by Chinua Achebe
Summary:
Things Fall Apart is about the tragic fall
of the protagonist, Okonkwo, and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a
respected and influential leader within the Igbo community of Umuofia in
eastern Nigeria. He first earns personal fame and distinction, and
brings honor to his village, when he defeats Amalinze the Cat in a
wrestling contest. Okonkwo determines to gain titles for himself and
become a powerful and wealthy man in spite of his father's weaknesses.
Okonkwo's father, Unoka, was a lazy and wasteful
man. He often borrowed money and then squandered it on palm-wine and
merrymaking with friends. Consequently, his wife and children often went
hungry. Within the community, Unoka was considered a failure and a
laughingstock. He was referred to as agbala, one who resembles the weakness of a woman and has no property. Unoka died a shameful death and left numerous debts.
Okonkwo despises and resents his father's gentle
and idle ways. He resolves to overcome the shame that he feels as a
result of his father's weaknesses by being what he considers to be
"manly"; therefore, he dominates his wives and children by being
insensitive and controlling.
Because Okonkwo is a leader of his community, he
is asked to care for a young boy named Ikemefuna, who is given to the
village as a peace offering by neighboring Mbaino to avoid war with
Umuofia. Ikemefuna befriends Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, and Okonkwo becomes
inwardly fond of the boy.
Over the years, Okonkwo becomes an extremely
volatile man; he is apt to explode at the slightest provocation. He
violates the Week of Peace when he beats his youngest wife, Ojiugo,
because she went to braid her hair at a friend's house and forgot to
prepare the afternoon meal and feed her children. Later, he severely
beats and shoots a gun at his second wife, Ekwefi, because she took
leaves from his banana plant to wrap food for the Feast of the New Yam.
After the coming of the locusts, Ogbuefi Ezeuder,
the oldest man in the village, relays to Okonkwo a message from the
Oracle. The Oracle says that Ikemefuna must be killed as part of the
retribution for the Umuofian woman killed three years earlier in Mbaino.
He tells Okonkwo not to partake in the murder, but Okonkwo doesn't
listen. He feels that not participating would be a sign of weakness.
Consequently, Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna with his machete. Nwoye realizes
that his father has murdered Ikemefuna and begins to distance himself
from his father and the clansmen.
Okonkwo becomes depressed after killing
Ikemefuna, so he visits his best friend, Obierika, who disapproves of
his role in Ikemefuna's killing. Obierika says that Okonkwo's act will
upset the Earth and the earth goddess will seek revenge. After
discussing Ikemefuna's death with Obierika, Okonkwo is finally able to
sleep restfully, but he is awakened by his wife Ekwefi. Their daughter
Ezinma, whom Okonkwo is fond of, is dying. Okonkwo gathers grasses,
barks, and leaves to prepare medicine for Ezinma.
A public trial is held on the village commons.
Nine clan leaders, including Okonkwo, represent the spirits of their
ancestors. The nine clan leaders, or egwugwu, also represent the
nine villages of Umuofia. Okonkwo does not sit among the other eight
leaders, or elders, while they listen to a dispute between an estranged
husband and wife. The wife, Mgbafo, had been severely beaten by her
husband. Her brother took her back to their family's village, but her
husband wanted her back home. The egwugwu tell the husband to take wine
to his in-laws and beg his wife to come home. One elder wonders why such
a trivial dispute would come before the egwugwu.
In her role as priestess, Chielo tells Ekwefi
(Okonkwo's second wife) that Agbala (the Oracle of the Hills and Caves)
needs to see Ezinma. Although Okonkwo and Ekwefi protest, Chielo takes a
terrified Ezinma on her back and forbids anyone to follow. Chielo
carries Ezinma to all nine villages and then enters the Oracle's cave.
Ekwefi follows secretly, in spite of Chielo's admonitions, and waits at
the entrance of the Oracle. Okonkwo surprises Ekwefi by arriving at the
cave, and he also waits with her. The next morning, Chielo takes Ezinma
to Ekwefi's hut and puts her to bed.
When Ogbuefi Ezeudu dies, Okonkwo worries because
the last time that Ezeudu visited him was when he warned Okonkwo
against participating in the killing of Ikemefuna. Ezeudu was an
important leader in the village and achieved three titles of the clan's
four, a rare accomplishment. During the large funeral, Okonkwo's gun
goes off, and Ezeudu's sixteen-year-old son is killed accidentally.
Because the accidental killing of a clansman is a
crime against the earth goddess, Okonkwo and his family must be exiled
from Umuofia for seven years. The family moves to Okonkwo's mother's
native village, Mbanta. After they depart Umuofia, a group of village
men destroy Okonkwo's compound and kill his animals to cleanse the
village of Okonkwo's sin. Obierika stores Okonkwo's yams in his barn and
wonders about the old traditions of the Igbo culture.
Okonkwo is welcomed to Mbanta by his maternal
uncle, Uchendu, a village elder. He gives Okonkwo a plot of land on
which to farm and build a compound for his family. But Okonkwo is
depressed, and he blames his chi (or personal spirit) for his failure to achieve lasting greatness.
During Okonkwo's second year in exile, he
receives a visit from his best friend, Obierika, who recounts sad news
about the village of Abame: After a white man rode into the village on a
bicycle, the elders of Abame consulted their Oracle, which told them
that the white man would destroy their clan and other clans.
Consequently, the villagers killed the white man. But weeks later, a
large group of men slaughtered the villagers in retribution. The village
of Abame is now deserted.
Okonkwo and Uchendu agree that the villagers were
foolish to kill a man whom they knew nothing about. Later, Obierika
gives Okonkwo money that he received from selling Okonkwo's yams and
seed-yams, and he promises to do so until Okonkwo returns to Umuofia. Six missionaries, including one white man, arrive
in Mbanta. The white man speaks to the people about Christianity.
Okonkwo believes that the man speaks nonsense, but his son, Nwoye, is
captivated and becomes a convert of Christianity.
The Christian missionaries build a church on land
given to them by the village leaders. However, the land is a part of
the Evil Forest, and according to tradition, the villagers believe that
the missionaries will die because they built their church on cursed
land. But when nothing happens to the missionaries, the people of Mbanta
conclude that the missionaries possess extraordinary power and magic.
The first recruits of the missionaries are efulefu, the weak and
worthless men of the village. Other villagers, including a woman, soon
convert to Christianity. The missionaries then go to Umuofia and start a
school. Nwoye leaves his father's hut and moves to Umuofia so he can
attend the school.
Okonkwo's exile is over, so his family arranges
to return to Umuofia. Before leaving Mbanta, they prepare a huge feast
for Okonkwo's mother's kinsmen in appreciation of their gratitude during
Okonkwo's seven years of exile.
When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he discovers
that the village has changed during his absence. Many men have renounced
their titles and have converted to Christianity. The white men have
built a prison; they have established a government court of law, where
people are tried for breaking the white man's laws; and they also employ
natives of Umuofia. Okonkwo wonders why the Umuofians have not incited
violence to rid the village of the white man's church and oppressive
government.
Some members of the Igbo clan like the changes in
Umuofia. Mr. Brown, the white missionary, respects the Igbo traditions.
He makes an effort to learn about the Igbo culture and becomes friendly
with some of the clan leaders. He also encourages Igbo people of all
ages to get an education. Mr. Brown tells Okonkwo that Nwoye, who has
taken the name Isaac, is attending a teaching college. Nevertheless,
Okonkwo is unhappy about the changes in Umuofia.
After Mr. Brown becomes ill and is forced to
return to his homeland, Reverend James Smith becomes the new head of the
Christian church. But Reverend Smith is nothing like Mr. Brown; he is
intolerant of clan customs and is very strict.
Violence arises after Enoch, an overzealous
convert to Christianity, unmasks an egwugwu. In retaliation, the egwugwu
burn Enoch's compound and then destroy the Christian church because the
missionaries have caused the Igbo people many problems.
When the District Commissioner returns to
Umuofia, he learns about the destruction of the church and asks six
leaders of the village, including Okonkwo, to meet with him. The men are
jailed until they pay a fine of two hundred and fifty bags of cowries.
The people of Umuofia collect the money and pay the fine, and the men
are set free.
The next day at a meeting for clansmen, five
court messengers who intend to stop the gathering approach the group.
Suddenly, Okonkwo jumps forward and beheads the man in charge of the
messengers with his machete. When none of the other clansmen attempt to
stop the messengers who escape, Okonkwo realizes that they will never go
to war and that Umuofia will surrender. Everything has fallen apart for
Okonkwo; he commits suicide by hanging himself.
Analysis:
The novel portrays the hybrid nature of colonial encounter between
African and European culture and its effects. Remarkably, European
discourse works through the medium of the binaries to maintain the
dichotomies of self/other and colonizer/colonized. Furthermore, Bhabha
as a great postcolonial thinker shatters the purity of cultures and the
supremacy of one over the other to highlight cultural hybridity and
cultural difference. It is mainly
discussed how the European missionaries by imposing their culture,
language and religion over the Africans try to marginalize and destroy
the indigenous people’s traditions. Bhabha’s idea of
third space is shown through the use of Pidgin English and also the
process of hybridization is exemplified in the method of representation
changing with the coming of Europeans from narrative to satire: each
representative of a culture. It indicates that the villagers cannot
escape the pervasiveness of colonialists’ satiric reductive discourse
and finally the Umofians with all their complexity and integrity are
falling down. Moreover, Achebe believes that cultures affect each other.
Consequently, by juxtaposing the incompatible cultures of Europe and
Africa, Achebe emphasizes cultural hybridization. Although Europeans
believe that oral cultures are unable to be developed because they lack
the proper tool, namely literacy, Achebe by imbuing the European
literary form with the rhythms of African traditional life makes his own
way. He uses hybridity in his choice of European art form of novel and
skillfully decorates it with African oral traditions. Achebe by using
the narrative history of Okonkow, the protagonist, and subsequently the
Igbo attempts to compare a society before and during the coming of
Europeans and represents how they fall apart. In addition, Achebe has
used the balanced treatment in giving both the strengths and defects of
African as well as European value system.
Sources:http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/things-fall-apart/book-summary
http://www.civilica.com/EnPaper-TELT01-TELT01_320.html
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