The Role Of Ikemefuna In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Okonkwo, the fierce warrior portrayed in the book Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), is the poster child in his African clan of Umoufia. Day to day dedicated to his tribe, religion, and people. Looking into his life, Okonkwo is a very complex character with a very eventful past, shining through particularly when conscript meets his tragic fate. One event did not cause it though. Pointing the finger at the taut relationship between Okonkwo and his father, or perhaps the deep turmoil that bubbled within Okonkwo’s own family will not explain it all. Neither will his exile nor change of his beloved clan play the biggest part in correlation Okonkwo’s final act; they all play an important role. So to understand fully one must start at the beginning.

Ikemefuna was placed to stay in Okonkwo’s only temporarily; however, the patriarch began to become very fond of ikemefuna, even exerting a positive influence on Nwoye, Okonkwo begins thinking of him as his own child. “He grew rapidly like a yam in the rainy season, and was full of the sap if life,” (Achebe, 52). The day came however, the elders of Umoufia had come to an agreement that Ikemefuna had to be killed. Okonkwo was yielded not to partake in the escort it sacrafice because the boy calls him “father”; Okonkwo inevitably joins the band of warriors anyways (Achebe, 57). The cavaliers lead Ikemefuna outside of the village before ambushing him, in the scuffle Ikemefuna calls out for Okonkwo's help, and in a rush of his notorious asthenophobia, he delivers Ikemefuna’s killing blow instead. Okonkwo becomes greatly despondent in the days following ikemefuna's death, refusing to eat and nearly drinking himself to death. He pulls himself out of his loathing eventually, but the thought of Ikemefuna still lingered and latched to his mind, and from that point began the snowball effect of Okonkwo's unfortunate events, including his exile from

His funeral was held accordingly in Umoufia. Because he was a warrior his funeral was very raucous, full of dancing and ceremonial gunfire. In turn, Okonkwo's gun exploded, unintentionally killing Ezeudo’s son. According to Ibo law, Okonkwo had to leave the clan for seven years, killing a clansmen (even unintentionally) was a crime against the earth goddess. Okonkwo and his family were forced to flee to their motherland, and their remaining possessions were to be destroyed to purify the land

(Achebe, 124-125). Okonkwo became even more depressed on top of his traumatization over Ikemefuna in his motherland.He moped around and felt all of his hard work over the years had been wasted. Uchendu, Okonkwo's uncle, saw this behavior and would not stand for it. He gave Okonkwo a wise talking to, telling him he was selfish for feeling everything was lost when there were people who were suffering much more than him. It was then when Okonkwo began to build up false hope upon his vision of a great and eventful return to Umoufia. Little did he know everything had