Imagery in Things Fall Apart and Tintern Abbey

Introduction: Imagery Beneath the Surface

This essay examines the use of imagery — including metaphor, simile, and symbol — in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and "Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth. It analyzes the ways in which the imagery of these texts creates relationships between humans and nature, and considers how the specific details of each text's imagery produce differences and similarities in those relationships. Imagery in a piece of writing may not be apparent at first — it may hide beneath the theme and structure of the piece — but unlike landscape to a blind eye, imagery can be seen by reading a little more closely and taking the time to think carefully about what the author is trying to say.

Nature and Culture in Things Fall Apart

Imagery plays an important part in much of fiction, and especially as fiction relates to the natural world, as both texts clearly demonstrate. Well-written imagery can evoke memories, create new ones, and foster a deeper understanding of the world around us. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe writes about a culture that is far different from that of most Western readers, and so he uses imagery to invoke understanding. Much of the story involves the native Igbo people attempting to coexist with white colonial invaders, and Achebe draws on local folklore — particularly as it relates to nature — to convey the profound dilemma facing the native Nigerians. He uses the metaphor of the kite and the eagle to illustrate how all people must learn to live alongside one another: "Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break" (Achebe 21–22).

Later, Uchendu observes: "The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others. We have albinos among us. Do you not think that they came by mistake, that they have strayed from their way to a land where everybody is like them?" (Achebe 130). Here again the imagery is clear: the natives must make way for the white men to survive, and their rich folklore and language keep the novel's central theme at the forefront while inviting the reader to admire this culture on its own terms.

The natural world is central to Igbo life, and Achebe illustrates this throughout the novel. He uses a simile to liken a corn cob to the face of an old woman: "The name for a corn cob with only a few scattered grains was eze-agadi-nwayi, or the teeth of an old woman" (Achebe 36). The image is so precise and vivid that the reader immediately pictures the old woman, her missing teeth mirrored in the sparse grains of the cob — a reference to the natural world common enough for anyone to visualize. The music and rhythm of the drums similarly reveals how deeply the people identify with the pulse of their communal life, when they are "possessed by the spirit of the drums" (Achebe 33) and the drums' "frantic rhythm was… the very heart-beat of the people" (Achebe 35–36).

This drum imagery recurs throughout the story, continually binding the people to their culture and beliefs — a way of life that will inevitably be altered by the arrival of the colonizers. It is among the most effective imagery in the text precisely because it advances the novel's central conflict while clearly showing how at home the Igbo are within their own world. They are happy, but their happiness, like their way of life, will not last forever; their images and memories, however, will endure.

Memory and the Natural World in Tintern Abbey

Wordsworth employs a beautifully defined form of imagery in his reflections on nature, as this passage from "Tintern Abbey" illustrates:

These beauteous forms,
Through a long absence, have not been to me
As is a landscape to a blind man's eye (Wordsworth).

Here Wordsworth compares his absence from the landscape to the experience of a blind man, who cannot see the beauty around him — yet who can still feel a warm summer breeze or smell the fragrance of new-mown hay. Wordsworth is saying that although the forms of nature have been absent from him, they have not been forgotten. This is the nature of all enduring memory: it may lie dormant, but it is rarely lost entirely, especially when tied to the natural world. We remember a beautiful sunset or a happy summer day, and the vivid imagery of a well-crafted poem can bring those memories rushing back, just as they did for Wordsworth:

While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things (Wordsworth).

Conclusion: What Imagery Reveals

Imagery is an important and vital element of both these works. It may hide beneath a text's theme and structure, but unlike landscape to a blind eye, it can be seen by reading a little more closely and taking the time to consider carefully what the author was trying to say. Achebe and Wordsworth each use the imagery of the natural world to illuminate something that has been — or is in danger of being — lost, and in doing so they remind us of the enduring power of careful, attentive reading.

References

Achebe, Chinua. "Things Fall Apart." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. Expanded edition in one volume. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 2931–3030.

Wordsworth, William. "Tintern Abbey." The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Maynard Mack et al. Expanded edition in one volume. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 2273–79.