Turning and turning in the widening gyre

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• 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,
• The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
• The ceremony of innocence is drowned
• The best lack all conviction, while the worst
• Are full of passionate intensity.
• Surely some revelation is at hand
• Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
• William Butler Yeats, "The Second Coming"

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• Let me first make one general point that is
  fundamental and essential to the appreciation of
  African issues by Americans. Africans are people
  in the same way that Americans, Europeans,
  Asians, and others are people. Africans are not
  some strange beings with unpronounceable names
  and impenetrable minds. Although the action of
  Things Fall Apart takes place in a setting with
  which most Americans are unfamiliar, the
  characters are normal people and their events are
  real human events.
• Chinua Achebe

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Conflicts

• Generational
• Okonkwo vs. Unoka
• Okonkwo vs. Nwoye
• Cultural
• Ibo vs. Western
• Tradition vs. Christianity
• Assimilation vs. purity
• Gender
• Okonkwo vs. his wives
• Inner
• Okonkwo vs. himself

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The Tragic Hero

• enjoys an exalted position in society either by
  birth or extraordinary achievements
• demonstrates wisdom, moral or philosophical
  greatness -- sometimes physical prowess
• 3. adheres to and exemplifies a code of conduct
  including reverence toward the laws of God and
  the universe, loyalty to the family, and respect
  for government
• 4. possesses a flaw in personality or psyche
  that ultimately brings about total destruction.

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Tragic Flaw

• The quality that ultimately defeats a noble hero.
• What was Cyranos flaw?
• Okonkwos flaw
• Uncontrollable Anger
• Inflexibility

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• An epic hero, like Odysseus, is typically set
  apart from other characters by his capacity to
  endure many trials and tests. A tragic hero,
  like Oedipus, is typically a man of consequence
  brought down by an inner conflict, or through his
  own weakness. Is Okonkwo an epic hero, a tragic
  hero, or is he a hero at all?