Things Fall Apart Essay

In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a cultural clash between Ibo culture and Western culture was assessed through fictional literature. Several characters reacted to this in their unique ways, either by accepting or rejecting European beliefs. However, the character Okonkwo, a proud, strong and well respected warrior in the Igbo Society had a significant reaction to the new culture. When the new, western culture comes to Igbo society, Okonkwo, of Clan Umuofia, responds by using violence as the only choice. This decision carried dire consequences, and lead to Oknonkwo’s death. Okonkwo’s violent reaction included the hatred of Christians, the new religion had challenged everything Okonkwo had believed in. Okonkwo was a strict

Okonkwo declared that his people should not “reason like cowards” (Achebe, 159), he questions why his people have “lost the will to fight” (Achebe, 175), and declares that his people “must fight these men [Europeans] and drive them from the land.” (Achebe, 176). Okonkwo later murders a European messenger with a machete, “the messenger crouch to avoid the blow…Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his body.” Okonkwo would rather wage war instead of diplomacy, he has a warlike personality, combined with a near xenophobic hatred of European men and Christians, his reaction to new Western ideas leads him to kill missionaries and attempt to unite the clans to drive Europeans from the land. Okonkwo’s barbarism and abandonment of reason ultimately leads to Okonkwo’s self-murder, for the clans would not wage war against the

Okonkwo’s reaction did not come without consequences, the final punishment for his actions was his clan refusing to go to war and him committing suicide by hanging. A second consequence of his violent reaction was the rift he had created between himself and his family, when he attacked his son, threatening to murder him; he was stopped by his uncle, who implied that Okonkwo had become insane. Perhaps the worst consequence of Okonkwo’s actions was the fact that he not only died by suicide and his clan had forsaken him, he died a disgrace like his father. Okonkwo became a bitter exile and spent his life not trying to become like his disgraceful father, when he returned from exile, he tried to rebuild his lost reputation. Instead, in full irony, he dies with a destroyed reputation and shares his father’s fate as a disgrace to his