Chinua Achebe- Novel, “Things Fall Apart”

Chinua Achebe- Novel, “Things Fall Apart”

This Novel has many different themes that it discusses. We look at conflict on several different levels within this book. One conflict that takes up most of the second half of the book is the struggle between traditional society of Umofia and Colonial new customs brought by the White Europens. Then you have the struggle within the clans of the Umuofia, when members of the 9 different clans turn from their traditional customs of life and adopted the new customs brought to them by the whites. Another conflict is that of one of the main characters, Okonkwo. Okonkwo has a different idea forced by his inward struggles of what a man is within his own particular village. He struggles to be different than his father who has died, who was a lazy, weak, and poor man. His desire to be the opposite of that makes him work hard to strive to be masculine, respected, wealthy, and strong no matter what the cost.

The author, Achebe shows the conflict most when they discuss the various events surrounding the arrival of the colonialist, when you really can understand the colonialism effect on both the white men and men of Umuofians. It is sadness when you see the struggle of traditional values and values that change with influence. I was personally upset about how the white men came and completely disregarded the Igbos sense of justice, and the communication barriers that make this worse as the novels goes one. This just makes it more clear, the unreasonableness of the demeaning unfamiliar customs that are forced on the Umuofian’s people.

Then more conflict arises, because of the sense of betrayal that some take on when you have their own brothers in villages that convert to Christianity and consciously and wrongly turn their backs on their “brothers”. While neither is good or bad, in matters that make it clear cut for us when reading this novel, you see the Author Achebe displays where the culture and traditions of the Igbo people are valid. So in the end, we find ourselves not blaming the villagers, but left with the ability to make us clearly think both about the colonialist disrespect for the Igbo customs and some of the clan’s members responses to the colonial pressure and presence. 

Okonkwo is one of the main characters of the book. I mentioned earlier his relationship with his lazy father is the basis of who he becomes. He wants to make his own way as far away from his father and show the true meaning of what it is to be manliness or masculine.

We see this in everything he does, If he believed that his father was lazy, poor, gentle, coward and interested in music and conversation as it suggest early in the book then I read how he wanted what was opposite from those ideals. He strives to be wealthy, thrifty, brave, violent, and opposed music and anything that would be perceived in his eye or the eyes of others as soft like emotions. 

I see him as a tragic hero, to his clan he marries three women, fathers several children, has a large compound, and but he seems to be at constant odds with the values of the community around him. He is most conflicted when compliance rather than violence is shown by his people towards the end of the book. He is no longer able to function in his changing society because of the values and beliefs that make him who he is, is not what the white man who come to live with them believe.

I think that he is a tragic hero, although from the beginning he is superior, his tragic flaw is that he has to be masculine. That results in him showing rash, anger, violence that ultimately leads to his destruction. I think he is most tragic because when he follows his daughter to make sure she is ok, when she goes with another village woman with rank, it shows deep down the tender, worried father that is inside of him that he can’t show on the exterior to anyone else. 

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