Question

In at least one hundred words, discuss how Chinua Achebe uses foreshadowing to develop theme in Things Fall Apart. Use evidence from the text to support your answer.

Answer 1

Answer

Chinua Achebe uses foreshadowing to develop theme in Things Fall Apart in the following area;

• In chapter 1,the writer foreshadows Ikemefuna’s death

• In chapter 2, when Okonkwo returns home from Mbaino,Ikemefuna’s fate is mentioned as “sad story”

Explanation

The writer in chapter 1 foreshadows the death of Ikemefuna by calling him a ‘doomed lad” who is “ill-fated”. In chapter 2, Ikemefuna and Okonkwo return home from a place called Mbaino.Here the writer foreshadows the death/fate to befall Ikemefuna by mentioning that Ikemefuna’s “sad story” is still told to that day in Umuofia.This can give the reader the idea that a sad thing/death will happen to the person in the description, Ikemefuna.Shortly after that chapter, the writer mentions that Ikemefuna only lived with Okonkwo for three years.The readers here can infer that a tragic will occur to the person in discussion in at  least three years.The breaking of the Week of Peace foreshadows Ikemefuna’s death. All these examples indicate that the writer used foreshadowing to develop theme in Things Fall Apart