Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

The Bible says that for everything there is a season. That means that things will change as time passes and there is no way to stop the advancement of time. This idea is clearly shown in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. This novel, set in West Africa in the late 1800s, details the violent events that occur when colonization by the white man begins and the resulting ripple effects start to spread across Nigeria. The West African protagonist is a mighty warrior named Okonkwo who has trouble accepting how his clan will never be the same after the white man’s arrival. A few other characters show strength during the chaos too. Therefore, the three strongest characters in this novel are Okonkwo, Ikemefuna, and Uchendu.

Okonkwo, the protagonist, is the first strongest character. He is the first strongest character that gets angry very quickly, but does care about his family, which makes him a tragic hero. Okonkwo was well known after he defeated Amalinze the Cat in the nine villages. “It was this man that Okonkwo threw in a fight which the old men agreed was one of the fiercest since the founder of their town engaged a spirit of the wild for seven days and nights” (Achebe 3). Okonkwo is strong to defeat

Amalinze the Cat because he was a strong warrior than anybody else in the nine village. Okonkwo earns some respects and some not because he gets angry quickly, but he does care about his family and respect to elders in the village.
Ikemefuna, surrogate son of Okonkwo, is the third strongest character. He is the third strongest character that was moved to another house from his dad because he killed Udo.
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Ikemefuna was moved to Okonkwo’s household and he was too shy to talk or help out because he knew that is not like his family, but he still hang in there. “He had became wholly absorbed into his new family. He was like elder brother to Nwoye, and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy” (52). Ikemefuna has been there for three years and forgotten about himself and he feels like he is the oldest brother to Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son. Ikemefuna had stayed strong throughout in Okonkwo’s family.
Uchendu, Okonkwo’s uncle, earned a lot of respect in his family for being a strong person.

He is the second strongest character that helps Okonkwo about something he is having problems with when coming from his fatherland. Okonkwo came from his fatherland because he kill a messenger on purpose. Uchendu explains why he came to his motherland by saying “Your duty is to comfort your wives and children and take them back to your fatherland, but if you allow sorrow to weigh you down and kill you, they will all die in exile” (134). Uchendu really helped out Okonkwo’s problems and he extends why he should not have anymore problems to help out. Uchendu’s strength is unstoppable because he helps Okonkwo so much that no one can even do the problem that he

had.
Okonkwo, Ikemefuna, and Uchendu are the three strongest characters that shows their strengths in the novel Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo is the first strongest character because he defeated Amalinze the Cat in wrestling. Ikemefuna is the second strongest character because he stayed strong throughout Okonkwo’s family. Uchendu is the third strongest character because he helped Okonkwo to support his family, so he can go back to his place where he came from. The seasons change all the time and year due to the weather, and people like us are the same because we do change by growing up.