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Things Fall Apart And Indian Horse Analysis

Decent Essays

The decimation of a Community is an important aspect of how stability and control are lost in both Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958) and Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse (2012). In these culturally unique texts, both protagonists experience the transition from being a part of a community to being unwillingly pushed away from it and seeing it slowly being destroyed. The result of both protagonists being forced out of their beloved communities causes them to go down a spiral path thereby losing control and stability in their lives. The progression in which stability and control are possessed and then lost in both novels forces the characters to adapt to the changes at hand.
In both novels, the unanimity between the characters and their communities provide them with a sense of stability and control. In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is closely affiliated with, “a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit” (Achebe 1). Similarly, Saul and his family are also related to the founding of their island to the extent that, “only the Indian Horse family can go to Gods Lake” and that it is their “territory” (Wagamese 20). The fact that both protagonists are associated with the origin of their living accommodation evokes a sense of oneness between the characters and their communities. Moreover, the sense of belonging both communities instill into the characters further implements the notion of stability and control. In

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