Sunday, March 3, 2013
Naming in Things Fall Apart
Am I the only one who enjoys the meaning behind the names in Things Fall Apart? My favorite name is Udo (the man whose wife was killed by another tribe and the village considered going to war). Udo's name means peace. So, the tribe killed peace's wife. While a battle or war did not happen between the two groups, it was certainly threatened. I just find it ironic that Udo's name means peace.
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The significance is super interesting. I love that their culture provides names to people that actually describe them; the names have unique significance. My name was picked simply because my parents liked the way it sounded- not because it described who I was or who I would become. I wish my name had some sort of meaning like the name of the characters in Things Fall Apart. However there are many people I know that are named after relatives, saints, etc., so names with "meaning" still do exist within our culture, they are just nowhere near as direct.
I found this rather interesting also, and began to wonder if Okonkwo had a similar meaning behind his name. I googled it, and found this on WIkipedia - "A boy, born on Nkwo market day automatically acquires the name coined from 'OKE' which means Male or Man and 'NKWO' Thus OKONKWO." Okonkwo was born an a certain day giving him his name, however it seems to me that it was almost fate for Okonkwo to adopt this manly character that he desires so greatly. (A very tribal , cultural way of looking at it)
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