Violence In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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n the book Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe a theme that is used is violence always leads to consequences. Okonkwo is the main character and he lives in a place called Umuofia. Umuofia holds a powerful clan that are skilled in war and has very distinct rules and ethics.Okonkwo rose from pretty much nothing, to a high position. Missionaries come into the village and change pretty much everything which leads to some crazy stuff happening. Violence towards women and unnecessary violence in general are both in depth themes. Every time someone in the book does something violent, it always has a consequence. One of the themes that refers to violence leading to consequences is violence towards women. "He walked back to his obi to await Ojiugo …show more content…

Okonkwo did have a temper and when someone made him mad Okonkwo would let them know by violence. Okonkwo almost all the time had a punishment or consequence to his violent actions. “All was silent. In the center of the crowd a boy lay in a pool of blood. It was the dead man’s sixteen-year-old-son, who with his brothers and half-brothers had been dancing the traditional farewell to their father. Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy’s heart…” (120) After Okonkwo kills the boy, he gets in a lot trouble and gets sent away from the clan to another place. Even though it was an accident it will haunt him for the rest of his life. Some things don’t happen on purpose but it was still thought of as an act of violence by the clan so that’s why he was punished and exiled. "Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body." (pg. 126) Okonkwo killed a messenger of the church and later kills himself out of guilt and sadness. His consequence was brought on by himself because he was the one that was guilty of the act. Even though no one else punished him he definitely felt bad and killed himself because he was so

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