Human Predicaments in One Night At The Call Center.

At the beginning, the mention of three, things becomes proof of Bhagat's foreshadowing technique. They are fear, anger and disliking. They reveal human nature and realism of mankind. "Fear" is a feeling which threatens and makes one insecure, worried, eccentric, addicted, angry when one provides another with truth or says something which is not likable. Anger becomes outcome or origin of insecurity. What one does not like about himself is avoidance or lack of recognition and attention. The whole story lies in these three things.

Technique of Bhagat is manner of telling fiction in autobiographical way.  Story revolves around emptiness of human beings without companion. The book humorously shows archetypal of today's  youth's characteristic. It is like hidden desire that every human being wants "Someone will come when I will be alone like "angel coming" and all of a sudden someone rushes to you with pretty face to accompany you in your journey and your real journey begins. The story shows the wandering soul of man in search of companion.

Miracle happens as if god has finally listened   to your need and he sends someone and it has been shown by Bhagat when a lady meets him. What one longs for is fulfilled. It shows Bhagat's indication of human need through imagination by his fictional technique. Everybody wants his or her desire to be fulfilled.

Bhagat has gained notable command over describing women's beauty. The characteristic of Bhagat reminds us of Mr. Ramsay's character in Virginia Woolf's 'To the lighthouse' and male's only characteristic to gain attention from people especially from women. Bhagat's talk with lady seems to be showing his pathetic condition because he has not been imprisoned in large sense but a short sense. The "worth" of his first novel “Five Point Someone” is being demolished by lady. It not only shows male's pride and ego that is hurt when a woman does not respect him, but a general human ego from perspective of human's unwillingness to listen to someone when that person does not really consider his work worth but puts counter arguments.

Lady's advice to Bhagat to look around and peep into his narrow sense or come out from it to lead his real self to culmination makes reading of this text necessary and the book falls under the category of "Self Help Book". Youth does not belong to only IIT but it belongs to all other small areas where real youth lives, the people who feel real challenges. Lady makes him ask question to his own self, 'Can youth only be identified or recognized through university education or its students? When someone gives something which we are actually interested in and when we are bound by rope in form of promise is like fuck condition and something that ails us but it comes as an outcome of curiosity. Curiosity does not let person go away.

Any work suggests director’s own mind as Bhagat says Shyam seemed similar to him. Any work could be understood well from writer's perspective but problem comes when reader does not find any similarity with writer's thoughts but here Bhagat has given attention to Shyam.

          "Well, I will let Shyam

                   tell you that!"

It begins with a nightmare of Shyam containing  boss's cruelty on employers and he pushes Shyam's  head down in water. Something will be happening like this in upcoming chapters. Shyam Mehra – recently has suffered from break up. Radhika- a devoted wife to family taking care of her mother in law. The characteristic of Family and living people is ultra tradition. Radhika- who is divided into both the duties: Domestic and Job duty. The book contains 21st century lifestyle. Shyam shows characteristics of all other Indian boys and their lifestyles are just similar: working late night, late waking up, sudden breakfast, lack of management, tensions, uncertainty, and lack of accuracy.

What makes Bhagat's novel prominent is his way of writing description of physical beauty, dressing clothing and how it gets connected with people and their nature, the way people behave, the way they live. Somehow it creates live picture before readers' eyes. He writes in informal way or gives a different perspective to womanhood who goes on revealing women's nature characteristics. Esha is a modern passionate girl who wanted to be a model; hot, beautiful and sexy ! She moves to Delhi against her parents' wishes and the sense of individualism comes.

Human nature can be shown throughout the novel. Jealousy for one another  is also there but just in matter of appearance whereas at the end it proves to be wrong because characters understand one another. Priyanka who thinks of  Isha and  according to her, She is too short, and small town!

         But at the end it is Priyanka who seems to support Isha at every attempt and understands her situation. People always compare and never fail to create competition in comparison. It shows 'Loss of individuality that can be found in every human being if we distinguish them rather than to compare. Another quality is to get acquainted with everybody  but in heart no importance. Due to family, job corruption,  people lose perceptiveness in real sense and emotional stability too. Vroom's family background is somewhat like "broken home" whose parents are separate, and there is destruction of marriage or suffering of children due to parents’ lack of understanding.

'So Called' signs of modernity lie in bike, cigarettes jealousy, uncertainty, insecurity, fall of relationship, and blindness to drawbacks ! Another thing which comes up is break up of shyam and priyanka. In spite of break up shyam thinks of her all the day and having another girlfriend. Having another person after break up is to let heart get relax and it is necessary to have "someone". Priyanka is the one who has bitched fifty times about Esha to Shyam. But when they are with each other they behave like long sisters. 'Pretense' has been motif.

Priyanka wants Shyam and herself to move on. It creates conflict in definition of  move on. To move on means to go further but is it necessary to forget nostalgia or relations endowed with love? Here "to move on" is formality and 'have to do' activity to forget past and to step ahead, towards  not any kind of culmination  but  towards another doom.  To move on is development, an activity to improve, which shows path that leads  journey further but here it is like hell. Shefali perhaps is that 'move on activity' for Shyam who thinks of priyanka instead. At some extent parents' force or other domestic and survival reasons let people change their taste and this taste also changes intimacy in relationship. It shows: “It is difficult to maintain relations but it is more difficult to maintain life in relations." Relations go on changing but life is not managed.

Vroom also worked in newspaper agency and seems to be absorbed in social global issues. He is one of those characters who seems to question his own work and worth of his work or others also. His conversation with Shyam seems notable one.

Vroom : So what's Shefali ?

          Pacifier?

          Is she a source to decrease your anger?

Vroom questions not only shyam but he takes nature of relationship into consideration and tries to explore. After break up, when one attaches himself to other, he does this just to decrease his anger, to divert his mind but by letting another party become pacifier, he brings destruction. But mind can't get detached to that anger.

Woman's nature is also commented.

Shyam : You never tell women you don't like something they have done.

Women are supposed to be praised.
Another thing which goes on occurring in novel is nostalgia of Shyam and  it takes place many a times! When Shyam gets letter from Bakshi about training and to assist in accent training, he has a conversation with Vroom and Vroom laughed having listened about Bakshi's letter to Shyam and says: 

“It is standard way to dump responsibility on someone else". 

It is about Delhi people who Vroom thinks cannot be taught American qualities in a week.

Shyam brings back memory of Rail – Museum – Where Shyam had dated Priyanka. Nostalgia goes on peeping into future of people and every little moment reminds you and it because of people's anger unconsciously reflected due to break up. It needs a psychological reading. Priyanka who has ability to raise voice for what she feels and it is one of her genuine characteristics. It reminds of one incident of  Shyam and Priyanka's visit. A mother in law insults her daughter in law for giving birth to two girls. Priyanka can't suffer it and works like an investigator or demands the rights of women or what steps will be taken against here. Here Vroom can also not be forgotten who has better side too. He used to be a Journalist trainee. His second job is of call center agent. His direct satire on political system and corruption indicates his interest in social matters or perhaps  he could have been a good social activist.

 "Politicians don't feel anything and country is being run by people who don't feel."

 This claims that Vroom is keen in matters of  nation. Characters don't have that sense of feeling their own self who can reform something. It is later on given by God and his call. When he was working as journalist Trainee, Vroom had taken photographs and unflattering pictures of glitterati faces with food, drunk people and he takes  revenge  in page 3.  But he commits that money matters. He does not want to be excluded from his friends and their life styles. Priyanka also wanted to do B.ED  but saves money having a dream of nursery school.

Characters' rethinking of past occurs again and again. Shyam recalls his date with Priyanka in Rall Museum. Nostalgia and recalling show coherence between past and present. Bhagat's technique of narration is live.

Bakshi is a character, an MBA – a boss who never misses to talk in manager's language. He takes advantages of others and knows nothing. Questions come up like phone lines are not working properly, how to approach problems. Shyam goes on helping Bakshi but Vroom wants Shyam to learn to identify the strategic variables. People go on telling Radhika not to follow all traditional rules but Radhika just does! She seems to have no problem with it. She does all the things willingly because she loves Anuj. Love has ability to make one willing to do anything. But what happens when that love becomes betrayal is shown. This is what happens with Radhika. Priyanka's Mother's desire to get Priyanka engaged to NRI shows obstacle in Shyam and Priyanka's relationship. Her mother thinks of her sister who married with well-settled  boy and she had to suffer so Priyanka should get married to well- settled  man who belongs to wealthy or settled family. On other side Priyanka does not like her mother's force and Shyam who bows down to Bakshi at every moment. What Priyanka's  mother wants can't be given by Shyam and perhaps the boss like Bakshi and his corruption is one of the reasons. One common man has to suffer due to politics in job or corrupted morons like Bakshi. In loss of man perhaps corruption and politics is responsible. But when self exploration is given by God it proves to be an outlet to come out from circumstance which has been so unbreakable.

Conversation between Vroom and Shyam about NRI is a note- worth taking. It says that an NRI does not become NRI because every man wants his life first but NRI is become NRI.
 

It is like "unwillingly made NRI for the sake of future companion". Priyanka who could not do B.Ed. perhaps understands the value, who has been lacking money or her NRI catch seems genuine with her conversation in museum. The feeling and relationship of Shyam and Priyanka is like vestigial organs. It serves no purpose or no value. They can give them pain in the appendix. Here relationship becomes like a purposelessness. The way Shyam addresses Priyanka's future husband shows his state of mind of not becoming able to reach him in matter of money.

 "It's hard to compete with Mr, Microsoft"

Vroom : Girls are strategic.

Vroom's this sentence shows his thinking about women and their minds are occupation of achieving an eyesight of profitable things. Characters seem keen in managing relationship willingly but they themselves find it of no value and ultimate outcome will be empty. They don't find proper way and either it is lack of devotion to beloved or it is a man who has been trapped into a cage of circumstances. The main conflict lies here about love. Does love categorize itself as need ? When love becomes need, it has to be used for survival and then there comes unwillingness. People leave other needs to fulfill love, love should not become  need but love ought to be happened to fulfill other  needs. It peeps into man's life or comes in life without giving any signal. Love does not explore whether you need it or not but it happens naturally!. In 'one night at the call center, love is a thing which is broken for "Need". This interpretation can be raised through the characters of Priyanka and Shyam.  Shyam is the one who has girlfriend- Shefali but on other hand, he has feeling for Priyanka who is getting married to NRI and has just broken up with Shyam.

Priyanka : Why do you let him do this to you ?

This is asked to Shyam and it shows characters who can't stand up and raise their voice against Bakshi. Women like such man who does not bow down to anyone. On other side Priyanka's mother screams and yells at her because Priyanka' s cousin gets married to a doctor. This nature of parents can be seen. They are bent on insisting their children to do the same. It shows how another's things play vital role in our life. Priyanka's mother goes on blackmailing her emotionally that Priyanka does not care for her. Parents attitude is to let their thoughts occupy their children's mind.

If one devotes himself or herself to anyone or family, problems are created by family members like Radhika's mother-in-law who complains Anuj about Radhika and claimed her for  working less for her, making faces in spite of Radhika's care and concerns for her. When a daughter-in-law tries to manage everything , a cruel name “mother-in- law which has always been negative in society destroys everything.

"So called" life-style of youth has been shown like fights in party, atmosphere in parties, rich kids, eccentric people drinking and making love. If you are in bar, it means you are supposed to drink like if you are in relationship, you are supposed to make love. In relationship, guys can never figure out, what to say in such emotional moments and they end up with stupid. They are innocent, stupid, cute, charming and need love. Virginia Woolf's literary sensibility of portraying  'male-figure' seems  to be real  here. It also reflects in Bhagat's 'Male-Figure'.

In fast century like 21^st, economical need is prioritized with a need of love, care, and devotion from a soul. Companion and its loss brings destruction. Humans need human. Loved one's presence animates everything and their absence destructs everything. Parents' desire to go with "Settled match" for children decreases love and self-esteem also! It's like:

"Show me the money and keep our daughter for the rest of your life."

According to Priyanka a definition of arranged marriage is as if daughters are supposed to be sent to wealthy men. Vroom's speech regarding country and its people is notable who says,

" we are not poor because they  are smarter, not because our country is poor and their country is rich but our country is run by losers".

He shows his angers on leaders. He desires if he could have been there at the place of TV reporters or Journalists.

Bhagat's comparison of man with machine is noteworthy. When Shyam  presses 'start' button’, copier got cracked.  It was 'paper Jam'. Here the copier is not machine but a person. When a man assembles himself with inner or external world, it is like press button' to get result or to survive (to get Xerox copy) but instead of getting Xerox copy, due to many papers; it gets cracked. Many papers symbolize many obstacles and problems and what is getting cracked symbolizes man's life.

Vroom needs to fall in love and it is said by Shyam because for Shyam love matters. For Vroom perhaps it becomes secondary because he considers side effect of love rather than positive. He goes on claiming  Esha and her interest ! He thinks she is not interested but never tries to convince or prevail on her. On the other side, Priyanka fails to make her mother discern who wants Priyanka to get married within months but Priyanka  regrets. Her mother thinks she should be made happy by her daughter's behavior. It seems people suffer from individualism which lies in dependency. Expectation of others and their influences matter a lot, where the mother is bent on making her daughter agree for marriage and the daughter does not want. The novel includes the genre of Menippean satire. It deals with mental attitudes instead of specific individuals. The genre of Menippean satire is usually used in prose which has characteristics of "Serio-comic" moments alongside Socratic Dialogue.

Division of priority is also taken into consideration. When expectation from family comes , it assembles  belongingness and then love is sacrificed. External and inner worlds disturb hidden (love) alive thing that is soul. This nation is to be dealt with self exploration.

Chetan Bhagat uses technique of hidden human desire and inner feeling of a human being who always yearns for "angle-coming". In heart everybody needs shelter from someone and that person will redeem but here external world leads person out of the inner world to experience. We worship and we fail to talk to god and it is inner call and one's own talk with own self. God is like exploration. Shyam for example cannot prevail on others or does not seem to have the guts to prevail on someone either in case of  Bakshi and call center work or his own relationship. It also shows loss of a man in domestic inner sense or in external job world. To have inner call and talk with own self is to raise voice against unfair if it has been done to anyone. He says that he does not have the leadership skills to influence anyone. Shyam's this claiming can be seen either in case of Bakshi or Priyanka. He never attempts to influence her  relationship or job. Sometime a person is supposed to show his right to people.

Bakshi falls under the category of 'copy-cate'. The file is copied by Bakshi which Shyam and Vroom send him. It is Bakshi who takes much advantage from others and uses others' intelligence. It raises one worth point which is to be taken into consideration that people have fear from unknown always but they are copied sometimes and sometimes by known people also. Sharing is caring and it is done for welfare, good for the society, industry or company, and country but people take advantage of it many a times. The novel deals with the genre 'cyberpunk' and it is a post-modern science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life". It features advanced and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown of radical change in the social order. Technology and internet is outcome of misrepresentation as it is a kind of medium of press and mass. Technology is high,and advanced but thinking is low where things are copied from other sources and pasted also. People physically harm their own self to prevent mental pain. In beginning Bhagat asks for  the thing one doesn't like and  here comes past and the thing which creates fear makes one angry. Anger, fear and disliking assemble one another. What happens with Esha needs to be understood.  'Sex' lies in term of business and shows motif of 'body' one wants. A man turns out to be a spendthrift who spends money behind his hunger of body and this hunger is prioritized. It shows loss of womanhood in hand of bodily hunger. Either it is the case when she is used or the case when she is left by man. Military Uncle's son does not want his Father's shadow on his son and orders him to stop doing mails. Conflict between generations can be seen. Esha shares his bad story with Shyam. 'Sex' has become one major issue.

'Sex' is taken into both categories. It sounds good or melodious and pathetic as well. It becomes a necessary activity in relationship. It comes when characters feel nostalgia and when they doubt their beloved. It can be seen in case of Shyam and Radhika and Esha from another perspective of being misused in case of sex. This physical disease called 'sex' creates 'mental disease’ with amalgamation of eccentricities. It leads one man turning out to be insane.

After the issue of sex, nature of relationship and love becomes important. After breakup people should follow the rules that they should be intended to behave as friends but the people who have moved on, they somehow fail to understand how it can be possible for anyone who has loved someone to befriend that person whom he or she has loved. Some relations remain forever and it is proved at the end when Priyanka ultimately leaves NRI and realizes her love.

Conflict between firing people and right sizing them is noteworthy. To right size means to manage to divide people and put them into coherence accurately. Here Bakshi gives it the name and it is to 'right size' instead of using “to fire people”. His only desire is to let his employers be troublesome. This situation not only reminds of this trouble of working people in call centre but it shows various issues like corruption, corrupted people in power position and their attitudes to let others bow down to them. This politics show education in destruction, job market, society caste, religion state, country. Another thing is there are possibilities but in spite of their visibility, they are ignored for the sake of personal achievement or welfare. This is what happens at the end and characters raise voice against Bakshi using technology. One cannot prevail on people's unwillingness but one can come over their willingness by adding his efforts. Unwillingness comes from within in form of either genuine hatred for particular thing because it is rigid, selfish-unchangeable so 'self pride – honored unwillingness' cannot be won. This is what god wants form all six characters and makes them examine their predicaments.

Self-finance-private company' s corruption has been shown, the way working people in call centers are treated without their faults, and people are fired. There are two types of people in the world. One will express a lot by being silent because he is aware that everything will be futile; in effort of prevailing on villains. The later will try because he has hope that his goodness and logicality will convince others. None of these two is wrong. It is proved by Priyanka the way she slaps Vroom and convinces that everyone is worried and has turned troublesome.

When we feel trouble, in that time it makes us aware of not our state of 'being' but it makes us aware of others' genuine grief. The life itself has turned out to let people be in trouble. The way Vroom apologizes to Esha, it is his sense of discernment and he realizes everything. The way Esha gets caught because of her dream to be model, the same way Vroom realizes himself to be in cage of Bakshi and he also realizes  'fall of man' when one really becomes puppet in others hand or they are betrayed physically, mentally or psychologically.

The world which is shown in novel is destruction of social life, economical life, love life, cultural life, domestic life and also matrimonial life. The main life is an individual's inner temperament. Vroom's satire on government seems genuine and he also blames people by whom government is made. Vroom seems modern and fashionable but he is not that much "so called modern" by thoughts. Tradition has nothing to do with old orthodoxy made up of narrowness of thinking but tradition is all that includes “worth way of thinking”. It includes welfare and unity. Vroom raises problems against media, MTV portrayal of Women's clothing, British hegemony. It feels tradition and modernity lie in people's state of mind. He goes on commenting government's misuse of young generation who devote themselves to call centre. Vroom is one character who not only raises voice against unfair that does injustice to all, but he also questions his own work, own self and peeps into his mind. Self-exploration is achieved by Vroom what almighty's call ultimately wants to convey to people, "look at  yourself", "Search for 'why' ". Shyam on the other hand says that call centers give people air-conditioned office and simple easy task to attend, to call, collect pay and go home. This is performed by thousands of young people. Shyam finds other works hard. Shyam at first extent does not find problem with his job. Asking question to own self becomes necessary. But Shyam's point of government that has given job to many people in India also makes sense. Shyam does not seem to question Bakshi, government, relationship but he lets things happen in his life.

 Characters really start thinking. It should be expected from every human-being to question to give space to own self to think. Help own self is significant This notion deals with the category “self-help book” the novel falls under.

Episode of God again shows mankind's faith in God, and religion. It creates the picture of bollywood movies. People are in trouble and angle comes to redeem. At some extent it does not make sense. How can people be called by God? It shows human nature also when people have been suffering from crises, they somehow try to prevail on themselves that god will look after them. Another perspective deals with self-study of one and belief that god is within. A worth question which ought to be understood by readers is when god is asked to prove  himself that he is god and god's answer contains meaning of the very existence of human beings.

"So to impress you I have to break the same laws of physics that I made ?

Whatever happens around one is the world which has been created by himself only and there can be others who devote their contribution but people are the first who are only responsible. One has been given strength to love, to hate, to control, to develop, to improve, to decrease. God's question contains ultimate solution if six of them understand  what god has said. What one has made is supposed to be broken by him? Whatever has been created  is supposed to be destroyed by him? One needs to value his own world and is supposed to manage that world but fact is that one breaks his own world. There are people who are eager to destroy everything of others' but here it is 'one' who himself destroys his or her own being. God's question is not only to these six characters but it is to mankind. In this century people have forgotten to talk to own self. Discernment only comes from within and it is natural. When corruption increases, political conflicts come into existence, crime happens, we think of god and people start thinking what would god think when he will see the people who have been made by him are breaking his own rules and people are making god 'a puppet' in their hands. People hear their inner call when they have free time. In free time they talk to their own self but in sad times and in time of duties it is hard to hear inner call. People never connect with inner world and get attached with outer world. People think what other people would think of themselves but one does not need  to be afraid of others but he needs to have fear to be afraid of his own self as evil lies within. Inner call connects one with soul and it reminds one of his own self who he is. God can only be found within. People need not go anywhere but they have to recognize him.

Shyam’s claiming that sometimes that inner call  bites him is correct because he has conscience and realization regarding Bakshi and he is well aware that he is not raising his voice but lets himself bow down to him without culminating himself and it shows that he really pushed his inner voice back and let not it be taken out.

Vroom finally understands  that he should not have been afraid of being excluded from his Friend's life-styles but there should be a job for one which not only gives him money but defines his ability.

"I want my mother to be happy but I cannot kill myself for it."

Priyanka's mother thinks of her daughter's focus that should be on her-life. What she wants. It feels she becomes obstacle in relationship. She thinks of her daughter's well settled life but it is not settled and the reason is lack of happiness. People think what they are expected but they never think what they should expect from their own self. This is an intimacy between soul and body and god wants it, where soul says and reminds person 'this is what expected from you'! Do it." And body replies: "Yes, this is what I am supposed to do". When they get connected with each-other, and start functioning, everything will start getting recovered. Military uncle is also reminded of his outdated values. Radhika desires for divorce and wants to be the same as she was before marriage. She devoted her life to family and when one changes for others, it seems good but person should never fail to respect his or her own self and one has to make balance between charge and inner identity. One can't ignore his own self in devoting himself to other. This is what similar in case of Esha too. She decides that she will never care for her looks, and height. People should like the person as he or she is and what one has. Shyam finally decides to set up a small web design company. He realizes he should have thought of it before and also thinks from Priyanka's perspective how it would have affected Priyanka and how she would have felt it. Shyam expresses his desire to have someone who can merge, assemble friendship and love together. This is what today' s every relationship lacks.

Disease of the soul has been used for Bakshi .A Colonizer like him has the ability to make one lose self-confidence and man in power position can do everything. He is one who made others lose their soul, inner-self and conscience. Dominance traps one in fear. Bakshi is diseases of soul. Sometimes it works so negatively that people like Bakshi, makes people think against their own intelligence and makes them think that something is not wrong in others but something is wrong within them. Intelligence, imagination, self-confidence, and failure play a vital role.

God confesses that  becoming successful, failure is necessary. Once one has failed, he won't have fear because he knows what was missing and how it destructed. Failure makes one different between wrong doing and truth and it leads to possibilities.

 In God's episode, Bhagat mentions that fear lies itself in sentiment of war. The country which is associated with war has a kind of fear and it  loses  something. Bhagat's technique to assemble war and fear together shows that wherever the feeling of war lies is not happy place but there can be beyond something to work silently to prevent war. This helps all six characters to take revenge to Bakshi. People are indulged in war, fighting and when one is having abomination for someone, he can be aroused easily. The way god gives philosophical portrayal of himself is best narration of god by Chetan Bhagat.

Advertising and development!

                               

Advertising is an expression and part of an economic system. Each economic system has an interesting relationship with the social system, political system and cultural value. Whatever be the character of the economic system, there are three basic features which are common to all:

a) determination of goods and services and the quantities to  be produced or offered;                      

b) allocation of resources according to priorities of production-mainly land, labor and capital; and

c) distribution of goods and services among individuals and groups. We are not concerned here about the relative importance of state intervention and market determination of these three processes.

These three processes condition the development of every society. Advertising is a major component of each one of these three processes. If advertising is a process of mediation between the producer of goods and services and the consumer, to that extent it contributes to the development not merely of the economy but also of society. If we look at development as the overall transformation of society and not merely as the statistical growth of the economy, or the gross domestic product, or the per capita income, then all advertising is socially relevant.

Modern advertising is a product of the capitalist economic system, in which the operation of the free market by and large determines the three basic features of the economic system, referred to above. It is in this context that advertising operates. When we say that modern advertising is a product of the capitalist system, it means that it serves the socio-economic needs of mass industrial production for a mass market. This situation was created by the industrial revolution under capitalism. By serving such an economic system, advertising also promotes this system. We must also remember that advertising would continue to play the same role in different economic system, as long as goods and services are produced and offered for sale in the market. 

Mass production demands a mass market and a mass distribution system. The very survival of this production system demands its continuous expansion. Such an expansion means also the expansion of the market, beyond the seats of production and even beyond the boundaries of the country. This may be called the horizontal, spatial or geographical expansion of the market. Such an expansion' is both national and international. At the same time there is also a vertical expansion of the market. The objective is to bring the entire society within the orbit of the market. This does not mean only providing the individual or the family with the resources to purchase goods and services in the market. A disposable surplus is not enough. A 'psychic desire' to consume more and different products has also to be created. Expansion of the market also means the creation of new goods and services and making them acceptable to the consumer. Without such a continuous expansion of the market, the capitalist economy cannot survive. This is a constant process of the renewal and increase of capital passing through the market.

Industrial capitalism, for the very purpose of its growth and survival, has had to bring together and integrate the multi-structured, disintegrated pre-capitalist society into the mass market. It is this process that has created the nation-state. By bringing together mass production and the mass of consumers, advertising has historically played a significant role in this process of integration and nation building. By creating a common 'psychic desire' to consume, it has succeeded in bridging the gap between diverse social and cultural behavior patterns, thus nurturing a homogeneous national culture. To industrial capitalism and advertising the human being is primarily a consumer. In the market place there is no difference, in essence, among human beings in social or economic terms. They are all consumers.

The human being in the market place is at the receiving end of a veritable barrage of messages aimed at the unquestioned acceptance of a way of life and a value system. Advertising does not sell goods or services but the benefits derived from them. These benefits might be inherent in the product or service, or purely psychological; a creation of the images conjured up by advertising. The promotion of a psychology of more and more consumption sustains also a value system, which is based on ruthless competition of individual achievement, which alone enables ever-expanding consumption of an increased range and variety of goods and services. It such a way of life that alone can sustain an economic system based on the sole objective of maximization of profits. In this entire environment, the relevance of advertising is not only economic, but also social and cultural, and in the final analysis., even political. After all a particular economic structure can be sustained by a relevant political structure.

Thirdly, advertising is a component of a democratic society. The essence of democracy is that people have a choice and the right to exercise that choice. In the democratic economic system a variety of goods and services is available to choose from. Advertising enables the consumer to make the choice. The fourth aspect follows, in a way, from the third. Advertising creates conditions for every human being to acquire earned rewards. The way of life, that advertising opens up, provides motivation for hard work to earn enough to achieve such a way of life. This too is a democratic right-the right to spend one's earnings the way one likes and where a democratic system is expected to provide opportunities for the exercise of such a right.

From the fourth aspect follows the fifth. Advertising stimulates productivity. Harder work to earn more to achieve socially upward mobility, stimulated by advertising, naturally leads to higher productivity. This in turn stimulates the economy and development. Finally, all these add up to social change. We must, however, bear in mind the reality that all these factors can operate only under ideal conditions. The market does not and cannot always reflect the real social demand. This is because capitalist enterprises in the advanced industrialized countries have become so powerful and the search for maximum profits is so predominant' a concern, that they often decide what goods and services should be brought into the market so as to secure the maximum profit with the least investment. In such a system, every single one of the aspects of the role of advertising mentioned above gets distorted to some extent. In such a situation advertising creates a demand, which may not be economically or socially relevant for the immediate needs of the vast majority of the people, and hence the nation. Advertisements tell consumers what to buy. With emergence of monopolies, competition is often eliminated and advertising manipulates the consumer, giving him or her no opportunity to exercise a rational choice.

In the first stage of development the basic needs or wants were food and drink as nourishment and clothing and shelter as protection against the elements. Obviously, at this stage of human development there was no need for advertising. As each of these basic needs began to be met, the search began for other needs, some of which could be in the sphere of the arts and culture. Once a society reached the stage of satiation, the search began for the exotic in food and drink, self-adornment more than protection against the elements, greater home comforts and more facilities rather than mere shelter. This has been the process of development. It has been made possible because of the wealth generated by the ability of human labour to produce a surplus much beyond his needs. Human beings have added to this ability by discovering new tools and equipment to help the production of a larger and larger surplus.

Related to this pattern of development, advertising has advanced from merely providing information for goods and services available, to persuasion in the face of competition among different brands of the same product OF service, and further on to the creation of new markets, new wants and even new lifestyles. Finally, we have reached a stage today when the world is in the process of integration and inter-dependence. It is the trans-nationalization or mobility of capital across national boundaries and of production and distribution, which is fast integrating the world economy. In this situation, the same product is being manufactured in different parts of the world and marketed in different parts of the world. There is very little difference between the products or services offered by one company or the other. Each company attempts to achieve monopoly control over the market. In such a situation, it is no longer enough for advertising to inform or persuade; it has also to manipulate the consumer's mind to ask for a particular brand of product or service, to achieve brand monopoly.

Advertising has today become a very powerful instrument for motivating public opinion and action. That is why it is used for political campaigns as well. There is, therefore, always the danger of advertising, with the currently available versatility of modem information and communication technology, being misused by every powerful instrument that interacts with human beings or human.

Society has to be used with caution and a sense of social responsibility. This is, however, very difficult. As Galbraith has said, "Men with power have an extraordinary capacity to convince themselves that what they want coincides with what society needs done for its own good. It is in this background that one must look at the place of advertising in a developing society.

The major part of the developing world belongs to the world capitalism system. It is within the orbit of the global market. At the same time, it is obvious that the socio-cultural and economic situation is not the same in the developing countries as in the advanced countries. The requirements are also different. Hence, it is necessary to understand first what development means in the context of the developing countries. Development is the transition from one stage of social progress to another, from a simpler to a more complex production, economic and political system and socio-cultural relations. There are three facets to the development process-economic, political and social. The transition today in most cases is from a pre-industrial to an industrial society and economy. In the era of the scientific and technological revolution, particularly in the field of communication, the transition is at the same time to what is being characterized as the post-industrial or information society. In such a transitional stage, often many different stages of human society co-exist, depending on different forms of production, from the most primitive to the most advanced, from handicrafts to space equipment.

One must appreciate the fact that a transitional society is not something conclusively established, but is in a state of constant movement or formation. Furthermore, this transition is taking place when the communication revolution has broken the barriers of time and space. Today the taste of affluence prevailing in the developed and more established societies is brought right into your home. Just as the practice of democracy increases the urge for greater rights and privileges, similarly increasing literacy is accentuating the desire for more knowledge, for information. It is creating an awareness of the world around and rousing the desire for change, for consumption enjoyed at the moment by the few. There is an explosion of expectations-expectations of upward social and cultural mobility. There is constant movement and change and conflict. This is all part of the development process of deciding some, concepts that are no longer useful enough and acquiring new concepts that meet new requirements.

Economic development is an instrument of human development. It demands investment in both human and material resources. Development cannot be measured merely in terms of economic inputs bringing about the desired output. The deification of the gross domestic product as the measure of growth is not fully relevant. Similarly, consumption and more consumption does not necessarily bring about economic and human development and social and cultural transformation. The developing countries are facing a much more complex reality for such a simplistic approach to be valid. Models of the developed countries do not fully apply. The historical conditions under which the transformation of the developing countries is taking place are very different. So are the circumstances. The first and the most important point to understand is that the underdevelopment of the developing countries has been and continues to be a condition for the rapid advance of the developed artilleries.

Thus, the developing countries have been forced by history to try to telescope in a few decades a process that has taken the advanced industrial countries a few centuries to master. This is inevitable. Otherwise the transition from a dependent to an independent economy can never take place. At the same time we must recognize the reality that this transition does not depend merely on the acquisition of technology, but more on the human element, the people who use the technology. They cannot be treated as mere objects of history and social transformation. They have to be converted into subjects of social transformation; the decision-makers and the levers of change.

f one looks at the way some of the biggest transnational corporations in the consumer non-durables field are fighting to overwhelm local and foreign competition in the Indian market, it becomes clear that the Indian middle-class and elite market is expected to continue to expand very fast and respond eagerly to new products. Maybe, as the new economic system stabilizes, we shall see a slow but steady growth of the average middle-class market in India. The consumer non-durable market is likely to expand faster than the consumer durable market.

Critical Analysis of "Things fall Apart'' !

 The events of Things Fall Apart take place in the late 1800s and early 1900s, just before and during the early days of the British Empire's expansion in Nigeria. The novel depicts details about life in an African culture much different from Western culture. In this chapter, Achebe reveals the following aspects of Igbo culture:

In his goal to demonstrate the complexity and sophistication of Igbo society, Achebe gradually introduces these details when they are relevant to the story.

The beginning  describes Okonkwo's principal accomplishments that establish his important position in Igbo society. These details alone provide insight into Okonkwo's character and motivation. Driving himself toward tribal success and recognition, he is trying to bury the unending shame that he feels regarding the faults and failures of his late father, Unoka. Essentially, Okonkwo exhibits qualities of manhood in Igbo society.

Familiar with Western literature and its traditional forms, Achebe structures Things Fall Apart in the tradition of a Greek tragedy, with the story centered around Okonkwo, the tragic hero. Aristotle defined the tragic hero as a character who is superior and noble, one who demonstrates great courage and perseverance but is undone because of a tragic personal flaw in his character.

Achebe sets up Okonkwo as a man much respected for his considerable achievements and noble virtues — key qualities of a tragic hero. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his obsession with manliness; his fear of looking weak like his father drives him to commit irrational acts of violence that undermine his nobleness. In the chapters ahead, the reader should note the qualities and actions that begin to reveal the tragic flaw in Okonkwo's otherwise admirable actions, words, ideas, and relationships with others.

At the Achebe foreshadows the presence of Ikemefuna in Okonkwo's household and also the teenage boy's ultimate fate by referring to him as a "doomed" and "ill-fated lad."

One of the most significant social markers of Igbo society is introduced in this chapter — its unique system of honorific titles. Throughout the book, titles are reference points by which members of Igbo society frequently compare themselves with one another (especially Okonkwo). These titles are not conferred by higher authorities, but they are acquired by the individual who can afford to pay for them. As a man accumulates wealth, he may gain additional recognition and prestige by "taking a title." He may also purchase titles for male members of his family (this aspect is revealed later). In the process of taking a title, the man pays significant initiation fees to the men who already hold the title.

A Umuofian man can take as many as four titles, each apparently more expensive than its predecessor. A man with sufficient money to pay the fee begins with the first level — the most common title — but many men cannot go beyond the first title. Each title taken may be shown by physical signs, such as an anklet or marks on the feet or face, so others can determine who qualifies for certain titles.

The initiation fees are so large that some writers have referred to the system as a means for "redistributing wealth." Some Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest observe their own version of redistributing wealth through a potlatch ceremony at which the guests receive gifts from the person gaining the honor as a show of wealth for others to exceed.

The reader begins to see beliefs and practices of the Igbo tradition that are particularly significant in the story — for example, the wide division between masculine and feminine actions and responsibilities. Respect and success are based on only manly activities and accomplishments; taking care of children and hens, on the other hand, are womanly activities.

In Okonkwo's determination to be a perfect example of manhood, he begins to reveal the consequences of his fear of weakness — his tragic flaw. Okonkwo hates not only idleness but also gentleness; he demands that his family works as long as he does (without regarding their lesser physical stamina), and he nags and beats his oldest son, Nwoye.

Achebe continues weaving traditional elements of Igbo society into Chapter 2. The marketplace gathering illustrates the Igbo society's reverence for what is "manly" — for example, the male villagers' loyalty to each other when they refer to the woman murdered by another village as "a daughter of Umuofia." This scene also illustrates the ceremonial nature of town meetings, as the speaker shouts the customary greeting to the crowd while turning in four different directions. In addition, the reader learns that Umuofian religious traditions include the worship of wooden objects representing not only one's personal god but also the ancestral spirits to whom one prays and makes sacrifices.

Achebe continues to use the art of traditional storytelling and references to legends and sayings of the time to illustrate what people believe and respect. For example:

• Okonkwo remembers from childhood when his father was called a woman.
• The proverb, "When the moon is shining, the cripple becomes hungry for a walk," represents a belief in the protective quality of moonlight in contrast with the fear of the darkness.
• The legend of the old woman with one leg explains, in part, why the other clans fear Umuofia.

Achebe's use of storytelling further illustrates how Okonkwo's resentment of his father grew, as well as how his own determination to succeed was tested — the two sides of his characterization as tragic hero.

The separation between the man's world and the woman's world in Umuofian culture is again emphasized in this chapter — first, in the roles of the women in the ritual wine-drinking and, later, in the classification of crops. Coco-yams, beans, and cassava are considered women's crops; in contrast, the yam is identified as the "king of crops" — a man's crop. An especially significant concept introduced in this chapter is the belief in personal chi. At its simplest level, chi parallels the Western concept of soul, although chi is a more complex idea. The Igbo believe that an individual's fate and abilities for the coming life are assigned to the chi, and each individual is given a chi by the Creator (Chukwu) at the moment of conception. Before each reincarnation, the individual bargains for improved circumstances in the next life. The chi thus becomes one's personal god that guides one to fulfill the expected destiny. On the one hand, the individual is ruled by his chi, but on the other hand, only the individual can make the most of the fate planned through the chi.

Notice that Achebe's first name, Chinua, begins with chi. Achebe explained the usage of chi in the following excerpt:

When we talk about chi, we're talking about the individual spirit, and so you find the word in all kinds of combinations. Chinwe, which is my wife's name, means chi owns me; mine is Chinua, which is a shortened form of an expression that means may a chi fight for me. My son is named Chidi, which means chi is there. So it's [in] almost [all my family members' names] in one form or the other. Our youngest girl asked me why she didn't have chi in her name. She thought it was some kind of discrimination, so she took the name Chioma, which means good chi.

To secure his manliness, Okonkwo believes that he should beat members of his family (Nwoye, Ikemefuna, Ojiugo, and his wives) and that he should ridicule men who remind him of his father — even for slight annoyances. Although he may inwardly experience emotions of affection and regret, he cannot show these emotions to others, so he isolates himself through extreme actions.

Two more examples of traditional wisdom are used when talking about Okonkwo:

"Those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble." This proverb means that a man whose success is a result of luck must not forget that he has faults. Okonkwo, however, had "cracked them himself," because he overcame poverty not through luck, but through hard work and determination.

"When a man says yes, his chi says yes also." This Igbo proberb implies that a man's actions affect his destiny as determined by his chi. Okonkwo's chi is considered "good," but he "[says] yes very strongly, so his chi [agrees]." In other words, Okonkwo's actions to overcome adversity seem justified, but because he is guided by his chi, his denial of kindness, gentleness, and affection for less successful men will prove self-destructive. (The chi itself is somewhat ambiguous.

Okonkwo does not even enjoy the leisurely ceremonial feast as others do. His impatience with the festivities is so great that he erupts. He falsely accuses one of his wives, beats her, and then makes an apparent attempt to shoot her. Further evidence of his violent nature is revealed when he moves his feet in response to the drums of the wrestling dance and trembles "with the desire to conquer and subdue . . . like the desire for a woman." Okonkwo's need to express anger through violence is clearly a fatal flaw in his character. His stubborn and often irrational behavior is beginning to set him apart from the rest of the village.

In contrast, Okonkwo exhibits feelings of love and affection — his first encounter with Ekwefi and his fondness for Ezinma, his daughter. However, Okonkwo considers such emotions signs of weakness that betray his manliness, so he hides his feelings and acts harshly to conceal them.

The amount of detail included about the Feast of the New Yam, just before the annual harvest, underscores how closely the life of the community relates to the production of its food. The description of household preparations for the festival reveals two significant issues about Igbo culture:

• The roles of women and daughters to keep the household running smoothly and to prepare for special occasions even though they can hold positions of leadership in the village.
• The insignificant impact a wife beating and a near shooting have on family life, as if violence is an acceptable part of day-to-day life in the household.

For the first time in the story, Achebe mentions guns. Because of an outgrowth of Igbo trade with the rest of the world, Western technology actually arrived in the village before the Westerners did. Umuofia was not a completely isolated community.

With the killing of Ikemefuna, Achebe creates a devastating scene that evokes compassion for the young man and foreshadows the fall of Okonkwo, again in the tradition of the tragic hero. Along the way, the author sets up several scenes that juxtapose with the death scene:

• The opening scene of the chapter shows the increasing affection and admiration Okonkwo feels for Ikemefuna, as well as for Nwoye.
• On the journey with Ikemefuna and the other men of Umuofia, they hear the "peaceful dance from a distant clan."

In Chapter 2, the author comments that the fate of Ikemefuna is a "sad story" that is "still told in Umuofia unto this day." This observation suggests that the decision to kill Ikemefuna was not a customary one. Before dying, Ikemefuna thinks of Okonkwo as his "real father" and of what he wants to tell his mother, especially about Okonkwo. These elements combined suggest that the murder of Ikemefuna is senseless, even if the killing is in accordance with the Oracle and village decisions.

The murder scene is a turning point in the novel. Okonkwo participates in the ceremony for sacrificing the boy after being strongly discouraged, and he delivers the death blow because he is "afraid of being thought weak." At a deep, emotional level, Okonkwo kills a boy who "could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father" — someone whom Okonkwo truly loves as a son. Okonkwo has not only outwardly disregarded his people and their traditions, but he has also disregarded his inner feelings of love and protectiveness. This deep abyss between Okonkwo's divided selves accounts for the beginning of his decline.

For the first time in the novel, Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, emerges as a major character who, in contrast to his father, questions the long-standing customs of the clan. Achebe begins to show the boy's conflicting emotions; he is torn between being a fiercely masculine and physically strong person to please his father and allowing himself to cherish values and feelings that Okonkwo considers feminine and weak.

In the scenes, the reader can begin to see Okonkwo's growing separation from his family members as well as from his from peers in the village. Okonkwo asks Nwoye to sit with him in his hut, seeking affirmation that he has done nothing wrong by killing Ikemefuna. But his son pulls away from him.

Even Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, disapproves of his role in the killing of Ikemefuna. Obierika is presented as a moderate, balanced man and thus serves as a contrast to Okonkwo. Obierika periodically questions tribal law and believes that some changes can improve their society. Okonkwo tends to cling to tradition regardless of the cost, as the killing of Ikemefuna illustrates. Essentially, Obierika is a man of thought and questioning, while Okonkwo is a man of action without questioning.

However, both men seem to agree that manliness does not allow a man and his wife to be inseparable and outwardly loving to each other. (A village woman who has died before her husband's death can be publicly announced, but a wife's death soon after her husband's may be a sign that she is guilty of killing him.) The couple is known to be almost inseparable in their day-to-day life — a sign of weakness in the husband, according to Okonkwo and Obierika. The village must wait until she is buried before they can officially announce the death of the man who was once a great warrior.

An example of the economic customs of the village is the marriage negotiations for Obierika's daughter. The opening ceremonies — the costume and jewelry of the bride, the use of the sticks, and the drinking of the palm-wine — illustrate the complexity of Umuofian ritual. These African customs are reminiscent of marriage customs in other cultures in which the bride's parents pay a dowry or pay the cost of the wedding (although in Igbo custom, the groom himself pays the bride-price). Such customs refute commonly held notions about primitive and uncivilized African society.

The first shadow of "the white man" appears in community conversation, revealing their lack of contact with white men and their aversion to them (similar to their aversion to lepers).

Just when Okonkwo's guilt over killing Ikemefuna seems to lessen, his rarely displayed devotion to his family is again tested. When Ekwefi informs him of his daughter's illness, he rushes out in the middle of the night to hunt for medicine in the woods. By nature, Okonkwo is not a cold and heartless man; he simply cannot escape the haunting images of his despised father's womanly qualities.

Ekwefi's dedication to her daughter Ezinma exemplifies the important role children play in a woman's life in Umuofian society. Ekwefi says that children are a "woman's crowning glory," and before Ezinma was born, her own life was consumed with the desire to have a healthy child. But nine times, she lost children in infancy. A woman's status in Igbo society is related to how many children she bears and how many of them are male.

But although women's child-bearing abilities are an important aspect of their status, Okonkwo and Ekwefi's deep concern and fondness for Ezinma shows that, despite the divide between manly and womanly qualities, woman play an essential role in Igbo society. Women are responsible for preparing most of the celebratory activities, which strengthen relations within the village and with other communities. Women also create the decorations for the huts as well as elaborate body art.

Another important aspect of women in Igbo society is represented by Chielo, who is significant because, as a woman, she speaks on behalf of the God Agbala. Chielo refers to Ezinma as her "daughter," which may indicate that she will replace Chielo's position as priestess.

 Ekwefi was hopeful that Ezinma had "come to stay." This observation foreshadowed that Ezinma was no longer an ogbanje because the medicine man dug up her iyi-uwa.

The author provides a close-up view of the community judicial system with its similarities to Western traditions. In the trial of Uzowulu versus his wife's family, both sides present their cases to the ruling members of society, the egwugwu. The nine egwugwu represent the nine villages of Umuofia, and each village has one egwugwu as its spokesperson. Okonkwo has obviously risen to a lofty position of village leadership if he has indeed been selected as the egwugwu representative for his village.

The egwugwu has similarities to a jury led by a foreman or judge. For example, after retiring to the jury room for deliberation with the other eight egwugwu, the foreman/judge returns a verdict that must be carried out. The public is allowed to watch the proceedings within the boundaries of their social groups — that is, the elders, other men, and women.

The subject of the dispute, domestic violence, is a familiar one today, but the way in which the community views Uzowulu beating his wife is not. The verdict illustrates the widespread disregard for women's rights by Umuofian men. After hearing the case, the egwugwu order Mgbafo to go back to Uzowulu if he begs her; they remind Uzowulu that fighting with a woman is not manly. The embarrassment of begging his wife is the only punishment Uzowulu receives. This case illustrates that, in Umuofian culture, a woman is the property of her husband, but unwarranted and excessive violence against her is, in theory, inappropriate. Note that one man among the spectators asks why such a "trifle [as wife beating] should come before the egwugwu."

In the literary tradition of the tragic hero, Okonkwo's undoing continues with his accidental killing of Ezeudu's son. Early in the chapter, Achebe foreshadows the event with Okonkwo's memory of Ezeudu's warning about not killing Ikemefuna. The author builds dramatic tension by describing an increasingly frenzied scene of dancing, leaping, shouting, drumming, and the firing of guns, as well as the frightening appearance of the egwugwu. The action climaxes with an explosion of gunfire and then comes to a stop with the phrase "All was silent." Achebe emphasizes the gravity of Okonkwo's crime by saying that in Umuofia "nothing like this had ever happened.
Obierika quietly questions clan traditions — this time, the tradition demanding that Okonkwo be banished for seven years because of an accidental killing. He also questions the tribal abandonment of twins, remembering his own innocent children left to die in the forest.

The chapter includes several intimations of impending doom for the clan and its traditions. Achebe ends the chapter dramatically with the proverb, "If one finger brought oil, it soiled the others," suggesting that Okonkwo's crime may lead to the ultimate downfall of Umuofia itself.

Achebe presents a paradox about the manly and womanly aspects of Okonkwo's circumstances. Okonkwo begins his exile deeply discouraged and unmotivated. While striving for even greater manliness, he committed a female murder — that is, he accidentally killed a boy during the funeral ceremony. Making things worse (in his mind), he has been exiled to the woman's side of his family. He thus feels that this transition is an extraordinary challenge to his manliness. His uncle reminds him, though, in the presence of his own large family, that Okonkwo should use the nurturing (womanly) quality of his motherland, accept his situation (which is, in fact, far less devastating than it could be), and recover. Okonkwo needs to maintain a positive, responsible leadership (including male and female qualities) of his own family in preparation for their eventual return to Umuofia. The womanly aspect of his mother's village is not to be ignored while Okonkwo waits for the right to return to his own manly village.

Before this, Okonkwo acknowledged the vital role of chi in his life. In this chapter, he seems to realize that his chi "was not made for great things" — a reluctant admission that he may not achieve everything he wants because his fate is predetermined. His acceptance of this possible limitation, however, does not last.

With the description of the isa-ifi ceremony, this chapter completes the reader's view of the complex Igbo marriage rituals.

Obierika tells a story of how the first white man ever seen in Abame is initially a matter of curiosity, especially his skin color and perhaps his bicycle. When the villagers consult their Oracle, however, it predicts that white men will be instruments of disaster for the clan. Only then do the villagers take violent action against this individual white man, an action criticized as premature by Uchendu. Although Okonkwo agrees that the men of Abame were foolish for killing the white man, his response, "They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to the market," illustrates that Okonkwo defies the Umuofian custom not resort to violence without first trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement and seeking the acceptance of war by its Oracle. The Oracle never accepted a war with the white men, but it warned the villagers that the white men would spread destruction like "locusts." Ironically, the white men represent the coming of the locusts from Revelation in the Bible; the village will be destroyed, and among the villagers who aren't harmed, nothing good will come to them.

Of course, the retaliation by a large group of white men later — wiping out the entire village — is out of proportion to the initial crime. But this excessive action is Achebe's way of beginning the novel's characterization of extremist whites and their oppressive, often uninformed and insensitive attitude toward the natives. From this point on, the two groups are depicted as adversaries, and future conflict seems inevitable.

The Abame disaster is based on an actual event in 1905, in the community of Ahiara. More information about the incident and its consequences appears in the earlier section "A Brief History of Nigeria."

Obierika is able to understand Nwoye's blunt statement only after he talks to Nwoye's mother. Her story may be sympathetically narrated because she is protective of Nwoye.

The Christian missionaries seem to win over many people of Mbanta rather quickly. The earliest converts are people with low status in the clan. The missionaries' promises fill a void in the lives of such converts. The Christian hymn, for example, touches the "silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man." (The old-style spelling of Ibo is used in the text; the modern spelling is Igbo.) Also note that the white man is not personalized yet — he remains a stereotype of a white missionary, though somewhat more patient in his responses than one may expect.

Considering the fate of the Abame village after the arrival of the white men, Mbanta's welcome of the missionaries isn't surprising. The presence of only one white person among the missionaries may have eased the villager's fears of the missionaries. The villagers are understandably skeptical about the Christian message but still curious to learn more about the strange religion and white skin with which they are unfamiliar. In addition, the missionaries' use of rhythmic, evangelistic hymns is a good seductive strategy for expanding their message through a sympathetic medium. They also promise new experiences, such as riding a bicycle, once they move into the community.

Unsurprisingly, Nwoye is highly receptive to the new, more humane-appearing doctrine, because he is a sensitive young man with deep concerns about certain customs of his people (see Chapter 7).

Achebe provides a humorous illustration of the difficulties of dialects, even within the Igbo language. The missionary's translator is an Igbo, but he speaks a dialect that pronounces some words and expressions differently from Umuofian Igbo: The word "myself" comes out as "my buttocks," resulting in some humorous translations of the white man's message.

The missionaries are beginning to influence not only the community's religious views and practices but also its deeper social customs and traditions; for example, they welcome the first female convert, a woman who is scorned by the community because of her four sets of twins. To her, as well as to other early converts shunned by the clan for one reason or another, the missionaries provide support and acceptance. The missionaries will not throw away newborn twins, and the community will eventually see that they are as normal as other children.

The missionaries apparently expect the new Christians in the community to accept a new weekly calendar: "Come [to church] every seventh day." Suddenly, the narrative refers to "Sunday" instead of the Igbo days of the week. Did the missionaries know about the Igbo four-day week? Did they preach the seven-day creation story? Consider the impact on a community when outsiders impose a new arrangement of days and weeks.

Okonkwo's views toward the Christians and his desire for a violent solution begin to separate him from the rest of his new Mbanta clan — which he thinks is a womanly clan. He feels that simply excluding the Christians from several public places is a weak solution.

Hoping not to come into conflict with one another, the church and the village are delicately maintaining an equilibrium by avoiding each other. When they do encounter each other, violence sometimes erupts, as when the three converts make fun of the old gods. In addition, as more new converts strengthen the church, they in turn weaken the clan, causing increased tension among the non-Christians as well as between the Christians and the non-Christians. When the church violates something sacred in the clan tradition, the precarious balance between church and clan is upset — a balance that is increasingly more difficult to maintain. Yet, even this crisis is resolved without violence.

Okonkwo's final days in Mbanta are characterized by his usual striving to impress, never doing anything by halves. He expresses his thanks to his motherland's relatives with an extravagant celebration. Okonkwo's rigid, impulsive behavior hasn't changed during his seven years in Mbanta, and he is eager to return to Umuofia to make up for lost time. He reveres Umuofia because of its strong and masculine community, unlike Mbanta, which he labels a womanly clan.

Achebe ends the chapter and Part Two with a foreshadowing of what is to follow: An elder member of the clan tells the young people, "I fear for you; I fear for the clan."

Okonkwo's concern about his status when he returns to Umuofia suggests that status and mobility within Umuofian society is largely self-determined: All males except outcasts have opportunities to move upward in the clan through hard work, wise use of resources, and gaining titles. Prominent status is essential to Okonkwo in his drive for manliness. Out of the community for seven years, Okonkwo lost his status among the village elders and the other egwugwu, and he has fallen behind in obtaining titles in the clan. He can compensate by making a show of his larger compound, more barns, and more wives and by starting to initiate his sons (besides Nwoye) into gaining titles — something few men can afford to do. He seems to be suppressing his sorrow over the loss of Nwoye and his disappointment about the loss of community position by reaffirming his beliefs in traditional Igbo ways and taking traditional steps toward recognition.

In light of his near obsession with status and titles, Okonkwo must find it particularly hard to understand how some of the leaders of the community can give up their titles when they became Christians.

In Part Two of the book, the major change introduced by the white man was the Christian church, which not only divided the community, but divided families. In the first chapter of Part Three, the white man's government assumes a central role, not only with its court and its "court messengers" but also with its prison and its executions. These changes are reported by Achebe in an ironic tone, as if the establishment of a government by the white colonialists was the Igbos' first experience with government, as if the Igbo did not have a justice system prior to the arrival of the whites. This tone is especially ironic because, earlier, Achebe takes great pains to illustrate not only the varieties of justice meted out by the Oracle (Okonkwo's banishment) and by the general citizenry (reprimands about violating the Week of Peace and about women not helping in the recovery of a stray cow), but he also illustrates the processes followed and the types of justice meted out by the formal court (Chapter 10). Remember that one of Achebe's goals in writing this novel was to demonstrate that the Igbo had developed a sophisticated society, religion, and justice system long before the Europeans arrived.

Achebe describes a colonial government that subdues the Igbo people without requiring the missionaries to learn their language or try to understand the Igbo traditions and ways. (The first church representative, Mr. Brown, is the exception in being accommodating to Igbo language and customs.)

By recruiting other African natives — the kotmas, or court messengers — to be their agents in the day-to-day enforcement of their authority, the missionaries bring into their use people with skin color and language characteristics much like the local natives — people who seem to be friends of the local natives (though their dialect was apparently different). Ultimately, the court messengers abused their positions by beating prisoners and taking bribes. Achebe is implying that corruption among the Igbo people isn't exclusive to Umuofia; the court messengers are more interested in what they can get out of the situation rather than what they can do to spread Christianity or even to help the Umuofians.

When Okonkwo tells Obierika that his fellow Umuofians should rise up against the British, Obierika wisely understands that it is too late. Many Umuofians have already "joined the ranks of the stranger." Obierika says that the white man "has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart" — the first specific acknowledgment of the book's title, Things Fall Apart.

a third institution is established by the British in Umuofia — trade with the outside world. The Europeans buy palm-oil and palm kernels from the Igbo at a high price, and many Umuofians profit from the trade. These Umuofians welcome the new trading opportunities, though these activities are effectively undermining the clan and its self-sufficiency. Through narrative that gradually introduces these key, outside influences — religion, government, and commerce — Achebe shows how the British convinced so many Umuofians to welcome them in spite of their disruption of daily life and customs.

Indeed, the British seem to provide advantages lacking in Umuofian culture. The established members of the village welcome new opportunities for wealth. At the other end of the social scale, the disenfranchised members of Igbo society find acceptance in Christianity that they didn't experience in the so-called old ways. Mr. Brown builds a school and a much-needed small hospital in Umuofia; both institutions produce immediate and impressive results.

So the Umuofians now have more. Are they better off because of these additions to their lives? The British thought so and expected them to agree.

Throughout the book Achebe gives his characters names with hidden meanings; for example, Okonkwo's name implies male pride and stubbornness. When Achebe adds British characters, he gives two of them common and unremarkable British names, Brown and Smith. His third British character, the District Commissioner, is known only by his title. The choice of names, and lack thereof, is in itself a commentary by Achebe on the incoming faceless strangers.

Achebe portrays Mr. Smith as a stereotype of the inflexible Christian missionary in Africa. He is a fire-and-brimstone type of preacher, who likens Igbo religion to the pagan prophets of Baal of the Old Testament and brands traditional Igbo beliefs as the work of the devil. Achebe suggests that the issue between Mr. Smith and the local people may be more than one of religion: "[Mr. Smith] saw things as black and white. And black was evil."

Achebe implies that strict adherence to scripture and dogma produces religious fanaticism. Enoch's unmasking of an egwugwu is portrayed as a result of unbridled fanaticism. In traditional Igbo religion, the ancestral spirit communicates through the mask in which it speaks. The Igbo believe that during this time, the human underneath the mask is not present; the mask is transformed into the spirit. Thus, unmasking the egwugwu kills the ancestral spirit. Enoch's action exposes the non-divine nature of an egwugwu, just a man beneath a mask, another sign of "things falling apart." Ironically, the outcome of Enoch's fanaticism must surely cause some clan members to question their long-held, sacred beliefs regarding the egwugwu.

the oppressive yet naive approach that the British took to ensure colonial justice. Although the District Commissioner says that he wants to hear both sides of the clan leaders' story, he doesn't trust the leaders and imprisons them while he collects a fine from the village. The Commissioner informs them that the British "have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy." He may sincerely believe this statement, and he may also believe that the British control the court messengers when he assigns them as guards and as fine collectors. The court messengers (orkotma), however, not only abuse the prisoners, but they collect a fine considerably larger than what the Commissioner asks for so they can keep a sizable portion for themselves.

The District Commissioner's statements and personal actions are ironic in light of what is actually taking place: The British have decided that they know what is best for the Igbo and will go to violent and repressive lengths to bring their decision about. They justify their actions in the name of their great sovereign, Queen Victoria, "the most powerful ruler in the world."

A recurring theme underlying the occupation by the British is that the Africans are divided among themselves — an illustration of "divide and conquer." To help enforce their policies, the British employ other Africans to help them carry out their occupation and rule. The white colonialists apparently assume that their black subordinates would gain the confidence of the black natives. The British may not be aware that their court messengers, apparently Igbo, believe in customs, language, and values different from the Umuofians, and they already possess traditional antagonisms toward the Umuofian Igbo. Clearly, they do not understand Umuofian culture when they joke about so many Umuofians holding titles. They abuse their power by physically abusing their prisoners and asking the clan for an extra fifty bags of cowries for themselves. Because the court messengers are also the translators between the British and the Igbo, their opportunity for corruption is great. The British who are aware of the brutality and corruption of their court messengers probably take refuge in the rationalization that the end — the ultimate civilizing of the natives — justifies the means.

After Okonkwo is freed from prison, he remembers better times, when Umuofia was more warrior-like and fierce — "when men were men." As in his younger days, he is eager to prepare for war (not unlike Enoch the convert in the preceding chapter). He is worried that the peacemakers among them may have a voice, but he assures himself that he will continue the resistance, even if he has to do it alone. He will be manly in his actions even to the end.

Umuofian culture has traditionally discriminated against women and other outcasts — and currently against Christian converts. This discrimination has marginalized many people, including even important "sons" of Umuofia. The speaker points out that not "all the sons of Umuofia" are with them at the vital clan gathering; he admits that they may have to kill their own clansmen if they go to war. Yet the speaker feels that they must do battle in order to rid themselves of this evil.

When Okonkwo kills the court messenger, his fellow clansmen almost back away from him in fear; in fact, his violent action is questioned. When he realizes that no one supports him, Okonkwo finally knows that he can't save his village and its traditions no matter how fiercely he tries. His beloved and honored Umuofia is on the verge of surrender, and Okonkwo himself feels utterly defeated. Everything has fallen apart for him. His action in the final chapter will not be a surprise.

The book's final confrontation between the District Commissioner and the Umuofians is almost anticlimactic. It serves to demonstrate once more the deep cultural gulf between the Europeans and the Igbos. This difference is dramatized not solely by the events but also by the language of the chapter. For example, notice the sudden appearance of several literate words relating to the Commissioner throughout the scene: infuriating, superfluous, instantaneously, resolute. He imagines himself to be a "student of primitive customs," listening to the explanation of the "primitive belief" about handling the body of a suicide. His warning about the natives playing "monkey tricks" may reflect his views that they are, in fact, animalistic — perhaps like primates in the wild.

Primitive is, of course, his British point of view. The Commissioner, like other colonialists, cannot imagine that he understands very little about the Igbo, especially that they are not primitive — except perhaps from a European technological perspective. In the meantime, the novel has revealed to its readers the complex system of justice, government, society, economy, religion, and even medicine in Umuofia before the British arrived.

Finally, the Commissioner seems unconcerned about the ironic fact that the colonialists' methods of pacification are often achieved through suppression and violence — themselves essentially primitive means for achieving nationalistic objectives.