Literary features of 'Things Fall Apart' by Chinua Achebe Chapter 11 Pg 70 Achebe throughout the novel uses many different literary features

The chapter opens with a description of the night, we have been told in a previous chapter that the tribes people found the dark without moonlight frightening, this information helps the reader to identify with them as most people at sometime in there lives have a fear of the dark, especially the impenetrable dark. Throughout the first three paragraphs there is the use of repetition, this is for mainly for emphasis, especially the last lines of the paragraphs which all relate to the darkness of the night (‘as black as charcoal’ and the ‘solid massiveness of night’), this may also be an allusion to the horror, pain and trouble to come. The associations with the dark could easily be linked to Okonkwo and how he seems to be ‘in the dark’.  

Ekwefi’s and Ezinma’s  telling of the parable of the tortoise, highlights how important morals were passed along in the tribe, it also shows how Okonkwo is missing significant lessons on how to behave properly because of his dismissive attitude towards ‘women’s’ stories.  Within theses there are many different uses of literary features such as the use of figurative language including similes like ‘his body rattled like a piece of dried stick in his empty shell’ and metaphors such as ‘tortoise had a sweet tongue’. Also there is the use of personification, where the animals and the sky have been given human characteristics. This folk tale was didactic and through its narrative made a connection between how the western world fails to understand customs.  

There is also a great sense of irony, in the fable tortoises shell broke into many pieces, this links to the title of the novel ‘things fall apart’, literally in this case and furthermore is again related to Okonkwo and how his life fall apart later on in the novel. We are able to make the connection because we are told that the sounds of Ekwefi’s and Ezinma’s voices reached Okonkwo so in a way it was almost like he was being given a warning, one that he chose to ignore because of his attitude towards women. He believed strongly that time should be spent on more important manly things, like war – violent things.