Things_Fall_Apart

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe Published by Anchor books, 1994 Things Fall Apart is a story of conflict between personal family beliefs in the Igbo society and the conflict of religious, cultural and personal beliefs of the Igbo clan as well as those of the white men who later come to invade their land. Chinua Achebe realized that neither cultures were bad, they just had a difference in beliefs. Since Achebe was a product of both European and African culture, he tells the story with an understanding of both cultures and does not portray either of them in a negative way. In the Igbo society a persons success was based on their social status. To obtain a high ranking in society you must be a brave man with great wealth, many wives and many children. Okonkwo the main character in this novel sole purpose is to gain a high position in society because his father Unoka was considered to be a failure. He was a lazy man who had a great amount of debt and instead of working played the flute. ”Okonkwo was ruled by one passion-to hate everything his father Unoka had loved. One of those thing was gentleness and another was idleness”(pg.13). This is the first conflict which we see early on in the novel, the conflict between family. Okonkwo’s anger toward his father was the driving force which made him want to be and become everything his father wasn’t. We also see a conflict later on in the novel between Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. Nwoye possessed traits of Unoka such as gentleness, forgiveness and acceptance. According to Okonkwo these were signs of weakness and this angered him a great deal. “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength” (p.28). Okonkwo considered Nwoye to be lazy and wanted him to be a successful strong man like himself.”Okonkwo wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. I will not have a son who cannot hold up his head in the gathering of the clan. I would sooner strangle him with my own hands”(p.33). Aside from social status being a big part of their culture, their belief in the gods were very important to them as well. The Igbo people did not do anything without first consulting their gods. They believed that they can not go into war without their approval. They also left twins and the ill in the forest because they were seen as evil. Innocent killings were justified based on their beliefs. A good example of this is the killing of Ikemefuna. Ikemefuna was like a son to Okonkwo. He liked him very much and saw a lot of good traits in him that he felt his true son did not posses. Due to customs an religous beliefs of his people Ikemefuna was to be killed. Okonkwo even took part in the killing. He felt guily after this and even became depressed. He mad himself get rid of those feelings and reminded himself that killing someone should not bother him because he feared being seen as weak, like a “shivering woman”(p.45). Just as Okonkwo was gaining a higher status in his clan he had accidently killed another clan member during a funeral ceremony. This was seen as a crime on the earth goddess and he was banished for 7 years to live in his motherland. While Okonkwo was banished missionaries had arrived in Umofia. This was the biggest conflict within the story. The missionaries arrived and began to impose their cultural and religious ideas on the native people. They told them that their gods were false and that there is only one God the holy trinity. They began building schools and hospitals which was very beneficial to the Igbo people. Those who were not to happy with the Igbo religion and those who has a lower social ranking began to follow Christianity. Nwoye, who did not approve of leaving the supposed evil twins in the forest or the killing of Ikemefuna, was also interested in Christianity because it taught that the killing of innocent people was wrong. While this was happening Okonkwo was preparing for his return back to the village. He was expecting that his clan would be excited that their warrior leader had returned. He was surprised when he came to find that everything had changed. He didn’t believe that his people would actually believe what the missionaries taught. His people for the most part had adapted to the new way of life. Okonkwo was resistant to this change. This new religion and culture had the potential of ruining the life long work of Okonkwo to become one of the powerful elders of the clan. Like the conflict between family and between Christian and Igbo religions there is also a difference between Mr. Smith’s and Mr. Brown’s way of teaching. Mr. brown was an understanding man. He tried to understand the customs of the Igbo people, whereas, Mr. Smith was forceful and simply told the Igbo people they were wrong and condemned them for their beliefs. Things started to get worse when a convert unmasked and killed an gewgaw. To get revenge the church was burnt down and Okonkwo and other members who shared his beliefs were brought in to the commisioner and tortured. After this a town meeting was called. Okonkwo was angry and determined to fight the white men. When a messanger came to break up the meeting Okonkwo was so infuriated he killed the man. In the end Okonkwo ended up hanging himself. He could not adapt to the change and knew that his people would not fight and he was ashamed of what the Igbo society had become.” He new that Umofia would not go to war. He new because they had let the other messanger escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action”(p.205). Everything he had worked his whole life for was going to be taken away by the white man. He couldn’t deal with watching it happen. In this novel we see the clash of beliefs within ones own culture and the clash of beliefs in two very different cultures. Achebe does a good job in of telling us about peoples different beliefs. He tells us of the conflict between family the Christians and Igbos and even the characters own conflicts within themselves, without ever making us feel that any one persons beliefs are wrong.