More First Lines from Classic Novels

I really enjoyed analyzing those first lines last time, so I decided to do it again. Perhaps we will make it a regular thing. Maybe we will look at first lines from books that are terrible. Who knows.

Things Fall Apart
by Chinua Achebe

"Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond."

This is not my favorite first line. It establishes the main character of Okonkwo and shows the reader how important he is, but that is pretty much it. It isn't flashy; it gets the job done. But that was how I felt about the whole of Things Fall Apart. It was simply okay, an average novel. There are some interesting things to discuss, but we aren't going to spend a lot of time looking at Achebe's writing. I wouldn't be able to find a good place in that novel to conduct a close reading exercise. Ultimately forgettable as a first line. 

Jane Eyre
by Charlotte Bronte

"There was not the possibility of taking a walk that day."

I love Jane Eyre and I love teaching Jane Eyre to my AP Lit student, but this first line isn't terribly interesting either. It is better than Things Fall Apart, but just a bit. The language is different here. The phrasing and the use of the word "possibility" show us that this writer is from a different time period, different country, and different caste than your normal joe writer these days. There is an elegance to the phrasing "There was not the possibility..." They could have easily have said that it was raining out, or the weather was bad. But Bronte doesn't do that.

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy

"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him."

Ah, good old Cormac. Getting us back on track. Now, this is a first line. Lots of details in this sentence. "In the woods," "in the dark and the cold," "of the night." He could have added in those details later or in a different way, but McCarthy has that famous style. He likes to say a lot in one sentence. 

As I Lay Dying
by William Faulkner

"Jewel and I come up from the field, following the path in single file."

No fair, you can't do another Faulkner novel! I certainly can! Whose blog is this anyway? And this is a good one. From this first line, we get our first taste of the dialect. Daryl is speaking and the reader can already tell the region of the country that we are dealing with; the type of people we are dealing with. The other thing that I think is really special in this line is the second half of it, "following the path in single file." That part is interesting because it is curious. The reader begins to wonder and then, you can see, Faulkner already has you hooked. People don't normally walk in single file unless you have been instructed to. The fact that they are walking this way actually becomes very important in the next sentence or two. This establishes Daryl and Jewel's relationship, which isn't the best. But Faulkner does that all without telling us. This is pure showing and it is marvelous.

Things Fall Apart ch. 14 Read Along

Here are my thoughts and what I considered important as I read chapter 14 of Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe.

• Okonkwo has been exiled.
• Uchendu = ou-CHEN-doo
• Okonkwo cried as they brought his mother's body back to her home town. Only time we've heard of Okonkwo crying for any reason. He would consider crying a woman's train. Maybe we will see more crying from our main charater?
• Highlighted: "Today Okonkwo was not bringing his mother home to be buried with her people. He was taking his family of three wives and their children to seek refuge in his motherland."
• Motherland is an interesting concept. I've never heard of that before. Land of my mother.
• Interesting that Okonkwo's crime is a feminine manslaughter. Okonkwo is supposed to be the most masculine character in the book. Maybe this will change Okonkwo.
• Okonkwo's extended family helps him in his time of need. Not very similar to Job in the bible anymore
• Highlighted because it is beautiful writing: "For two or three moons the sun had been gathering strength till it seemed to breathe a breath of fire on the earth. All the grass had long been scorched brown, and the sands felt like live coals to the feet. Evergreen trees wore a dusty coat of brown. The birds were silenced in the forests, and the world lay panting under the live, vibrating heat." Great images in this passage, I can really visualize them.
• coiffure = a person's hairstyle, typically an elaborate one.
• It hails.
• Highlighted: "A vague scent of life and green vegetation was diffused in the air." I can smell this. And smell is such a difficult sense to get into literature--too often it is ignored entirely. But this I can sense. This is what it smells like right before a rain or right after--a vague scent of life.
• Okonkwo has changed, work no longer holds any pleasure for him.
• Okonkwo is disappointed because he thought he was destined for great things. Destined to be the lord of the village. But he believes that he was always destined to fail, that no matter how hard he worked he would not achieve his goal. This is a fixed mindset, but also the believe of his culture. How awful it would be to believe this. I doubt I would get anything done ever if I had this belief.
• Compare and contrast the image of Uchendu presiding over his vast family at the final wedding ceremony for his son to Okonkwo's idea of success. Uchendu is sitting next to his son's future wife, holding the families ancestral staff--presiding over the family. This seems to me to be just as important and powerful as being lord of the village. But Okonkwo just doesn't see it.
• The ceremony isn't a confession, it is an interrogation.
• Okonkwo doesn't belong
• Okonkwo consults with the wise old man (Uchendu). Uchendu comes to the conclusion that Okonkwo is still a child, which I would agree with. He doesn't really understand what is important and/or valuable in life.
• "A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Mothers comfort us and help us get back on our feet."
• Finally, Uchendu talks sense to Okonkwo. It isn't all bad, things could be way worse. At least you still live. You need to help your wives and children to get through this trial so they can return to their village. Stop moping. I see some great allusions to Friar Lawrence's speech to Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.

Things Fall Apart Pronunciation Guide

I've found in my reading that I've needed a pronunciation guide for the character names. Okonkwo is pretty easy, but others are more difficult and since I will be discussing the novel with my students next semester, I figured that I needed to say the names correctly. I found this pronunciation guild online, so I cannot claim credit. Enjoy!

Things Fall Apart ch. 1-5

I finished chapter five yesterday and decided that I needed to do a little blog about it. I have been keeping on my schedule for the most part. One day I missed and had to read two chapters, but with this book that isn't too terrible. The chapters are short and read very quickly.

I find myself caught up in the story. The style reminds me of a folk tale in the way it is written. And while I doubt we will spend a ton of time engaging in close readings of passages from this book, it is already bringing up some major ideas/themes in my mind.

The most important piece that I noticed in these first five chapters is that Achebe is setting up a pretty classical tragedy. Okonkow is our tragic figure. He is a perfect example of a traditional Greek tragic hero:

• Tragic hero comes from a noble bloodline
• with Okonkwo and this whole civilization the noble bloodline really comes more from the titles that are held by the men. Okonkwo doesn't have a noble family, in fact his father is far from "noble." But, Okonkwo has made a name for himself in the village and is respected.
• Tragic hero has a tragic flaw or Hamartia
• I think this is pretty obvious with what Achebe is setting us up with in the first five chapters. Okonkwo has a problem with anger and violence, and that is going to come back to bite him in the butt. Achebe is laying some major foreshadowing in these first chapters. Okonkwo is going to fall because he does something violent. I mean we already see him get in trouble because he beat his wife during the week of peace. The elders of the village had to punish him and they usually give harsher punishments, but Okonkwo got off easy. It is going to happen, Okonkwo's violence and anger will be his downfall.
• Makes a major mistake
• Undergoes a major change
• Suffers a downfall

Some of these things remain to be seen, but Achebe has done a great job setting this character up for those who are reader's of classical literature. This is the modern African tragic hero. As you continue reading this novel keep an eye out for these other elements of a classic tragic hero.

The Igbo World, by Victor C. Uchendu

I am reading this essay to help prepare myself to read Things Fall Apart. These are the things that stood out to me...

• "The Igbo world, in all its aspects--material, spiritual, and sociocultural--is made intelligible to Igbo by their cosmology, which explains how everything came into being." pg 225
• Essay is concerned with "cosmology as a system of prescriptive ethics" & "cosmology as an action system." 
• Igbo believe in two worlds: the world of man & the spirit world
• Lineages continue on after death
• "An Igbo without [...] a partilineage--is an Igbo without citizenship both in the world of man and in the world of the ancestors."
• The dead are reincarnated
• Must keep the cosmic balance. Igbo believe that they can manipulate cosmic forces to their benefit.
• "They achieve this balance, for instance, through divination, sacrifice, appeal to the counter-vailing powers of their ancestors (who are their invisible father-figures) against the powers of the malignant, and non-ancestral spirits, and socially, through constant realignment in their social groupings."
• Relationships exist through the motivation of self-interest. Each party in the relationship needs to be mutually beneficial to the other.
• No individual or spirit is self-sufficient. "Human interdependence is a constant theme in the folklore of the Igbo."
• "Since the need to get along well with everyone is such a major concern in interpersonal relations, a properly socialized Igbo is one who is able to interact with others, to speak out his mind freely even if it hurts to do so. Getting on well with neighbors does not mean 'letting them along.'"
• "The Igbo are status seekers." Status symbols can be bought.
• On their death beds, Igbo think more about their status in the afterlife than their death.
• It is necessary for people to live "transparent lives"
• Many social acts are done in the presence of witnesses to achieve this transparency.
• "Solitude is regarded as a mark of wickedness, of evil design."
• "It is man who 'spoils' the country and not the spirits." It is the people and not spirits who make a country 'wicked'"
• "The Igbo world is based on a equalitarian principle. Equality or near equality ensures that no one group of persons acquires too much control over the life of others."
• The Igbo society is a highly competitive one.
• "The Igbo leader 'emerges': he is not born or made."
• Igbo leaders are giving minimal power, "yet is expected to give maximum service in return."

Things Fall Apart Reading Schedule

I work through a book much better if I have a reading schedule. So, here is the schedule I am proposing for myself. Shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. I hate having to rush through a great book to finish it for class. I like to savor what I am reading. Join me in my reading of this wonderful novel.

• June 8th--Ch. 1
• June 9th--Ch. 2
• June 11th--Ch. 3
• June 15th--Ch. 4
• June 16th--Ch. 5
• June 17th--Ch. 6
• June 18th--Ch. 7
• June 19th--Ch. 8
• June 20th--Ch. 9
• June 22nd--Ch. 10
• June 23rd--Ch. 11
• June 25th--Ch. 12
• June 29th--Ch. 13
• June 30th--Ch. 14
• July 2nd--Ch. 15
• July 6th--Ch. 16
• July 7h--Ch. 17
• July 9th--Ch. 18
• July 13th--Ch. 19
• July 14th--Ch. 20
• July 16th--Ch. 21
• July 20th--Ch. 22
• July 21st--Ch. 23
• July 23rd--Ch. 24 & 25

Follow this blog for more blog posts about this novel as I work my way through. Feel free to join the conversation.

Coming Soon