The document provides an overview of literary criticism for two works: Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. For Julius Caesar, it lists the primary work and includes explanations and the opportunity to agree or disagree with criticisms. For Things Fall Apart, it similarly lists the primary work, includes a quotation about cross-cultural misunderstanding, and discusses criticisms centered around the character Okonkwo and whether he embodied cultural values or stood in conflict with them.
8. Things Fall Apart - Criticism "Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe - Introduction." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. "Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe - Introduction." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol. 152. Gale Cengage, 2002. eNotes.com. 2006. 1 Jun, 2011 <http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/ things-fall-apart-chinua-achebe>
9. Thinks fall Apart - Quotation “Things Fall Apart is indeed a classic study of cross-cultural misunderstanding and the consequences to the rest of humanity, when a belligerent culture or civilization, out of sheer arrogance and ethnocentrism, takes it upon itself to invade another culture, another civilization.” One of the issues that critics have continued to discuss is whether Okonkwo serves as an embodiment of the values of Umuofia or stands in conflict with them. This discussion often centers around the question of Okonkwo's culpability in the killing of the boy, Ikemefuna. Many critics have argued that Okonkwo was wrong and went against the clan when he became involved in killing the boy. Other reviewers have asserted that he was merely fulfilling the command of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Several critics have compared Things Fall Apart to a Greek tragedy and Okonkwo to a tragic hero. AronAji and Kirstin Lynne Ellsworth have stated, “As numerous critics have observed, Okonkwo is at once an allegorical everyman figure embodying the existential paradoxes of the Igbo culture in transition, and a great tragic hero in the tradition of Oedipus, Antigone, and Lear.”