Simple mistakes + reminders TFA edition 2k19

(1a) Vague Pronouns: BTS The author uses the tragic hero Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart and his trait of challenging his fate to express his feelings towards imperialism. One ‘his’ refers to Achebe, two ‘his’ refer to Okonkwo. All three are unclear (together) and really poor pronoun usage. Also, remember: BTS do NOT need a so what or all the clear and specific parts of your thesis.

(1b) Vague Pronouns: Going against the gods demands led to his tragic ending and Achebe used the ending to show his feelings towards Europe imperializing Africa and the lasting effects of it. It’s not a good idea to use a pronoun as the subject of a multiple-noun sentence. Remember to be clear: don’t say ‘his feelings’ without identifying what they actually are.

(2) Parenthetical Citations: Okonkwo killing Ikemefuna was going against the words of god because Ikemefuna has “fully absorbed into his new family.” (Achebe 45) According to the Igbo gods, Okonkwo should not kill Ikemefuna because one is not supposed to kill their family and Ikemefuna calls him father. You ALWAYS need a period after a parenthetical citation. It’s the end of a sentence, not the beginning of the next sentence. It doesn’t matter what punctuation is here.

(3) Punctuation and Quotations: Ikemefuna is Okonkwo’s “family”, and calls Okonkwo “father”, which means when Okonkwo kills him its like he is saying no to his chi. Also, remember: Igbo words (like agbala or chi) go in italics. Punctuation ALWAYS goes INSIDE any quotation-marks, unless you’re adding a question mark*. *DO NOT add a question mark to lit analysis.