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Yams In Things Fall Apart
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Yams in Things Fall Apart
Keely Cason
Honors English II
Motif: Yams
Motif
In the book Things Fall Apart yams demonstrate wealth and masculinity. In Ibo culture, to have an abundance of yams is to be well-known and powerful. Okonkwo is known as one of the strongest men because of his skills in harvesting. Ranking in Umuofia is determined majorly by your ability to harvest and uphold a yam farm, because of the tie between yams and masculinity.
Yams
Theme
Theme
The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about adaptation vs. integrity and reveals that yams are the measure of wealth and masculinity.
Only men plant yams, and their ability to support their family with their yam harvest is a sign of wealth and ability. This means in Ibo culture the people must learn to adapt in order to keep a good harvest of yams. It takes integrity and hard-work to keep your status when it comes to yams.
Text Evidence
Evidence
“His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam the king of crops was a man’s crop” (Achebe 23).
“For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till the chickens went back to roost” (Achebe 33).
Description
Achebe describes that yams are “the king of crops” (23) and how they relate to masculinity and instill integrity. Achebe states how yams “demanded hard work and constant attention” (33). When done correctly, being able to maintain yams and yield to your family, brings integrity to one.
Description
Text Evidence
“Many young men have come to me to ask for yams but I have refused because I knew they would just dump them in the earth and leave them to be choked by weeds” (Achebe 22).
“That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia” (Achebe 208)
Evidence
Description
These sentences help to develop the theme because Nwakibie has integrity when it comes to the yams and who he entrusts to give them to.
Description
Conclusion
In conclusion, the motif yams provides a theme of adaptation vs. integrity because they connect to masculinity and wealth through the adaptation it takes in order to uphold integrity in the Igbo culture.