Okonkwo's Exile Analysis

When Okonkwo was introduced to the cultural change by the British colonial missionaries, he was angry because he felt that the colonial missionaries were trying to decrease the existence of one's manliness. “The white man is clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion”. Now they’ve put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” (Things Fall Apart, Chapter 20, Page 152) With the arrival of the white missionaries, the Igbo religion came to a disagreement upon the religion that's being changed in the igbo culture. Missionaries changed umuofia's religious traditions and turned them against their gods. Okonkwo then starts acting out in random acts of violence, such as killing. To Okonkwo this was, manliness to do that sorrow act. To Okonkwo this was important because he did not want to be like his weak father, therefore, Okonkwo continues to behave this

Okonkwo soon learns about this and confronts his son, Nwoye about his secret meetings, Okonkwo soon becomes enraged and disowns his son after hearing about his experience not before abusing him of course. This action causes an effect which ultimately leads to Okonkwo’s downfall. Okonkwo enraged by the spread of Christianity within his own village self-proclaims war on the “white man”. Okonkwo eventually was detained as a result of his actions towards the “white man”. After he was released from detainment Okonkwo killed a courier and began to truly understand he was a rebel without a cause as his fellow Tribesmen would not help him with his internal struggle. Okonkwo knowing, he would be caught and executed for his crimes, instead decided to ultimately end his own life by hanging himself. Okonkwo’s major downfall in the story was his inability to co-exist with the white man and began his own personal vendetta against the Christian missionaries. Throughout the story the main essential theme Achebe tried to relay to us would be the fact that even though individuals may be of different religions, skin color, and have different personalities there is a realization that

In Things Fall Apart, when the missionaries first come to Umuofia, Okonkwo is very adamant in resisting their ways. He refuses to conform to them and holds fast to his traditional beliefs. He believes that Christianity is “womanly” and his own practices

The evangelists are very accepting, as they take in the osu, outcasts from the clan. They offer salvation along with freedom, which Nwoye has been searching for for a long time. However, because of Nwoye’s action, Okonkwo disowns him. Later, when Obierika goes to visit Okonkwo, he finds that “Okonkwo [does] not wish to speak about Nwoye.” Moreover, Okonkwo tells his other children that “if any one of [them] prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye” (Achebe, 172). Okonkwo then asks himself how he could have “begotten a woman for a son” (Achebe, 153). According to Okonkwo, Nwoye has become weak because he has joined another religion. Since Okonkwo believes he is the most masculine man in Umuofia, it is unbearable that his child turned out to be such a failure. This unbearable change in his family creates a ripple effect of events that become worse and worse for Okonkwo.

Following Okonkwo’s seven year exile, the village Okonkwo once knew has changed due to the influence of Christianity and the influence of the British missionaries and officers. Okonkwo’s initial reaction is to arm the clan against the Colonisers and drive the British people out of Igbo.

After Nwoye’s childhood, he discovers the trouble he has with pleasing his father, and Okonkwo always contradicts Nwoye about not having the same or even more status as Okonkwo had when he was his age. Nwoye will never be the “great farmer and great man” Okonkwo wants him to be, during society at this time, opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative was very admirable (33). With the type of negative feedback, Nwoye receives from his father saying that he will amount to nothing, shows how Nwoye develops insecurity with his identity as an Ibo citizen. Contradictingly, Okonkwo is very pleased and rather arrogant with his status in matter of the village. He is already one of the “greatest” men of his time starting from his youth when in Ibo culture age was respected. The setting of Nigeria plays a major role in the identity of Nwoye and Okonkwo seeing that prosperity for men at that time is having wealth and potent personality. Okonkwo was obviously successful in terms of riches; he owned a huge barn full with yams, the king of all crops, and has three wives. During this time Okonkwo lives a lush life and could not have been more proud of who he is identified as. Having the drive to accomplish significance in life, Okonkwo’s achievements were admired by most people in the village, showing “if a

    The Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart began to experience colonization, all after Okonkwo was exiled. He was sent away for seven years for killing a clansman. As soon as Okonkwo had left, Umuofia was greeted by Christian missionaries. They were there to convert the villagers to Christianity, to build churches, schools, and hospitals for them. When Okonkwo was exiled, Nwoye snuck off to be among the Christians. He enjoyed being around them and examined their religious views. But, Okonkwo was not happy about Nwoye’s decisions. Okonkwo chokes him by the neck, and demands Nwoye to tell him where he has been. “I don’t know, he is not my father.” (Achebe 137) Being almost killed by his own father really encouraged Nwoye to disassociate himself from his father completely and to head back home to Umuofia. Nwoye was drawn to Christianity because it made him feel welcomed, rather than when he was apart of his native religion.

-After Nwoye is lured into the Christian religion and abandons his culture and family, Okonkwo is ashamed and states, "you have all see the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people" (172). Nwoye's father disowns him only because he chooses a path untraditional to his culture. The serious, frustrated, and unhappy mood that is created in Okonkwo's statement gives the reader an idea of how much the Ibo culture values tradition, choice, and family.

Lastly, the missionaries drive Okonkwo to violence and brutality through the mere presence of them in Umuofia. For example, Okonkwo ‘trembles with hate, unable to utter a word’ (204) as they integrate Christianity into his village. Thus, Okonkwo’s hatred and closed mind with his son, his community, and the missionaries drive him to mental stress, causing his life to turn into bad struggle and savagery. Firstly, after Nwoye shows disloyalty towards his father, Okonkwo disowns him. He tells his other children the ‘great abomination’ Nwoye is and how ‘he is no longer his son or their brothers’ (172). This dispute within the kinship is due to Okonkwo’s resistance to embrace his son's beliefs and admiration for Christianity. His unwillingness to see through the ‘betrayal’ of his son leads to division in family, hurting his mental state. Furthermore, the people within his village create angst in his life as well. With all the change in Umuofia, Okonkwo develops a new outlook on the men and people, seeing them as weak and frail. To illustrate, he exclaims that ‘he mourned for the clan’ and ‘mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had unaccountably become soft like women’

It was for this man that Okonkwo worked to earn his first seed yams.” (18-19) The quote shows how polygyny plays a part in the igbo culture. The quote also explains how Okonkwo viewed Nwakibie as a role model for his success and wealth which earned Nwakibie a higher rank in society, rather than his own father, Unoka. Okonkwo did not inherit a farm from his father like many young men in Umuofia did. Father-son inheritance was the beginning of becoming a man in Umuofia, the son helps with the farm then inherits the farm along with starter seeds. Unoka was not able to provide a future for his son Okonkwo because he was broke, lazy & irresponsible as explained in the novel. “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He

After Ikemefuna’s murder ”My father, they have killed me!” …” Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down.” (61). Okonkwo was scared to be weak, it seems like he associates weakness with felinity. Nwoye becomes closed and understands that he is forever changed. When the missionaries arrive Nwoye joins their side and converts into Christianity. Okonkwo hates that he has a rather feminine son and disowns him. Finally in the end Nwoye gains peace and forgets about his father’s terrible and violent atmosphere.

In the second part of Things Fall Apart, Oknonwo has been exiled from Umuofia and could not return for seven years. While exiled, Oknonwo went to live in his motherland, Mbanta, where he was "well received by his mother's kinsmen (129). Oknonwo started planning his return very quickly. When he would return to Umuofia, he wanted everything to be the same as it was before he had left; he wanted to be treated as one of the greats again. Though he wanted all these things, he knew that once he left, it would never be the same. He knew that someone else would soon take his place because "a man's place was not always there, waiting for him" (171). In chapter twenty, it says, "the clan was like a lizard, if it lost it's tail, it soon grew another"

Fear is a powerful tool that if used incorrectly, can control how one lives. Okonkwo’s life is one that is dominated by fear. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart follows the Ibo people, set during the time of the colonization of West Africa, in the town of Umoufia. The protagonist, Okonkwo, is a strong follower of his culture’s rigid expectations and practices. While Okonkwo’s steadfast adherence earns the respect of the townsmen, many detest the cultural expectations and practices they are forced to follow. When Christian missionaries introduce Christianity to Umoufia, many of the Ibo people are quick to convert, including Okonkwo’s own son. This new religion slowly undermines the Ibo culture and religion Okonkwo firmly believes in, leading to his downfall. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo’s fear of weakness along with the arrival of Christianity causes Okonkwo’s downfall.

Okonkwo’s culture tells him to beat what he cannot fix, this idea evolved from his father, his mother culture and the lazy ways that came with it. The major factors that shape Nwoye’s view on a culture are his father, his mother culture and the white man. Along with Christianity he completely destroys the values of Okonkwo’s culture. “ Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, but he kept it a secret”(Achebe 149). Nwoye is too afraid of his father, as is, symbolically the clashing culture afraid of the mother culture and the outcome of the clash. The notion of the white man, along with Christianity assimilates Nwoye and his culture. And the factors above shape the view of what he wants a culture to be.

This paper reflects the novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe in 1958. Achebe gives an overview of pre-colonialism and post-colonialism on Igbo, detailing how local traditions and cultural practices can “fall apart” in some scenarios through some introduced, externally created hassles elevated because of colonization. The protagonist named Okonkwo mentioned in the story is a proof showing the lifestyle of the tribe. My main objective and focus is to lay emphasis on Africa specifically the Igbo society, before and after the arrival of the Europeans in Umuofia community; the results of their arrival concerning Igbo culture, thus leading to the clash of cultures between the two categories. I will also draw on post-colonialism with respect to globalization.