Resemblance

Like most in life, Okonkwo tried very hard to not be like his father, but, in my opinion, he managed to show that no matter what, you will always end up resembling your parents some way or another. Okonkwo grows up to be a strong young man who is the opposite if his father; for starters, he is successful and wealthy.  However, the years pass him by and his personality begins to change and his ability of containing emotions quivers.  In his later years, Unoka, Okonkwo’s father is portrayed as a failed man who lives a bohemian life, a vain life; he plays his flue and lives in a world of tranquility and calmness that doesn’t exist and will never exist. Like his father, Okonkwo lives his final years fighting for a loss cause and reminiscing about the days which will no longer again exist. In addition, like father, like son, the both die in a dishonorable way; Unoka dies of an awful illness and Okonkwo hangs himself. These ways to die in the Igbo society are illustrated as a disgrace and an offence to nature. Resembling your relatives is inevitable; one way or another, no matter how hard you fight it, genetically you will be almost exact replicas of your parents.

Life Threatening

There are incidents in life that cause us to change our way of life, for the better or worse. There are very different ways of dealing with these life changing events. Some people, those who are tied to the past and might even have been worshiped before the incident occurred are those most likely end up as 'the week ones' in the new situation. Unlike those who were never truly comfortable with the past society and lifestyle they were living in and always hoped for a new change; these people will be those who succeed. In things fall apart, Okonkwo is a character who is very linked to his people and way of life and is considered to be the perfect example of what the Igbo man should be. Therefore, we can understand why he could not truly adapt to his new surroundings and as hard as he tried he would always reminisce and this would certainly bring him pain. 

Things fall apart has a very similar theme to the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; a story that illustrates a rich southern society in the midst of the American Civil War that has to cope with the consequences of the South's loss. Like Things Fall Apart, these are two similar societies that due to 'the man's' power crumble and entire lifestyles are lost. 

The Igbos in Things Fall Apart lose their power and basically their freedom of speech due to the religion that takes over their society and manages to even convert some of the natives to Christianity.  This causes the people of Umuofia to rebel and bring the Christian church to ashes. In Gone with the Wind, slavery and a society of rich culture and strict costumes are the way that people use to coexist; in Georgia, where the story is set, many of the characters can’t seem to find a way to commence a new life and become accustomed to the new American ways.

On the other hand, we can see those like Nwoye, now Isaac, had a tragic loss in his previous years of childhood and he couldn’t truly grasp in to anything within his own society to help him through that period of time. Once ‘the white men’ settled into the villages, Nwoye, Isaac, was moved and found comfort and ‘someone to lean on’ in the Christian faith.

Okonkwo could not handle the situation and ended up hanging himself. Sometimes, there are life changing situation that are inevitable to begin with; one just has to learn to adapt to their surroundings and attempt to be open-minded in one way or another.

Intermediates

Language, to some, is a wall. It is barrier that separates those with opportunities and those who are crippled by lack of knowledge. To others however, it is an area of advantage where, in the case of Things Fall Apart, one can make a profit. In novel, when the villagers are asked for a fee to release the village leaders from jail, the request the translators make increases by a 25% so that they can take some sort of advantage of the situation in hand. When one is using a translator or intermediate so much can be lost and misinterpreted. In the story, the intermediates play a big role and I was very wise of the author to keep them making appearances throughout the end of the novel, especially the part in which Mr. Brown is replaced by Reverend Smith. The intermediated keep coming up in a way that helps us remember the times this story is set; they remind us that this is no ordinary 21st century conflict where English is most likely to do the taking. No, this is set in 1890s and the lack of communication caused many misinterpretations and complications along the way for any gesture the translator made even if it was a simple matter of word choice, the main stream of the idea being translated could be completely lost. The translators could also be interpreted as a weakness and a sign of vulnerability because of the lack of clarity in communication. 

Consequences

No matter what you do, karma will always come. There are always consequences to be faced. 


Okonkwo, once again, is stripped to his emotions for what he is left with is his feelings. After burning the church, and leaving the Christian colonizers in some sort of humiliation, the District Commissioner returns from his trips and finds basic chaos. He demands to see the leaders of the clan to discuss these happenings. Most of the leaders weren’t in agreement with ‘church burning’ decision and most people knew that, but not Okonkwo, he was proud of the destruction of the building because it represented strength and what we can name as some kind of an ‘Igbo come back.’ Once the District Commissioner had gotten all the participants of the meeting to cooperate when putting down their machetes and discussing the matters, the DC had them all hand cuffed and sent to jail. 


In jail the beatings were hard and revenge, or at least physical revenge, on behalf of the Europeans was not easy to bear. Onkonkwo here is left with nothing but his bare soul and his internal spirit and what the Igbos call chi. 

New Regime

On the annual ceremony to pay their respects to the Earth goddess, a convert, a very zealous one, Enoch, provokes the Igbos by unmasking an egwugwu. Unmasking an egwugwu is like taking out his heart with your bare hands; it was killing an ancestral spirit. Enoch does this because once Mr. Brown, the man who was somewhat in charge of the colonizers, leaves Umuofia, he is replaced by Reverend Smith. Reverend Smith’s ways are different from Mr. Brown; they are not so unorthodox for Reverend Smith believes that the regime before was far too lenient. At some point within the chapter, he has some feelings about the converts who are not fully sure of their new beliefs; he strongly feels that they should be either “black or white.”  This interested me particularly because it is quite a sarcastic statement which could be interpreted in several different ways. First, he means it in the obvious way in which the men should, like everybody on the face of the earth, make up their mind; there are no grey spots for these converts. They must either pick to be Christians on the European side or Igbos on the tribe’s side. On the other hand there is also a very powerful racial connotation for he, like most white men did, believed in a superior race and this was obviously the race of those who were colonizing Umuofia. This portrays Smith as what anyone would expect a European colonist to be. Due to him having no respect for those with other beliefs, he supports s Enoch’s ways. This causes the Igbos to burn down the Christian church.

Religion

Imagine there were no religion. As an atheist, I write this thinking of the possibilities of mankind if there were no religion. Imagine no crusades and the Twin Towers still standing. Do not get me wrong I am not against the fact that there are different cultures out there, some richer than others, some more ignorant then others, but the moment the culture starts to mention a god or a holy being or an object to worship spiritually then that starts getting in the way of fulfilling an independent life. Think of all the wars we could have prevented with no religion, then again, most excuses behind wars were religion though the true purpose was the rulers’ thirst for power. It would do so much good for the people at this point of the book to just drop their religious beliefs and dedicate their lives to their crop and families and their own happiness; even the missionaries and the conquerors because for sure there is a wife or a relative waiting for the day in which their loved on arrives from Africa. It turns things upside-down.

I did not mean to hurt anybody’s feelings or insult any form of lifestyle.

Things Fall Apart

The main theme and purpose of this book is disintegration; it illustrates the disintegration of a whole culture of rare richness that is taken over by Christian missionaries and conquerors.

A few years before the land was taken from the clans’ grasp, Okonkwo was paid a visit from an old friend from Umuofia who told him about this strange white man with an iron horse – which we suppose is a bicycle – who was riding past Abame who got killed by the people of the village. Some days later in the midst of the marketplace the people saw there were a whole crowd of these white people. Out of the blue, the white men started shooting and it turned into a massacre in which there was no one but the white men standing.

Later, around three to four years later, the narrator describes a scene in which we could the land of Umuofia and Okonkwo’s land full of Christian churches with missionaries and white men speaking their foreign language all around.

The conquest of the white man was so thorough that Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son was converted to the Christian faith. Apparently, “it was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul – the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikefuna who was killed He felt relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul.” (pg. 147) Nwoye was a Christian and denied his father.

Things were definitely falling apart. 

Gender

Throughout the entire novel, the reader can witness the sexist aspects within this society. To begin with, Umuofia is some sort of democracy in which the men meet at decision-making time, discuss the options and come up with conclusion; some of the men are more ‘powerful’ than others, however women have no absolute say in any single matter. Then, there is also the fact that depending on a man’s fame and his titles he can have a certain number of wives. This undermines the women’s role in society for the author illustrates a picture which shows that they are basically treated as reproductive machines. Okonkwo has three wives and several children with most of them; he treats them as maids who are only useful when they are in the kitchen and conceiving babies. Then again, when Okonkwo is exiled, he seeks comfort in his mother’s homeland, Mbanto, and lives there for the next seven years. The author states:

"It is true that a child belongs to his father. But when the father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in its mother's hut. A man belongs to his father land when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness, he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you. She is buried there. And that is why we say that mother is supreme." (pg. 134)

This shows that even though women aren't much respected in their youth by their husbands, they are respected by their sons and daughter. Mothers are a form of refuge; they are acknowledged and not taken for granted.

Shame and Exile

Ezeudu, one of Okonkwo’s friends, suddenly died tragically and so they had a very traditional burial ceremony. Ezeudu had been one of his true friends; he was the one who told Okonkwo that he should not go to Ikemefuna’s, a boy who was bound to be sacrificed whom Okonkwo grew very fond of, killing. And Ezeudu was right; he shouldn’t have. While the clan was at the funeral performing ritual after ritual, Okonkwo’s gun explodes killing one of Ezeudu’s sons. Due to this, Okonkwo and his family are exiled from Umuofia or seven. Okonkwo finds himself returning to his mother’s village to attempt to continue their lives.

It is curious because Okonkwo did not take Ezeudu’s advice and maybe this was the form of revenge his spirit takes towards the situation.

Okonkwo appears to be the perfect example of the man who worked for a ‘cause’ his entire life just to see it all get ripped out from under his nose. Though this does not only take away all the material things Okonkwo has worked for but his faith in humanity and will itself. However, what happened to Okonkwo was inevitable. It would be as silly trying to stand in front of a tsunami shouting STOP! Yet, Okonkwo, as a middle-aged man is left to start a new life and the best he can do is move on.

Agbala do-o-o-o!

One day, Ezinma, the daughter of Ekwefi, Okonkwo’s third wife, gets very sick. Apparently, according to the Igbo culture and the ‘doctor’ of the clan Ezinma was one of Ekwefi’s previous, now dead babies that came back to her to basically haunt her; she was a bad spirit. Later, once Ezinma is well, she is taken by Chielo, the Agbala’s, or God, priestess claiming that Agbala wanted to talk to Ezinma. The way the narrator explains the course of events helps us sense the tension in the atmosphere while the whole commotion is going on. Ekwefi is so nervous that, breaking the rules, she follows the priestess all the way through the villages to her Agbala’s cavein the hills. Shortly, we find out that Okonkwo, even though he never presented any affection towards Ezinma, always saying how he wished that she had been born a boy, also followed Chielo to the cave and was pretty shaken up too. Both of these events might foreshadow upcoming incidents. I predict that Ezinma might be some sort of special spirit or semi-goddess that might somewhat ‘save’ the entire Igbo population when the Europeans, or the white men, come to Umofia to try to conquer and colonize.

Cultural Sacrifice

Ikemefuna was an adolescent who was sufficiently unfortunate to be bound to die. This was a boy who had been sacrificed by his village, Mbaino, to Umuofia because when one of the women from Umuofia had gone to the market in Mbaino, she had been killed for no apparent reason. Therefore, Ikemefuna and a virgin - to replace the woman as the widow’s wife – were sent to Umuofia as a sort of peace offering to not trigger a fight of any sort. Ikemefuna was Okonkwo’s responsibility while the decision of his final fate was going to be; so, Ikemefuna live with Okonkwo with his family in his property. Three years passed and every one had seemed to have forgotten about the fact that he wasn’t a part of Okonkwo’s household until one day; one of the village elders came in and announced to Okonkwo that the killing of Ikemefuna was going to be performed that night. Three years later, Okonkwo and Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son, had grown much attached to him; however, Okonkwo put all feelings aside and took part in Ikemefuna’s killing. What Okonkwo had not predicted was the fact that he was actually going to miss Ikemefuna. Okonkwo was embarrassed by the fact that his feelings where taking over since being manly meant showing no emotions. 

The White Man's Myth

In Umofia, and Nigeria in general, the usual color of skin to find is a dark colored skin, so the thought of a white between a tribe and clan in the times that Things Fall Apart is set is quite odd.  At the end of chapter eight, the narrator foreshadows the first appearance of the white men in Village; the author tells: “it is like the story of the white men who, they say, are whit like this piece of chalk […]. And these white men, they say, have no toes.” (pg. 74) Umofia, like us, and practically any civilization, could stay ignorant for eternity and possibly believe the world is flat and that they are the only ones who populate it. In the times the story is set we can perhaps predict that this soon, in the story, will come the time in which the English colonization in Nigeria and Central Africa begins. The fact that the men are exchanging stories about communities that seem fairly more prosperous and developed in the families’ gathering seems to hint the events that are going to happen; however, the men discard the possibility and consider it ridiculous and rather funny. The Igbo culture might not acknowledge it, but war might be around the corner and while the clan considers fighting wars is the dispute of honor, the Europeans fight for the thirst of conquering the material. The Igbos will not know what hit them.

Agon in the Coliseum

In Umofia, after it was the time to celebrate the coming crop season, the New Yam Festival came the time of the competitions and the wrestling. Drums would start to play at noon all the way until dusk even though the wrestling itself begun at sundown. “The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tensed like tightened bow.” (pg. 49) The men would strike the instruments harder and harder every time; “they were possessed by the spirit of the drum.” (pg. 46)  The entire village gathers around and the crowds are huge. The wrestling event is somewhat similar to the Roman gatherings in which gladiators and animals would fight to death  in the Coliseums for the sake of entertainment. People would get together and it would be an event in society that you would be privileged to witness.  In Umofia, the wrestling escalated and so did the tension; first the youngest, 15 and 16 year olds, wrestled and then the age increased until the strongest and probably most valuable men, strength and cunningness-wise, wrestle. Once the men “danced into the circle and the crowd roared and clapped. The drums rose to a frenzy. The people surged forward.” (pg. 47) The events resemble the Greek Agon and the Roman Gladiators.

The Father, The Son and The Lizard

Pride and self-respect are traits that go hand in hand. Even though Okonkwo fought hard to gain these characteristics on a daily basis to be at peace with himself, he found it quite hard. Okonkwo’s craving of being the opposite of his father helps us see the disgrace he brought to the family. I could personally not imagine having any self-respect if I do not fully respect my parents. However, Okonkwo is not fond of his father for he was lazy and unsuccessful. The author tells us how even though his father, Unoka, left earth with huge debts to be sorted; he also left his son contacts and many friends who would be useful to Okonkwo in the future. Nevertheless, Unoka’s young was not proud of him and felt somewhat ashamed of him. It seems like Okonkwo walked through life attempting to prove himself and demonstrate that he was a better person than his father. On the other hand, Unoka was proud of his son and hoped he would rise to be the man he never was. And so he did. Okonkwo started out with nothing in his possession for he had inherited nothing from his father. Okonkwo contacted some of his father’s friend and in spite of his father’s failure; it was thanks to his father that Okonkwo could plant his first seed yams that were given to him by Unoka’s friends. Though don’t get me wrong, Unoka was not a role model of a man which lead Okonkwo to grow as a sturdy man, mentally and physically; one of his father’s friends even commented about Okonkwo’s character while he was asking his father’s friend for seed yams : “The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praise himself if no one else did.” (pg. 21)

The Nine Villages

Our Main character's name is Okonkwo. Okonkwo is somewhat a hero to his people and throughout the nine villages; he defeated a very strong and sturdy man in combat who had been undefeated for seven years. The man he defeated had been a man who was agile and crafty; he had been such a good fighter that he had been given the name of Amalinze the Cat because, like a cat, "his back would never touch earth." (pg. 1) In Okonkwo's village, Umuofia, people were proud of him and said that his actions brought honor to the village and we all know honor is a valuable thing to have.

Okonkwo’s village was one very rich in culture and tradition. The story is set in the time in which Nigeria was being colonized by the English and people in the village still measured time spans in moons. We can imagine a setting that includes mud houses with straw roofs, huts, and mud beds. The dark was terrifying for the population of Umuofia. "It was always quiet except on moonlight nights. darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravetst among them. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark." (pg. 9) In the village, the elderly were considered knowledgeable and wise as well as vastly judgmental. However, they weren’t the only considered wise for Okonkwo was too for his personal achievements and the honor he brought to the village; he was not only considered wise though, also manly and with masculinity came the capability of having multiple wives and an aggressive personality. The story portrays a man who seems to grow in fame by the minute and grow fierce by the second; Okonkwo was a heavy breather and a man who seemed like he was going to pounce any moment. " Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel mas. But his hole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness." (pg. 13) The author explains how he had no patience with unsuccessful men which somewhat foreshadows his motives to act the way he did, his past and insecurities.

About the Author

African writer, Chinua Achebe, is currently "one of the most important living African poet and novelist." He was born and raised in the extensive village of Ogidi, in Igboland, located in Eastern Nigeria, into a Christian evangelical family. While receiving an English education fused with an Igbo education of colonial tradition, he managed to observe firsthand how the Christian education affected, both positively and negatively, the Igbo culture due to the fact that his father taught at a missionary school. Chinua studied medicine as well as literature and commenced working in a broadcasting company. At the time he was working there, he felt ashamed of the way Nigerians and Africans were being portrayed in the texts and novels British writers had composed about Achebe’s land and Africa itself; therefore, the wrote Things Fall Apart in 1958 in the midst to the Nigerian Literary Movement. The novel was an immediate favorite and Chinua soon won several prices and awards for his masterpiece. 

The successful author discarded his radio career on the verge of the Biafran War wherein he got in trouble for writing A Man of People; this novel illustrates a story of a man in the middle of the conflict between the Northern Nigerians, the Muslim Hausa, and the Igbo people. However, he managed t narrowly escape and was free to continue with his academic and professional career.  He later took upon very high class positions such as co-founding a publishing company with a fellow poet, becoming editor of a prominent Nigerian magazine as well as “founding Iwa ndi Ibo in 1984; this bilingual publication was dedicated to Igbo cultural life.” Like his father, Chinua has also become a professor teaching a University of Nigeria, University of Massachusetts and the University of Connecticut. He receive the Nigerian National Merit Award in 1987 and several other awards for his great works.

Chinua Achebe is happily married today and has children. He resides in the United States and is proud to teach at Bard College.

Sources

"Biography of Chinua Achebe | List of Works, Study Guides & Essays | GradeSaver." Study Guides & Essay Editing | GradeSaver. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. <http://www.gradesaver.com/author/chinua-achebe/>.

"Chinua Achebe Biography - Life, Family, Children, Parents, Story, Young, Book, Old, Information, Born, College." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. <http://www.notablebiographies.com/A-An/Achebe-Chinua.html>.

"Things Fall Apart Background | GradeSaver." Study Guides & Essay Editing | GradeSaver. Web. 02 Sept. 2011. <http://www.gradesaver.com/things-fall-apart/study-guide/about/>.