Setting

      In the novel Things Fall  Apart   by  Chinua Achebe's , Achebe's uses a mix for setting to create a character like image out of the setting.  The setting of the novel take place in 1890's going to the early 1900's in Nigeria during  the time  Europeans mercenary were going into Africa to expend their custom and convert the Africans from their pagan faiths to Christianity. In the novel one physical setting that comes to life is The Evil Forest which is located across the stream from the village where anything that was not condoned by the religion of Umuofia was sent, including men who killed themselves, ogbanje, and twins. They villagers feared the forest has if it was alive and violate killing unwanted personals that wasn't wanted in the Umuofia trial because what went in the forest never come out. Another setting that created was the Abame village it played a historical setting ,but also a psychological problem to Okonkwo because tthe village was destroyed by white men because the villagers assassinated a white man. The villagers were ambushed and slaughtered in their marketplace as punishment for their crime against the white men. Okonkwo thinks of this story in most of his encounters with the white men and vows not to be caught off-guard as the people of Abame were. This cost Okonkwo his life because of his fear to show weaken to the white man. 

Conflict 

    · The conflict in the novel Thing Fall Apart is between the society of Umuofia which Okonkwo is the one everyone is trying to emulate and the new customs that white mercenary bring, they try to enlighten the umuofia community. Okonkwo felt has if his people was weak of following the white man and that he was to bold to be taken down by the white man he self. so, he didn't try to get a long with the white men he rather fight. Okonkwo idea is to show power and not weakness (Chapter 21). Another  conflict was that Okonkwo struggles with the fact that he doesn't want to be like his father. He believes his father to have been weak, effeminate, lazy, poor, a debtors and had no title. On the other hand, Okonkwo strives to be strong, masculine, respected, wealthy and has a title. He started young earning his titles and have money just to surpass his father trashy life,( Chapter 1)

Themes ans Sub themes

 In the novel Things Fall Apart by chinua Achebe, Achebe show use many different types that impacted the way Okonko do thing and made decisions.

•  The first theme in is Change. Change is shown in many different ways all over the novel. Change happens when the white men come to the tribe because they brought along a new religion with them, new ideas and custom the Unuofia wasn't used to. Change was one of hard thing Okonko had deal with and its was impossible for Okonko to agree to very simple change. The change that took place within the tribe led to inner conflicts inside of the tribe and out. it conflicts escalated to much worse events such as violence and death. (whole book is change)
• A second Theme is Man vs Self this theme pops up when Okonko is questioning himself after killing his adopted son Ikemefuna ( Chapter 7)  and even before that he was fighting with himself not to be like his father a weak man(( Chapter 1).
• A third theme is Man vs Indigenous people this theme appear when the Mr. brown coming in to the village and from there it just started coming up over and over again. Another time this theme views it self is when the white men start practicing their believe on the Umuofia people and taking them away from their natural order of living(Chapter 21-25).
• A fourth theme is Fear. Okonkwo is haunted by fear because he doesn't want to be like his dad. He is scared of failure, and he is afraid of being to be weak. Fear drives him to rashness, and fear is what cost him his death. Fear is whats pushing Okonkwo even when he killed Ikemefuna he feared that the man in the village was going to see him as weak show he killed him to show power. ( whole novel)     
• A fifth Theme is Masculinity this is one of Okonkwo's most strong message for success , and he shows masculinity repeatedly in the novel. For him, any kind of femaleness is a sign of weakness and effeminacy. Okonko displays that male power lies in authority and brute force. Throughout the novel, we are shown that the men have a more advanced understanding of masculinity. 
• The final theme is Man vs Beliefs. Religion plays the main arena where both cultural differences and similarities between Umuofia natives and the white man at end of the novel. Religion represents order in both societies, but they both where different in beliefs. and he way they did things.(chapters 21-25) 

Letter to the author 

Dear  Chinua Achebe,

                    I felt that your novel Things Fall Apart  was a magnificent pieces of writing. It helped me discover many thing i didn't know about the custom of Africa and the people living there. it was a enjoyable book that i would highly recommend anyone i know to read this novel because of the strong and gifted message it's giving the reader. In fact, I feel akin to the Okonkwo in the novel because we both do thing to give a image to other people so they could look up to us. 
                     Your way for writing is beautiful and i felt like i was Okonkwo when he didn't want to display weakness to other people because i believe being weak in a major flaw. I may not know what Okonkwo felt when he killed his adopted son Ikemefuna , but i know the signs of weakness that i try not to show. Like Okonkwo i have many flaws . but i don't show it. i try to memorizes people with a different me more stronger and more smarter, Just like Okonkwo, This is why i was flattered with the novel Things Fall Apart  because i could relate to the main character.
                      Although, i loved your novel, i perceive that they was a part of the novel that i disliked. i really animosity that Okonkwo killed himself at the end of the novel. That was the sign of extreme weakness and i really lost respected for him. He left his wife's' and kids to take his pride with him. This part of the novel was just the only thing i really disliked. 
                      All in all, the novel was a " home run" to the list of my favorite books and in the list of me mos recommend book of people to read. it was wealth the time and experience. Thank you           


  .           

sss

 leopoldo liriano

1) I was walking  down the block from where i live in the Bronx around Sheridan and Morris . The small apartment house remind me of Jane Jacobs.

• She became the leader in the theoretical fight against Le Corbusier  vision of the city.                  
• She fought against Urban planing and the power broker Robert Moose renewal plan.                  
• Jane Jacobs was a journalist and wrote her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities.  
• She support mixed-race and mixed-income communities and argued the project building rise  crime and isolated same groups of people.          

2) While I was taking pictures around my neighborhood in the Bronx. I saw this building the reminded me of Daniel Burnham and his Flatiron building.

• Burnham created the Flatiron building that Broadway and 22nd street in Manhattan.        
• Burnham was an American architect and urban designer.                                                  
• The Flatiron building was one of the first skyscraper in all time.                                        
• Burnham also made many other buildings in cities like Chicago, Washington, Manila, and Baguio                

3) As i walked down the block around my neighborhood, I saw a couple of stores lined up, but it was basic. This reminded me of Albert Hunter public realm.

• Public realm refers to the city and the society. Hunter said places like downtown, the subways and the streets and place of public realm.
• Hunter believed in three social bonds The parochial bond , The structural bond , and the dyadic bond.
• Hunter believed that with power and value we could readily social order.                                    
• Hunter believed that the world is full of people that don't know each other " World of Strangers".

4) I live around the Grand Concourse in the Bronx and when I looked at the picture it reminded me of Dewitt Clinton.

• Clinton made the laying out of Manhattan’s street grid.                                                         
• Clinton created the 363 mile Erie Canal.                                                                                  
• Clinton was at various times governor of New York and  mayor of New York City.             
• Clinton was also a U.S. senator and presidential candidate.                                                    

5) As I look through my house window I see a park so I run and I take a picture of it because it reminded me of Ebenezer Howard.

• Howard created The Garden City Movement that people need to live around a park.  
• Howard was a shorthand stenographer and was never a planner or an architect.            
• Howard was the creator of The Three Magnets Town,Country, and town-country.   
• Howard proposed Garden cities were base on principles of cooperative ownership.      

 6) When I was walking around I saw this round architect stand and it reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright his idea of men living with natural.

• Wright believed that the city was a " fibrous tumor" and a symbol of the exploitation of humankind.
• Wright rejected what he perceived as the unnatural and inhumane urban environment.             
• Wright didn't like cities, his ideas was more like the suburbs.                                           
• Wright created the Guggenheim  museum, Now where many art art is displayed.       

7) As my tour around my community continued i saw workers fixing the streets. This reminded me of The Industrial Revolution and how it impacted the cities.

• The Industrial Revolution changed the size,density,structure and compositions of cities.
• The Industrial Revolution Revolution helped grow cities and their population.     
• It changed the nature of economics and social life.                              
• It lead the broke up of families and positions in the family. women power grow , as for , men it decreased.        

8) This is the housing court in the Bronx and  every real estate or owner of housing goes here to get their rent money. This reminds me of John Jacob because he own most of the Manhattan real estate. 

• John Jacob was the first multi-millionaire in the United States                                                     
• John Jacobs was the creator of the first trust in America.                                                              
• John Jacobs bought a 70 acre farm that ran west of Broadway to the Hudson river between 42nd and 46th streets.
• John Jacobs was an American businessman, merchant, fur trader, and investor                                                           

9) When my feet got cold and I lean on this phone outside on the sidewalk.I started to realize that this is symbolic interaction.

• Symbolic inaction is the study of how people use shared symbols to define, give meaning to the environment and make sense of it. 
• Symbolic inaction impacted the peoples mentality.                                                                      
• Human have a basic meaning to things.                                                                                    
• Things arise because of social inaction's, that the social world is composed of acting, thinking, reacting, and interpreting human beings.    

10) This one came to me off the back. This is the cross Bronx and it reminds me of (The Power Broker) Robert Moses   

• Robert Moses was the creator of the Cross Bronx and all other major highway in New York.
• Robert Moses created the White Stone Bridge and all other bridges in New York.                 
• He created the renewal project that transformed New York to a new level and one of the powerful cities in the whole.
• Robert Moses healed 12 positions, some was head of Long Island Parks Commission, The Triborough Bridge Authority, New York City Planning Commission, and ect.          

11) As I walk throughout my neighborhood by Selwyn st. I saw this building that remind me for Le Corbusier and his idea highways going under lager buildings.

• He hated streets, so he wanted to eliminate them and create "super blocks"                             
• He created the first glass and steel building which was the UN in Manhattan.                        
• His idea of building are the Project Buildings we see today that have 20 feet and up with no store, shopping area or supermarket around the area. 
• He hated the cars.                                                                                                                                       

 12) This is 170 st in the Bronx and this is the place where everyone come and shop. Them the go back home. This reminds me of Organic Solidarity.               

• Organic Solidarity is base on interest.                                                                                                 
• Organic Solidarity doesn't relate to a people as a whole.                                                                    
• Organic Solidarity is one of Emile Durkheim.                       
• Organic Solidarity doesn't create friendship.                                                                                                                          

13) I was walking around my hood and I saw two banks around the street from each other. This reminded me for Alexandra Hamilton.

• Hamilton created the first bank in New York city.                                                               
• Hamilton began in 80 million dollars to New York city.                                                     
• Started The New York Post News paper.                                                                  
• He was the first  Secretary of the Treasury.                                                       

14) As I walked pass this church its reminded me of every cultural no matter where you from getting together and becoming stronger. It reminded me of Claude Fischer. 

• Fischer subculture theory is the understanding of  Urbanism patterns.                                    
• Fischer believed that Urbanism can strengthen groups,rather them broken them.                       
• Fischer believe that people who share similar interests and values can build subculture.    
• Fischer argued that community size and density helps create diverse subculture.         

15) As I walk throughout my neighborhood by 170 st I saw this events that remind me of a how a stock city is formed. 

• A stock city is a city the have growth in population,growth in technology and growth in problems.
• Chicago was the stock city of the early 20th century.                                                                        
• In the late 20th century L.A is the new stock city.                                                                          
• Manchester England was the stock city of the emerging cities of the Industrial Revolution.                                                                                  

        16) I took this picture out of my window. It  is a The William Howard Taft high school in the Bronx. It reminded me of  political and economic model.

• The political and economic model begins with growth and development of cities don't just occur simple by happenstance.
• The political and economic model also begins with the decline and the fall of cities because it doesn't occur simple by happenstance.
• The political and economic model took issues with the views and differences of different models because of social conflict and anchored.
• The political and economic model overthrown the ideas in the Chicago school urban ecology and Urbanism.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

          17) These pictures also reminded me of Lynn Loafland "Goodness of the public realm".

• She believed in six factor social realm.
• Loafland first point is a environment of learning.
• Loafland second point a communication center. 
• Loafland other point is the creation of cosmopolitans.                                                                                                     
  

          18) When i woke up this morning I took this picture of my apartment.This reminded me of Ray Oldenburg and the "Third Place".

• Oldenburg calls one's "First Place" the home and those that one lives with.
• The "Second Place" is the workplace where people may actually spend most of their time.
• Third places are "anchors of community life and more creative interaction.
• Oldenburg created eight characteristics that define a Third Place.                                                              
  

       19)  I'm going to use this picture again because it means so many different things in Urbanism. This picture also reminds me of William Whyte and his theory of pubic space and safety.

• Whyte turned his attention to the study of human behavior in urban settings.
• Whyte argued that people are attracted to pubic place because they believe it is safer.
• Whyte studied people in plazas and in parks.
• Whyte advocated for a new way of designing public spaces – one that was bottom-up, not top-down.                                                                                                                                                 
  

    20) This picture I took it when I was walking to the bus to go to work. It reminded me of Elijah Anderson and judgment in public realm.

• Anderson believed that the first impression is the first step of judgment.
• Another way people judge you is from the community you come from because it's get people a impression on how you act.
• The people truth the  black community less because of the idea other put in their head.
• Anderson is a writer and a sociology                                                                                                                                           
  

 21) I was hungry and tired by the time I took this pictures, but they did remind my of a city culture of Heliopolis.

• The development of new music, food, architecture, and new form of art.
• L.A and Southern California are Heliopolis cities.
• L.A and Southern California is socioeconomic polarization, racism, and inequality.
• L.A and Southern California also have homelessness and social unrest.                                                
  

22) I put this pictures together because it reminded me of Edge cities.

• Edge city is for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside.
• Edge city have a mall, highway, and residential areas where people live and shop.
• Los Angeles is seen as the "great-granddaddy" of edge cities. 
• In a edge city the automobile and a demand because of roads and parking facilities.                                  
  

23) This pictures i took them while walking my son to school . This pictures reminded me of Politics of Nature. 

• The current role of nature and science in separating facts from values which is the role of politics and non-scientists.
• Leads to a system that ignores nature's socially constructed status and creates a political order without
• The natural environment of south California is seen to be under attack by the onslaught of urbanizatan.
• The results is a politicization of nature reflected in battles over environment regulation policies and grassroots environment movements.   

24) When I walked outside my apartment into the hallway. I took this picture in the hall way of my building and it reminded me of interdiction spaces.

• Mike Davis argued that interdiction spaces are organized by an ecology of fear.
• interdiction spaces are forced on segregation, invasion, and succession human ecology
• Davis believes that ecological is determined by class, race, income, and land. 
• interdiction spaces are place protected with security technology.

25) I left this topic unto the end because I believe we are live in this time. This picture reminds me of Christopher Mele and this idea of the politics of place.

• Mele argues that the meaning of place is a result of power.
• Mele argues that symbolic meaning of place is now controlled by political, economics and cultural stratification.
• Mele illustrated his views through both a historical and contemporary of New York City lower east side.
• Mele argues that real-estate developers and media personal, attack the local government neighborhoods and middle class,who are found in rough neighborhood an attractive place to pursue a fauc-bohemian lifestyle.  

This is the power OF how a person is characterized in their society.