Genre
Novel
Setting and Context
Nigeria and England; early 1960s
Narrator and Point of View
3rd person, limited omniscient narrator
Tone and Mood
Tone: satirical and amused
Mood: cynical and critical
Protagonist and Antagonist
Obi Okonkwo (protagonist)
Major Conflict
Obi's decision whether or not to be bribed is the micro-conflict, whereas the ramifications of the colonization of Nigeria by the English, as evinced by the conduct of Obi, is the macro-conflict.
Climax
Obi's acceptance of the bribe, indicating his moral downfall.
Foreshadowing
All of the allusions to bribes throughout the text prefigure Obi's own downfall.
Understatement
n/a
Allusions
-Obi compares Clara to T.S. Eliot, the famous poet.
-Obi quotes Psalm 107:23 when he says "those that go down to the sea in ships" (27).
-Mr. Jones quotes Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" when he says "water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink" (31).
-Obi refers to Voltaire's Candide when he says "so much for the best of all possible worlds" (31).
-Obi calls reforming society an "Augean stable", referring to Hercules's laborious fifth task.
-Obi refers to St. George and the dragon.
-Obi identifies with Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness
Imagery
See Imagery section.
Paradox
n/a
Parallelism
n/a
Metonymy and Synecdoche
n/a
Personification
-Obi is seen as foolish, but the Union men are careful about him: "The fox must be cleared away first; after that the hen might be warned against wandering into the bush" (6). They are saying it is best to take care of the white man first -- personified as the fox -- and then go after the hens -Obi and his ilk.
-Obi says of the sea that its "face was contorted with anger" (28).
