This essay will demonstrate an analysis of the value systems in both the movie Citizen Kane directed by Orsen Wells and the novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. Essentially, morals and beliefs are the basis or value systems. They are the foundations, which define the value and the reason for its existence.

Different cultures are characterized by different classes, which have different values systems. Demonstrating the values that are relevant in the novel and which are the driving force of the main characters of the main characters is what will be discussed.Beliefs and values both shape how society functions allowing it to distinguish between right and wrong. The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe demonstrates hoe important values and social traditions are to their society within this story.

One such example can be seen with the treatment of elders. Elders are a very important part of Umuofia's tribal society because they are the ones who have been around the longest and know the most about the past. They also pass on traditions and customs to their tribe's youth.The elders are the ones who usually tell the myths and stories from the past because they are the one's who have heard these stories from their ancestors and known the importance they hold.

Elders also known the most about the tribes beliefs because they are the closest to seeing and understanding the origins and emergence of these values and beliefs when these beliefs began. It is the oldest men who remember the past mistakes that were made and the past reprcautions that were the result.When Okonkwo breaks the Week of Peace it is the elders who told stories of people in the past who have also broken the Week of Peace and what happened to them. In this part of the book the wise old man Ogbuefi Ezeudu answers the questions of inquiring men about the past and he uses the stories which had been past down generations before from father to son. This shows that elders posses much wisdom and known the most about the past, and how to solve the present problems using their great wisdom. The elders are seen as the wise men in the group.

They are the ones who set the example and approve or disapprove of the tribe members. During the wedding ceremony, the elders gather around in a circle and watch and comment on the strengths of the tribe's men. This shows that the approval and acknowledgement of a great man in the tribe is a great tribute to be accepted by someone of such importance. When an elder dies, he is taken to the land of the ancestors. In the book Ezeudu's funeral is an example of what happens when an elder dies.

Elders are seen by the whole tribe as wise and are therefore paid tribute to through an elaborate funeral.During his funeral, the elder is saluted and praised for his achievements with gun and canon blasts, drums being played, and dancing. Ezeudu was a great warrior and was honored for the titles that he had achieved through out his life and as for his wisdom, which he gave to the tribe. All of these examples show the importance of elders in tribal society.

They show that the wisdom about customs and beliefs are important in shaping and guiding the other people's values so as to assume the wisdom will not be lost. Elders are treated with a large amount of respect and honor.As it is the whole group who believes in the elders. They collectively have a place to go for answers and for help therefore never causing a conflict in the tribes structure of beliefs in their values. In Umuofia's tribal society, the belief in many gods gives the people guidance and success in their lives.

The tribe believes in one principal god who created the world and the other gods. They believe that there are many gods each with their own duties since the principal god cannot do everything. He therefore appoints the other gods to do work for him.The Week of Peace is the time of rest to honor the great goddess of the earth, Ani, so she will make a blessing on the earth to ensure that the plants will grow.

If someone disturbs the Week of Peace by doing work or saying a harsh word to his or her neighbor, the plants will not grow causing the whole village to perish. As they are resting, Ani blesses the land to send forth an excellent growing season. Agbala is another of the tribe's gods who is a spirit that enters the body of a woman who process the ability to preach the scared teachings.Chielo is the women in the tribe who becomes possessed every once in a while with the spirit of Agbala. She visits Okonkwo's daughter and takes her through the woods to a shrine to praise her from the villages surrounding Umuofia. Okonkwo's daughter is now praised by the spirit of Agbala who has the given her guidance and the possibilities of believing in herself and of being guided through life.

The tribe also believes in the spirits and magical powers possessed in medicine men, who are followers of the Afa Oracle.Medicine men serve to protect and rid one's body of danger, sickness, and disease and to cure the body so it can function properly again. Art medicine men, although they are not gods, are believed to posses special spirits and powers as a god would to protect and cure the body. In Umuofia, the medicine men give hope and solutions to continue and to guide one's life further.

All of these examples are used to provide an explanation for the tribes men believing in many gods. Values and moral social code are is one important ways to find guidance in one's life as well as to get through many disasters and troubles.The tribe's beliefs in these gods form a universal belief in the tribe's unity and power as one. The movie Citizen Kane demonstrates social values and beliefs in a completely different manner.

The movie's main character Charles Foster Kane is shown in his three major stages of life as which show a significance transformation in his beliefs. As a young, energetic man, he believes in changing things his way for the better of the society. However, all of this changed though during time. Comparing the young Charles Foster Kane to the old is a remarkable one.

Not only did his system of value change but also so did his whirlwind of energy that followed him. He bought into the newspaper business, and claimed to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Which he even claimed and wrote on the first page of his newspaper the "Inquirer". This is just an example of how his values changed over time because as he got older and one of his employers who was a great friend of Charles wrote the truth about a play that he had saw staring Charles's wife at the time.Charles fired him because what he had said was the truth although, harsh, was fired.

Surprisingly was that his friend wrote a letter back with the original copy of the letter Charles had printed in the newspaper. Almost to bring it back in his face to show how he has change and his system of values have decreased terribly. Beside the idea of age, Charles was a man who never showed compassion towards something and surrounded himself with "yes men" that would agree and do anything for Charles on a super fiscal note.Charles on the other hand blamed all of these upon the money he inherited, which he states he the movie is the cause for his actions and values.

Even his dying words "Rosebud", demonstrates what he had, and lost, which was his childhood innocents. From that day forward he shielded himself away from people as he had with the slay from Mr. Thatcher. This is seen in the movie through its editing techniques. For example Charles and his wife Emily seen eating breakfast together.

As time goes on they have grown farther and farther apart from each other which usually happened to Charles because of his inability to present emotion. The scene says it all by placing Charles and his wife at either end of the table so far apart to demonstrate their inability to communicate and Charles inability to care for something which he was unable to purchase. Another scene on which the camera demonstrates Charles's inaccessibility to his wife Susan is when they are in Xanadu. This place of paradise Charles keeps himself a distance away from Susan not only physically but emotionally as well.