Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

"No other continent has endured such an unspeakably bizarre combination of foreign thievery and foreign goodwill." -Barbara Kingsolver. It's well known that this place has a very colorful and problematic past, mainly caused by unimaginably rich westernized countries. Sadly, the majority of the citizens of these countries, although thriving off of Africa's resources, still view the African people as 'savages'. The book, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, addresses this conflict, through the telling of an African tribe, the Ibo, and a man more headstrong than a bull, Okonkwo. Umuofia is a village in Nigeria filled with people called the Ibo who have many cultural traditions and beliefs that surround their daily lives. Okonkwo,

But his wives and children were not as strong, and so they suffered. But they dared not complain openly. Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating.” (Achebe). As the head of his household, Okonkwo is free to be a tyrant and drive his wives and children to work too hard. Okonkwo’s loathing for laziness (carried over from his hatred of his father) causes him to lash out on anyone who seems the slightest bit idle, including his own son. By abusing his young son, it seems that Okonkwo is turning father-hating into a new trend in his family. Okonkwo hated his own father, and though he is trying to do right by his own son, he’s in fact only pushing the boy away. “Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck.” (Achebe) Okonkwo repels Nwoye throughout the entire novel, however, there seems this seems to be a key turning point. Up until that point, Nwoye has been fascinated with the missionaries and their message. When Okonkwo found out, he was immediately enraged. He feels betrayal and even hurt, but because the only emotion Okonkwo allows himself to feel is anger, he threatens his own son instead. Throughout the whole novel, Okonkwo struggles with the changes taking place in his tribe. He is initially known as one of the strongest, most honorable tribesmen, but as the white man begins coming in and other tribal members begin to change as a result, particularly his own son, Okonkwo cannot handle the changes. “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo's body was dangling and they stopped dead.” (Achebe). By novel's end, Okonkwo has tried to remain strong against the tide of change, but he appears to be the only one.