Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

In the novel, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe the Igbo tradition revolves around structured gender role. Everything essential of Igbo life is based on their gender, which throughout the novel it shows the role of women and the position they hold, from their role in the family household, also planting women crops, to bearing children. Although the women were claimed to be weaker and seemed to be treated as objects, in the Igbo culture the women still provided qualities that make them worthy.

This is an example of the difference in personal beliefs among family. Some may say that the book is about the differences in beliefs between the Africans and the colonizers, but it is more than that. It is clear that it was Okonkwo's personal beliefs and not necessarily the views of the people of Umuofia which guided him in what he did. One of these is his reliance in the strength of anger. Although he felt strongly in the beliefs and customs of the Ibo people, there are several occasions in which Okonkwo made a decision to disobey the customs in order to live out his own personal beliefs. For example, in chapter four, Okonkwo is yelled at by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess, for beating his wife during the sacred week of peace. Okonkwo did not feel remorse for his actions and probably thought of it as a sign of strength and manhood. Okonkwo was always worried about being seen as weak. One good

Imagine living in a world of perfect paradise, where no one disturbs you or takes away your freedom of thought. You’re living in pure harmony and feel as if your life is going to be peaceful forever. But what if one day someone comes along and changes your world, taking away your custom beliefs and changing your culture. What would you do? In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the character Okonkwo, an indigenous member of the Ibo tribe, comes in conflict with the European settlers as they try to convert his tribe to Christianity. Even though many people choose to convert to this new system, Okonkwo, along with a few friends, respond adversely to this foreign settlement as they attempt to restore order in their native village. As the Europeans bring their religion, messengers, and government into the tribe, the outcome of Okonkwo 's response, causes him to bring his identity into query when he realizes that things that were formerly common, will always collapse in the end.

Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, once said: “A man who makes trouble for others is also making troubles for himself”. This concept can be seen in the development of Okonkwo as a character throughout the book. Creating plenty of trouble for others, but ultimately creating the most trouble for himself is possibly the plot for the entire book. Generally, the creation of trouble is not a value that is appreciated in any culture, especially in Umuofia. Okonkwo breaks many of the boundaries and social norms within his culture; his tendency to be immature and unaccountable combined with being very self-concerned and the defiance of elders creates an interesting mix adjacent to the cultural standards.

Social rank and relative wealth play great roles in determining a person’s life in Umuofia society. Sometimes a man with sheer force of will cannot change his future through hard work. One of the main conflicts in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is the clash between Okonkwo’s determination to succeed, his free will, and fate – which seems to have less appealing things in mind. Okonkwo’s will plays a major factor in determining his future; he chooses to kill Ikemefuna with his own hands, he chooses to kill a government official, and in the end, he chooses to take his own life. However, the pre-destined conditions of his life, his father’s failures, and a series of unfortunate circumstances ultimately lead to Okonkwo’s downfall.

Change is a natural process that triggers the evolution of human societies; it is the continuous eradication of traditions that are replaced by the new. Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’ (TFA), a novel written in 1958, explores the gradual transformation of the Ibo culture as a result of colonialism and also the attitudes the people of Umoufia developed when exposed to foreign ideologies; the change was either accepted or resisted. Peter Skrzynecki’s ‘Crossing The Red Sea’ (CRS) and ‘Feliks Skrzynecki’ (FS) from the Immigrant Chronicle, a poetry collection published in 1975 depicts the evolution of the Australian society due to factors including migration, assimilation and different perceptions. These forces of change contributed to the

Okonkwo thinks he is the owner of his household and he shows no mercy to anyone who angers him. “He ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives…lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (Achebe, Chapter 2, p.8). Okonkwo beats his children and wives because of his temper which is influenced by the Igbo society; he puts on a hard exterior because he is afraid of being weak and unsuccessful. At one point, he attempts to kill his second wife with a gun because he thinks she is the cause of a tree’s death. In order to prove his power and strength, without thinking of the consequences, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife during the week of peace - a week when the village celebrates peace and who ever disrupts the peace will be punished by Ala, the earth goddess (Lycos, online). “His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for the fear of a goddess.” (Achebe, Chapter 4, p.21). Okonkwo lives in a male dominant society where men are pressured to be strong and successful; because of these influences, Okonkwo develops an inner

This world can appear to be a very large place when looking at the perspective of the earth on a globe. We notice the many continents and the vast country places, which exist within in it. The blueness of the seas that stretches from one end to the other is overwhelming within itself. It’s an elementary fact that life is prevalent on the dry places on the earth. However, another fact is true. Every society wants to establish its importance along with its reason for living and existing. The people of Umuofia were a people who had a strong belief in their power for oneness. Okonkwo’s people were a society of people who exercised strength and agility. The power of their strength came partly from their cultural beliefs. The clan of

Okonkwo's obsession for violence is highlighted when he constantly beats his wives, without showing any empathy afterward: “Without further argument, Okonkwo gave her a sound beating, and left her and her only daughter weeping” (Achebe 38). Okonkwo even went as far as to shoot at his second wife: “ Unfortunately for her Okonkwo heard it and ran madly into his room for the loaded gun, ran out again and aimed at her as she clambered over the dwarf wall of the barn. He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wives and children” (Achebe 39). The people Okonkwo is physically and emotionally harming are his family members, people that traditionally Okonkwo should love and care for. Even Ikemefuna, a boy who Okonkwo

As a story about a culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. To some extent, Okonkwo’s resistance of cultural change is also due to his fear of losing societal status. Long scorned, these outcasts find in the Christian value system a refuge from the Igbo cultural values that place them below everyone else. The tension about whether change should be privileged over tradition often involves questions of personal status. Okonkwo, for example, resists the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not manly and that he himself will not be manly if he consents to join or even tolerate them.

Okonkwo’s fear of becoming weak, leads him to act brutally towards his wives. During the Week of Peace in Umuofian tradition, being peaceful and kind to everyone is important. Okonkwo breaks this sacred rule by beating his youngest wife Ojiugo, because she “did not come early enough to cook the afternoon meal”, Ojiugo had just “gone to plait her hair at her friends house” (Achebe 30-31). By Okonkwo beating his wife, it demonstrates his efforts of showing his power over her, even the village priest thought it was a “great evil to beat her” (32). Luckily, the next time he displayed his power over his wife, she was just “shaken and frightened but quite unhurt” (39).

In Igbo culture the planting season is a very joyful time because soon they will have many yams to feast on during the harvest season. This time of year is when they hold their annual Week of Peace, to ensure kindness for everyone and to please the gods. During this week, beating wives is illegal, and that is an issue for Okonkwo. Always resorting to violence when things do not go his way is the only way Okonkwo knows how to deal with things. It seems that his obsession with showing his power overcomes him, and he is not able to hold back lashing out at his wives until after the Week of Peace.

An intelligent motivational speaker, Peter Senge, once said "People don 't resist change. They resist being changed!" As we go on in life, we come across two types of individuals, ones who see the chance to better themselves by making important changes, and ones who think there is no need for change due to the belief that everything about them is perfect. In the two books, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, the characters Okonkwo, Nwoye, and Pooh all illustrate the effects of accepting and or resisting change.

This is shown when he becomes hungry, and when his wife is not there to bring him his lunch, she is severely beaten, despite the fact that it is a Holy Week. Okonkwo is required to pay a fine for his actions, but it is assumed that he did not learn the meaning behind his punishment. His inability to accept his emotions led to his incredibly violent ways. Okonkwo was also obsessed with impressing the other men of Umuofia. Despite his love for Ikemefuna, 'Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak'; (61). Okonkwo had to portray himself as being incredibly strong-willed, after overcoming his hereditary situation, which put him originally in the lowest social position that his father was in. Since he was able to shed the poor name of his father, Okonkwo began to think of himself as better than virtually everyone, including the gods. Okonkwo insulted a man with fewer titles than himself, which was in very poor taste according to the warriors of Umuofia. By making the derogatory claims on him, Okonkwo shows his conceitedness and how he considers himself better than the others.

In order to justify the slave trade, Europeans made Africans look like primitive people who needed to be trained like animals. One way they did this was through literature. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, said in an interview that the main reason for writing this novel was to encourage other African writers to write about their past in order to refute the stories of the Europeans, claiming that Africans are uncivilized animals, but also shows that the Ibo were not a perfect society, highlighting the parts of Ibo culture that are considered heinous crimes today, in order to prove that there were no truly civilized societies. In his novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe effectively educates his readers about the culture