Example From Things Fall Apart example essay topic

A theme that is apparent in the two novels, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and Things Fall Apart by China Achebe, is the clash between two groups with different lifestyles. In A Tale of Two Cities, the conflict occurs between the high-ranking members of society and the poverty-stricken lower class. The tension between the Ibo tribe and the European missionaries is the example from Things Fall Apart. The authors use these two conflicts to create an emotional setting for their books. In the novel A Tale of Two Cities, Dickens reveals to the reader, what the lower class in France goes through and how hard life is for them. The best example of this takes place outside Defarge's wine-shop.

A large cask of wine had been accidentally dropped on the pavement outside. Dickens portrays how the passing peasants scramble to lap up the spilled wine, representing numerous things, the most important being the desperate quality of the people's hunger. "The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the women who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth...

". (Dickens, pg. 25) This quote shows the mindless frenzy the peasants were in, trying to sop up the wine. It also shows the extreme poverty they were faced with. After the wine was cleaned up, they went back to living their poverty-stricken lives.

The rich constantly taunt them, which is still true in modern day times. The first encounter with the missionaries in Things Fall Apart occurs when they come to Umuofia to set up a Christian church. The Missionaries explain their religion to the tribe and tell them that they should convert to Christianity. The majority of the tribe does not believe that it is morally right to convert.

Therefore, only a few people attend the church. This creates animosity amongst the tribe. "The missionaries had come to Umuofia. They had built their church there, won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages. That was a source of great sorrow to the leaders of the clan; but many of them believed that the strange faith and the white man's god would not last. None of his converts was a man whose word was heeded in the assembly of the people.

None of them was a man of title". (Achebe, pg. 143) The missionaries take advantage of the men who have no titles, and whose word is never listened to so that they can get as many people as they possibly can to convert. If these men joined the church that meant that they were no longer following the leaders of their tribe. This also meant that there were less people to fight against the missionaries. Another extreme example of the awful attitude that the high-society has towards the peasants can be shown through the Marquis Evremonde. He stands for everything the French Revolution is trying to overcome.

The aristocrats have no respect or compassion for the peasants whatsoever. This is solely because of the fact that the upper-class believes they are the most important people in the world, giving them the right to treat others however they wish. "But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would not have stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and leave their wounded behind... 'It is extraordinary to me,' said he (the Marquis), 'that you people cannot take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of you is for ever in the way.

How do I know what injury you have done to my horses?' " (Dickens p. 100-101) This quote takes place when the Marquis' carriage runs over a small boy in the streets. It shows a typical reaction that might be expected from a man of his stature, in those days. The Marquis' only concern seemed to be if it had inconvenienced him at all. He did not show any feelings of concern for the father or exemplify any remorse over what had happened. Things Fall Apart includes a section where some of the clansmen, acting to cleans their village of a sin, burn down the church. The commissioner asks them to discuss the event with him and then when they arrive they are put in jail.

Because of their different background, the Europeans believed that they could treat the leaders however they wanted. .".. At night the messengers came in to taunt them and to knock their shaven heads together... It was only on the third day, when they could no longer bear the hunger and the insults, that they began to talk about giving in". (Achebe p. 195) The quote gives some idea of how poorly the leaders were treated while they were imprisoned. The messengers seemed to be entertained by making the Umuofia leaders suffer.

They did not show any repentance for the treatment of their prisoners, they believed it was ok for them to act that way.