s life is also affected by colonial politics. The Igbo people become the victims of colonial politics and many people die as a result of colonialism. The same things happen to Okonkwo.


The novel concludes with the end of the Igbo society and the death of the hero. In the face of the chaos caused by the incursion of Christianity, Okonkwo becomes a murderer and then hangs himself. His world has literally fallen apart, and it symbolically represents that Igbo society has fallen apart. Thus, we can say, the title of the novel, Things Fall Apart denotes its theme appropriately.



☆Conclusion :

In short ,  Okonkwo’s most prominent internal conflict, the fear of failure and weakness, destroyed his life and has made him a cruel man. His uncontrollable anger is another prominent flaw that keeps him away from true greatness. At the end, when Okonkwo committed suicide, he also committed the only thing he feared, and that was weakness.



citation  :

  • Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin UK, 2013.

  • Summaries, Bright. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide. BrightSummaries.com, 2018.


  • Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart: A Novel. Anchor Canada, 2009.

  • Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Classics, 2018.