Question

In about two hundred words, discuss how Achebe uses imagery in Things Fall Apart. Provide details from the novel to support your response.

Answer 1

Achebe ueses lots of imagery in his novel Things Fall Apart to help the readers feel like they are a part of the story. A really good example of a way that Achebe uses imagery in the story is through the traditional stories that the mothers tell the children. The story of the birds and the tortise uses imagery and describes the reason a tortise looks the way it does. Achebe uses very strong imagery that allows the reader to feel as though they are experiencing the story. "At last the rain came. It was tramendous. For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breath a breath of fire on the earth. All the grass had long been scorched brown, and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. The birds were silenced in the forest, and the world lay panting under the live, vibrating heat. And then came the clap of thunder. It was an angry, metallic and thirsty clap, unlike the deep liquid rumbling of the rainy season. A mighty wind arose and filled the air with dust. Palm trees swayed as the wind combed their leaves into flying crests like strange and fantastic coiffure." This is an expertly written paragraph from Achebe's novel and it is so real feeling, because of his imagery, that the reader feels turmoil as if they were there in the moment being afflicted by the tosssing of the wind and dust.

Step-by-step explanation:

Its 256 words

Answer 2

In Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart. Achebe uses animal imagery to enhance his descriptions and help describe aspects of human life. For instance, when he describes himself as 'The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did.' He shows that he has had to provide for himself, without any help from others. This imagery is also present in the stories that the Igbo mothers tell their children. For example, story of Tortoise's shell. The story describes why it looks the way it does after its encounters with the birds.

Nature imagery is also used in the novel. This includes the weather in general When Okonkwo experienced a terrible harvest year, the drought was described as 'The blazing sun returned, more fierce than it had ever been known, and scorched all the green that had appeared with the rains. The earth burned like hot coals and roasted all the yams that had been sown. 'The intensity of the imagery makes the reader feel every aspect to the situation.