In the same way, Okonkwo, protagonist of Things Fall Apart is torn between the loyalties he has for his home land, Umuofia and his mother land Mbanta. As Okonkwo is steadily progressing towards the highest title in the tribe, fate removes him from his race ruthlessly. Umuofia has been portrayed as an organic society with established religious practices and governance. But this organic society becomes divided and virtually loses all energy only to finally fall into pieces at the end of the book. Following the arrival of the white missionaries in the village a cultural shift could be seen within these heterogeneous Igbo clans. The natives could no longer see eye to eye and therefore a certain division among the people could be seen. The inhabitants
Things Fall Apart is all about the “collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion” of traditional Igbo culture that suffers at the hand of the white man’s arrival in Umuofia along with his religion. Okonkwo’s own son Nwoye converts to Christianity leaving his own culture bereft because of the suffering he endured after the killing of Ikemefuna, who was a ward left under the care and protection of Okonkwo. As a result, of the accidental killing of a clansmen, Okonkwo was exiled from the village for 7 years and his return back home does very little to uplift his spirits as the village he left 7 years ago was no longer the same. He finds that the new religion has taken over the former one and because of that there is a shift in the
He constantly feels that he no longer belongs here or that this place is no longer the Umuofia of his dreams. One can sense the displacement that has started to seep into his life as the very question of what exactly is home seems to come to the front. Despite, these altercations he was unwilling to adapt to these changes. Okonkwo’s final repudiation came after his imprisonment along with other clan leaders. Not only were they profusely beaten but were also made to pay a hefty fine for their release. This act of imprisonment and release could be seen as the decline of power and authority that the natives had in their own homeland. Okonkwo’s final blow came when he murdered the district commissioner’s messenger as an act of rebellion and repudiation of the British rule. Although, he expected his clansmen to be sympathetic to his cause and stand by his side but the very fact that nobody spoke a word when Okonkwo struck down the messenger was enough for him to understand that no longer are these people with him or as passionate as him to overthrow the British rule and no longer was this place his ‘home’. “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to
He was in great conflict with the ideas of the white men and the missionaries. Okonkwo saw that their beliefs had not only changed the daily life of the Ibo, but it also changed the people themselves: “He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). The author uses strong diction to compare the men before and after colonization. This quote also portrays Okonkwo’s opinion towards the cultural collision. He values strength and masculinity immensely because of his fear of appearing weak like his father Unoka. When he describes that the men of Umuofia changed to be soft like women, this shows how much he dishonors the Western ideas and how it has taken over the village. He made an attempt to get rid of the Western influence by urging the tribe to fight like men, but they refuse to. He was determined and still attempted to furthermore encourage the people of Umuofia to revolt against the new culture. He realizes that his attempts to return the village back to the way it was before were futile. He knew that Christianity was tearing his people apart, but knew he was incapable of making change to help his people. Okonkwo then starts to feel hopeless and abandoned by his clan, which causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself: “Obierika… turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men
Throughout the book Things Fall Apart, three main topics help Achebe get his argument across to the reader. First, Okonkwo’s rough relationship with his family. Evidence from the book support that Okonkwo did abuse his wives and children. Whether this was acceptable or not at the time, the result of his actions led to major distrust within Okonkwo’s compound. In addition, Ogbuefi Ezeudu cautions Okonkwo about Ikemefuna through his interpretation of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Ogbuefi Ezeudu talks with Okonkwo the night before he was planning to kill Ikemefuna, explaining that what he is doing is wrong. Yet again, Okonkwo’s paranoia gets the best of him. This event fueled the fire for Nwoye’s distrust for Okonkwo, as well as his wives. Achebe’s third argument conveys that the spread of Christianity throughout the region and Okonkwo’s fear of change led him to hang himself. Nwoye was drawn to the new religion almost as soon as it arrived in the Ibo villages. However, he knew that his father was refusing to accept it. Thus, Nwoye moved back to Umofia to enroll in the Christian school set up by Mr. Kiaga. Okonkwo was also supporting the mob that burned down the first church, in efforts to drive the Christians away from Mbanta. Though proven unsuccessful, Okonkwo shot and killed one of their messengers. This allows the reader to infer
Okonkwo is often described as being similar to characters in Greek tragedies. Okonkwo knew that the end of his clan was coming, and that they would do nothing to prevent it from happening. He took his life out of desperation. He had struggled his whole life to become a respected member of his community, and suddenly his world is turned upside down and changed forever because of an accident. Okonkwo sees that he is fighting a losing battle, so he quits. Suicide was one of the biggest offenses that could be committed against the earth, and Okonkwo?s own clansmen could not bury him. Okonkwo?s death symbolizes the end of patriarchy in Umuofia. The last page of the book is from the point of view of the white Commissioner, who notes that he wants to include a paragraph on Okonkwo?s life in his book entitled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger. Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs and defeats are all reduced to a paragraph, much like his culture and society will be reduced.
Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” (7) and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars” (5). Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” (5) and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “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….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” (5) Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was someone who was the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father did was weak and unnecessary.
Overall, Okonkwo is a crucial part to the story Things Fall Apart, for he represents African culture, and helps demonstrate how colonization can change everything. Through this book we see how colonization changed history, and how it is important for groups, tribes, societies to stay together in times of invasion, in order to protect their own customs and traditions; and how crucial a sense of unity would've been for the Umuofian tribe. Okonkwo was the sense of unity of the tribe, doing everything he could could to protect it. His collection of honorable titles, his love for his tribes culture, his drive and passion, and even his booming pride all contribute to his district character, a true hero in my eyes.
Okonkwo’s determination to succeed in life and to not fail leads to his fatal downfall in the end of the novel. His inability to adapt to colonization and his failure to follow the morals of many of the morals of the Ibo culture also are an important key leading to his downfall. Okonkwo was willing to go to war against the missionaries, with or without the clan. He made it clear that he believed the missionaries were in the wrong for trying to change Umuofia. Since the clan wanted no part in the war with the missionaries, Okonkwo took action into his own hands and murdered the head messenger. During the killing of the messenger, Okonkwo had a moment of realization: “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo finally understands that he doesn’t have support from his fellow clansmen anymore and he feels as if he loses his place in society. Instead of backing up Okonkwo and his decision to murder the messenger, the clan stood in both confusion and disorder and questioned, “ ‘Why did [Okonkwo] do it?’ ” (Achebe 205). Okonkwo’s impulsiveness causes the clansmen to question Okonkwo’s violent actions against the messenger. Throughout the entire novel, Okonkwo struggles to accept the missionaries and the changes that they
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of how one unified Umuofian community falls due to its own inner conflicts, as well as to the arrival of Christian missionaries. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to change the brutish image of Africa, for the Western world. The use of changing perspectives greatly aided Achebe in accurately portraying Africa as colorful, diverse and complex. For Westerners, viewing Africans as more than tribal and barbaric was a new concept, of which Achebe helped usher in. The story is told through the eyes of many Umuofians, which gives the reader a personal sense for the individuals within the tribe. When all the individual pieces of the story are brought together, the sifting perspectives creates a vast overview of the community, while also deepening the readers since for the tribe by allowing personal details to show through. Achebe captures the complexity of the Umuofia community by changing the perspective from which the story is being told frequently.
Due to the lack of masculinity and failure that Okonkwo’s father bestowed upon him, he regularly feels he does not have any value. Okonkwo has developed a mindset that he has to prove his worth by acting in an uncivilized way causing him to be seen as less of a man than Unoka. The rules in Umuofia have been created “to produce actual doers and achievers like Okonkwo,”(Korang 20) designated in creating a society that is ambitious which in reality turns the society to be tempted by the desire to hold power over the other members. Okonkwo is one who is consistently trying to accomplish more than his father did causing him to become a ruthless individual. A place in society where Okonkwo does not want to be is “in another category of second-class citizen in Umuofia.
From an early age, Okonkwo was ashamed of his father, Unoka, who was unable even to feed his family. The unpredictability of receiving enough food at a young age was enough to inspire fear and embarrassment in Okonkwo who associated this embarrassment with his father and was given further justification for these feelings when he went out into Umuofia, discovering that the other villagers held similar opinions of Unoka. When he was old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters […] And supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” (25). Okonkwo’s self-reliance was admired, valued in the community where “age was respected […] but achievement was revered” (12); this admiration gave him feelings of security, and the respect of his peers pushed him towards greater self-respect, distancing him from his father. The security and respect became related in his mind as he viewed his acceptance in the community as his life’s goal and Okonk...
...s return to Umuofia at the end of his exile when he returns home. The white men send their a messenger to the village. Okonkwo is still enraged about Nwoye's conversion. He sprang to his feet as soon as he saw who it was. He confronted the head messenger, trembling with hate, unable to utter a word. The man was fearless and stood his ground, his four men lined up behind him. “In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. . . . Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body” (204).
As you see, Okonkwo was a deprived man after hearing about the whites expanding their beliefs and customs to Umuofia. Being unable to contain it, he had no choice but to give in. Okonkwo wanted to go to war and fight the invading Europeans, but he soon realized that he was the only one hungry for war. “I shall fight alone if I choose” (Achebe 201). Being the only one seeking for revenge, he had no choice but to behead the head messenger who was trying to end a clan meeting. Letting the other messengers escape, Okonkwo’s visual was the truth. “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war” (Achebe 205). Everything that he stood for was now distant. His once powerful and running clan was now weak and resistant to fight off enemies. What was the point to live when everything else had failed him and he could do nothing to resolve it? He struggled with the changes occurring in the tribe. He was known as a very strong and honorable tribesman, but when the whites arrived promoting Christianity and other tribe members began to change as a result, even his own son, he could not bear the change. While viewing the others as weak, like his father, he tries to remain strong against change however he is the only one. Killing the messenger was the last attempt to try and save the tribe from the influence of the white man. Seeing the others not join in his action, he loses hope and in desperation ends his life
The Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a straight to the point story, embedded with interesting elements that capture readers’ attention. In my view, when I read the story, I found many interesting things about the theme of the book. But The Masculinity Okonkwo was what captures my attention. The story opens up to a Traditional Igbo lifestyle, a theme which is highly stylized from its ritual to the actions performed for certain ceremonies. Most of the action Igbo tribe has been an attempt to show respect to the gods, for example, when ikemefuna became sick and his stomach swelled up their traditions says that he take them to the evil forest and kill him. The story also seems to focus on gender, family, respect and reputation, and religion. In fact, Gender which in Igbo tradition, sets standards and roles between Igbo women and men. Women in Igbo Culture are the weaker sex, but are endowed with qualities that make them worthy of worship, like the ability to bear children. Men in Igbo Culture are the stronger sex, which gives them the ability to provide for their family and has prowess on the battlefield. In Igbo culture, building a nice and respectable family is important and titles in their culture gives them respect and builds reputation in the ‘‘Umuofia’’ village playing a big role in Igbo tradition. Nothing plays a bigger role in Igbo tradition than religion, the ‘‘Umuofia’’ village worship the goddess of the earth are always careful to avoid committing sins of their goddess with a fear of vengeance that might wipe out an entire generation. In the story, the men of the Umuofia village seem to care a lot about masculinity, when Okonkwo is hosting a party he takes it very seriously and ...
...rgivable. The clan considered "it an abomination for a man to take his own life" (Achebe 207). Okonkwo went from being someone that his clansman respected to a stranger that no one cared about.
On his way back to the clan "He knew that he had lost his place among the nine masked spirits who administered justice in the clan. He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he was told, had gained ground. He had lost the years in which he might have taken the highest titles in the land. But some of these losses were not irreparable. He was determined that his return should be marked by his people. He would return with a flourish, and regains the seven wasted years"(171). When they return the missionaries have implemented their government system in the Igbo tribe. Most of the clan members are glad to see Okonkwo the rest have joined the missionaries. The next day remaining clan members discuss the white men belonging to the village. Okunowo claims we can 't fight them because then we would be fighting our own people, its against the Igbo religion. As a result of forming meetings of the clansmen the missionaries gained suspicion resulting in imprisoning the clansmen with a debt of two hundred cowries. Okonkwo takes his battle gear out to strike the traders"I despise him and those who listen to him. I shall fight alone if I choose”(201). He proceeds to kill all the people who had disrespected him and his fellow clansmen. This will lead to him hanging himself from the shame he bring to
...e on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart" (Achebe, 176). The village of Umuofia held to backward laws and values that "destroy innocent children" (Achebe, 146). The tribe's innocence had to die in order for those who survived to mature. Although Umuofia's peak of innocence may have been when Ikemefuna was handed over to the village, but its maturity would come through the death of Ikemefuna, the tribe's innocence, at the hands of those the tribe called "father." Things Fall Apart clearly illustrates the faults of the African system and way of life through "the series of catastrophes which end with his [Okonkwo's and Umuofia's] death" (Carroll).