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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
While Things Fall Apart is broadly set in the region of Africa now known as Nigeria, specific place settings in the novel serve as focal points for symbolic meaning. Chief among these are the "evil forests" that feature heavily in Ibo/Igbo spirituality. Readers are informed that each village/clan possesses its own "evil forest," a place used to dispose of bodies and objects deemed "evil" by the clan. The forest represents everything that Umuofia fears; when White missionaries arrive, they are relegated to the forest along with twins and bodies that cannot be buried.
Individual family compounds also feature significantly in the novel as settings. Each patriarch within a village must build his own compound, containing huts for himself, his wives, and all of his children. In many ways, these huts are important signifiers of status and masculinity.
Okonkwo's family all sleeps and lives together within the same compound, but in separate huts. As the man and head of household, Okonkwo possesses a solitary hut—both a source of distinction and isolation. Okonkwo simultaneously lives with his family and remains isolated from them. This aspect of setting reflects broadly on the emotional isolation men endure in order to embody their culture's masculine ideals: violence, strength, wealth.
Related Themes:
