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Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe , Nigerian author 1958
Background
● Novel set in Nigeria during the very late part of the 19th centur y / at a time the British started their colonization of the country ● Novel was published two years before Nigeria gained independence (1960- independence) Topic of the novel: colonialism The early part of the novel takes us back to a pre-colonial era in that country We start then to have a sense of what is happening: We get to hear about the arrival of the English the British arrive in troops the military personnel / the administrative staff / social services (medics / teachers) Christian missions One of the first novels to highlight African stories , their culture… It inspired new generations of Africans to write about their own experiences. Achebe wrote his novel in English due to colonization. There were stories about Africa, but they were always written by westerners.
Since Achebe could not write in his language, he decided to Africanise the English Language :
How did he do that?
- the subject-matter: an African country
- to represent an African reality
- story told from an African perspective
- told by an African narrator
- Published by an African author
- to make use of transcripts of African words and expressions
- to make use of African proverbs and sayings By applying all these strategies, he managed to create a novel that is deeply connected to the territory and the culture that he wanted to represent Setting/ Background of Story ● Okonkwo is a young man from the Igbo tribe ● The Igbo tribe has 9 villages scattered all around South-Eastern Nigeria ● The focus of the story is on Oknokwo's village Umofia ● there are 2 villages: Umofia / Mbanta ● the period is in the late part of the 19th century , at the point when the colonial British arrived in the country and started their conquest ● We have a sense of a pre-colonial African / Igbo culture and of how this culture becomes gradually altered and destroyed by all kinds of interferences by the British ● Through the events that mark Okonkwo's life as it is narrated in the novel, readers get to understand what happened to that native culture and its people ● Main idea and theme of the novel: ○ the role of colonialism in the destruction of African native cultures
Killed the court messenger out of extreme anger without thinking of the consequences Unemotional: he blocks all of his feelings or just turns them into anger (When Ikmefuna died, he kept escaping his sad feelings. When he killed Ikmefuna, he had ignored all of his fatherly feelings towards him. He loves his daughter Ezinma a lot but he never expresses it because he sees it as a sign of weakness or femininity which he despises.
● Traditional, conservative : Sees men as superior to women and have their own important
responsibilities and if one does not take the weight of them, he thinks of them as weak, unmanly, and feminine. Believes one should follow the way of their ancestors no matter what and listen to the Gods.
● extremely hard-working, very outdoor character: loves hunting, sports, fishing, and is very
active
● Very attached to his culture, Very loyal to his tribe, brave on the battlefield: Follows
blindly without questioning the practices and rituals of his culture
● Very resourceful, A good provider to his family, self-sufficient: Did not come from a
background of wealth, built his life on his own: took care of his household as a child. When his father died he left nothing behind, so Okonkwo was left to build his entire life to avoid being poor and following his dad’s poor legacy. He struggled and found a way to plant so many yams on his own, became wealthy, found three wives, built huts for them…
● Believes in resisting oppression: sees it as a sign of weakness for people not to take action
immediately, also connects to his impulsive character. Kills himself at the end because he sees it as more honorable to die of his own hands than be tortured or killed by the British. Killed a court messenger because he would not let anyone mistreat and oppress him.
● Very responsible as a husband / father / neighbor / nephew / a clan leader / a
friend etc..
Relationship with Nowye :
● Nowye is the older son of the first wife. His relationship with Okonkwo is really
important because Okonkwo wants to pass on his legacy and manly characteristics to his
son.
● Nowye is a disappointment to his father. Nowye likes spending time with his mother
in the hut more than doing chores with his father. He is lazy and not as active as his
father which reminds Okonkwo of his father.
● The murder of Ikemefuna
● distances Nowye even more from his father. They both start acting like they are
unrelated to each other. Nowye follows his own path and becomes Christian.
Okonkwo is ashamed of him and disowns him.
Relationship with Ezinma :
● She is the daughter of Okonkwo of his second wife, Ekwefi
● Ekwefi’s only baby that survived after many miscarriages
● Ezinma has a strong personality and is considered unfeminine in African culture
● She stands up to her father, talks a lot, asks a lot of questions, and likes helping
her father with chores that boys would participate in, likes outdoor ‘boy’ activities:
hunting, fishing, sports, running
● Okonkwo loves her very much and always wishes she is a boy but he never
expresses his feelings
● Ezinma understands him like no one else. (She immediately agreed when her father told
her not to marry a certain man because she trusts him and understands him)
● She is also the mediator in a way, she connects her sister and other siblings and the
readers to Okonkwo since she emotionally understands him better than any character.
Obierika : Okonkwo’s best friend
● Okonkwo’s closest friend
● A father, has a son (Maduka) who is very good at wrestling, and a daughter that was just
getting married in the novel
● His wife once gave birth to twins and they had to give them up to be killed
Okonkwo knows Obierika sees things differently but he still loves and respects him and
he shows that by always visiting him, confiding in him, and attending his daughter’s
wedding.
What makes Okonkwo tick? / What seems to be the most important thing in his eyes? ● His own sense of himself as a MAN / as an African man / as an Igbo male ● How important for him to be seen as a real man ● he has a real obsession with this concern over MASCULINITY ○ Reason: He grew up with a father who was the opposite of how Okonkwo is right now. He is hard working: always active whether he’s growing yams, fighting, holding meetings with the village people, teaching his sons to do their chores / His father was very lazy: a ‘loafer’, did not grow yams, work in the farm or home, but played his flute all day He is a good provider: built the huts for his families, grew yams in order to be a wealthy provider / His father was always in debt: He was poor, his family never had enough food since he doesn’t grow anything and is always in debt. He is a great wrestler- hunter / his father loved to sit indoors playing the flute He is a fierce warrior on the battlefield / his father hated battles and the sight of blood He is wealthy - hard-working farmer / His father neglected going to his fields, playing the flute instead He hates music and musical instruments / His father was a talented flute player - musician - artist He is traditional and strong in his beliefs in gender roles / His father never cared about his responsibilities as a man and he is seen as an effeminate man.
○ He is suffering from a big issue / an unresolved psychological dilemma - problem - trauma that then dictates his whole character and is a major part behind all his decisions and actions ○ this is the source of traumatic feelings for Okonkwo: ○ He is scared of the possibility that he would become like his dad as he is growing up Father figures are really important for children growing up, and since his father’s legacy was poor, Okonkwo grew up to hate and feel ashamed of his father growing up. That shaped his whole personality. His father was effeminate: lazy/ idle / he does not grow yams because he does not spend much time working in his fields. He would rather sit under a tree or inside his hut, playing the flute, he likes poetry and singing. He is everything opposite of the traditional African man.. ● He likes to spend time in his compound among the women and children. Instead of being outdoors, farming / fishing / hunting / wrestling / training in using his weapons / going to war ● Unoka is not a responsible father / let his family go hungry / he would borrow money and would not pay it back = accumulated a lot of debts ● His dad does not adhere to the principles of African masculinity ● So the son becomes obsessed with the desire to always show to others that he is a real African man: physically / mentally / emotionally strong / active / hard working / a good provider to his family / competitive / skillful / ● He builds himself to become everything his father was not: and goes extreme and exaggerates He would try to emphasize the values and attitudes that he associates with such masculinity that his father lacked: ● hard work - success - leadership - aggressivity- affluence - bravery - anger -
He hated his father and despised him because he saw him as weak / lazy / effeminate / unreliable / spend-drift / basically a disgrace/ a disgrace to himself and to the family Does this behavior produce only bad or both, good and bad effects? ● It is destructive in most ways: ● It led him to kill his adoptive son with his own hand ● to have a negative influence over his son Nowye whom he mistreats just because Nowye behaves more like his grand-dad than his father which eventually leads them to being strangers to each other ● To beat up his wives and children ● To break the Week of Peace ● To look down on ANYBODY who is different from him: anybody that he could see as not being manly enough / Not physically strong / Not rich and powerful ● HE specifically despises vulnerable people like women / children / the poor etc. ● To block out any emotion other than anger and hate ● Are you sure the impact of such belief in the power of masculinity and wealth is all NEGATIVE for Okonkwo and others? ○ No, there are a few positives: ○ Because, he has managed to raise himself from a state of poverty and, through sheer hard work and strong willpower, he became wealthy so he could provide his families with a very comfortable lifestyle ○ the fact that it allowed him to rise to the highest-ranking within his village and within his tribe ○ to get titles & become one of the key clan leaders ○ To resist oppression (though not always in the best way) ○ The obsession gave him the drive to become a high achiever
Pre-theme Discussion: ● That culture is not static / it does change (which Okonkwo does not acknowledge, or opposes it) ○ the need to move on with the change ○ more changes happening under the impact of colonialism ○ The changing nature of human culture ○ The forced changes of Igbo culture under the influence of British colonialists ● Free will in the tribe is LIMITED ○ Fate vs free will ○ There are oracles that decide on behalf of the gods about what needs to be done with regard to some important events ○ They have some free will but they are also subjects of fate ○ The sacrifice of the twins ○ Ikmefuna’s sacrifice ○ Okonkwo could have exercised free will by defending Ikmefuna, by arguing with the other clan leaders about the need to leave him alone & spare his life (some free will) ○ Ikmefuna is a victim of tribal arrangements between 2 villages ○ As a pawn in this arrangement, he has no say. ○ He has NO FREE WILL ○ And HIS FATE was decided by Umofia clan leaders ○ The only way to deal with diseased people whose sickness can be contagious is to throw them in the forest to die alone ○ Free will: Okonkwo rose from poverty and built himself a completely different life than his father’s
○ Free will: Okonkwo puts in a supreme effort of skill and will to bring Ezinma,
his beloved daughter, back from the edge of death. Though she is an ogbanje
child, destined to repeat rapid cycle of death and rebirth, Okonkwo is able to
save Ezinma from her illness.
● Colonialism
● The importance & sophistication of African cultural traditions & beliefs ● Gender: Different concepts of masculinity
● The resistance to change (cultural change)
■ That culture is not static / it does change (which Okonkwo does not acknowledge, or opposes it) ■ more changes happening under the impact of colonialism ■ The changing nature of human culture
The position of women within a traditional tribal setting
○ Women have an inferior status in comparison to men ○ the mistreatment of women is prevalent throughout the novel ○ Key word: mistreatment ○ actual treatment of women as described in the novel ○ They are confined to domestic chores / Their agricultural activities tend to support men's farming work / They have no voice within the tribe's discussions / They get beaten up by their husbands (expected/usual)/ They are expected to do as they are told (obey) ○ Examples of exceptions (where women did not behave as expected) ■ Ojiugo standing her ground with Okonkwo when he scolded her over her delay in preparing dinner ■ Ezinma does also stand her ground with her father, telling him off when he is being unfair ■ Ezinma does not keep to the norms of behavior expected of girls in African tribal culture ● Being kind of 'boyish' / spending time outdoors / doing things associated with boys like running - sports etc,. ■ Ekwefi dared to leave her husband to run off and marry Okonkwo
■ The example of Chielo who is a priestess , a role that gives her a lot of power and prestige ○ Women are treated as inferior to men however the way they are treated and seen by Okonkwo contradicts their position and their roles in Igbo culture and African culture as a whole: ■ Igbo tribe has goddesses and priestesses that play such a vital role in the culture ● Chielo is an ordinary woman and mother but when she takes her role as a priestess she must be respected and obeyed. (When she had to take Ezinma from her parents, Okonkwo had to listen to her and obey her orders by giving his daughter up to her) ● Agbala, the oracle of the hills and the cave, has a very strong position in Igbo society. She is feared and respected. She influences all aspects of Umofian life, therefore the land is associated with women and the female principle. ● The importance of women and the dominance of the female principle is always highlighted in the number of villages under the Igbo tribe being nine. It is a number associated with women and their nine months of child-bearing. That is also connected with the crucial role of women as mothers in Igbo society. The raising of children, passing on the traditions, morals, and beliefs of their culture, and teaching children are all women’s responsibilities. Essentially, African society is dependent on women on shaping the characters of African men. That is why Nowye, Ezinma, and the other kids would sit around with their mother at a young age. The women have the responsibility of educating their children about important morals through stories and allegories. ● They also bring about balance and peace to African society. While men tend to be more aggressive and rugged, women balance them out with their softer nature, understanding, and peace. Okonkwo’s uncle referred to the mother as supreme because she is the everlasting
■ rituals: human sacrifice / celebration of the ancestors the egwugwu ■ The novel shows that Igbo culture is rather complex and Umuofia society follows a social organization that is sophisticated and complex (unlike how the Europeans perceived them: as animals with no structure, organization, or civilization… ) ■ The English wanted to civilize the natives because they believed that the Africans had no civilization ■ CULTURE ■ The English believed their duty was to bring CULTURE to people they saw as having NO CULTURE ■ They introduced CHRISTIANITY through the use of missionaries ■ and gradually villagers , especially among the young, started to embrace the new religion ■ A very important cultural change ■ They opened schools to teach the natives the English language ■ They built hospitals /people would not go now to the tribal medicine man but to the English medic in the hospital ■ They introduced the British legal system to the Africans: ■ They imposed political rule on the natives & made them submit to English authority represented by the District Commissioner ■ These cultural changes led to a conflict between the British and the African natives across all the villages that are part of the Igbo Tribe ■ Examples of this conflict: ■ The Christianization led to problems: the young converts turned against their own religion and cultural traditions ■ Enoch destroyed a religious ritual when he tried to forcibly remove a mask from an egwugwu ■ An extremely serious offense against the beliefs of his people ■ Nwoye became Christian and turned his back on his family and his father
■ The village leaders were punished by the District Commissioner for burning down the Church / they were thrown in prison / beaten / humiliated ■ The burning of the Church itself happened as a manifestation of the natives ' rejection of Christianization ■ religious/cultural conflict ■ political conflict: When people of Abame were all killed for trying to defend their village ■ Some changes had positive consequences: ■ Introducing schools / building hospitals / building roads / introducing modern technologies / ■ But there are some positive aspects to a few cultural/religious changes: no more human sacrifice / no more killing of newborn twins / no more discarding of diseased people / no more burning of fields and property to punish a clansman who would have offended the gods by his actions ■ Many cultural changes introduced through colonial conflict had a negative impact. ■ The destruction of native Igbo cultural traditions / values / cultural identities were a negative outcome of colonial impositions ■ But overall some positive changes did take place ■ Okonkwo needed to be more flexible and embrace change while still resisting colonialism overall as an oppressive force (but taking the few positive things introduced by the British) ■ O. needed also to accept the changes that were affecting gender roles: be more like Obierika ■ Stop seeing women as inferior to him ■ Or feel the need to be physically strong and use violence in his interactions with others
■ Locusts invasion symbolizes that of the Europeans, which also has both positive and negative aspects ■ Negative ■ Locusts come in enormous groups like the European colonists. They come in a whole batch of military men, missionary men, medics, and administrators ■ Similar to the locusts, the Europans start to appear in a smaller swarm to survey the land, then they would proceed to bring their larger groups to completely take over. Exactly like the arrival of the locusts. ■ The locusts take over the entire land, covering everything with their presence and their influence, the colonists are exactly the same, they take up every aspect of the land that is not theirs. They interfere with the natives’ culture, religion, and justice system. ■ The locusts eat up all the farmlands, all the plants, the work and effort the Africans put into their fields, they completely demolish that, just like what the Europeans did to the culture and civilization the Africans had. They demolish their culture, lifestyles, traditions, language, religion… They destroy everything in their passage ■ The locusts see all of the vegetation the Africans worked hard for as something for their gain , they do not care about how their influence would affect the natives, similar to the Europeans, they selfishly take up the land without valuing the peoples’ lives for more power and a greater European influence. They obliterate the cultural identity of the African tribes, giving them little to no power over their own land. The locusts, in the same way, tear down all of the hard work the Africans put into their lands. ■ The destructiveness of the locusts symbolizes the destructiveness of the colonizers. ■ Positive ■ The locusts provide really good nutrition and the village people enjoy eating them which symbolizes the positive aspects of the Europeans’ colonization. The
hospitals, justice system, and schools they built had some good provisions for the natives. Brought trading stores that allowed more money to flow into Umuofia. (strengthened the economy) ■ It benefited the health and well-being of the natives in some ways. Schools allowed them to read and write. The justice system and religion had some positives like stopping some harmful customs such as human sacrifices, the treatment of diseased people, and the killing of the twins…
○ Yams
■ Identification: yams are crucial and very beneficial crops in the African tribes. Every man in the family needs to grow yams because it is the best source of income and food. Selling yams provides a good amount of money. It could also make someone extremely wealthy if they grew a lot of it. It was usually grown by men because it is harder to handle, must be given constant attention, and requires hard work. A stable diet, it is the cornerstone of Igbo diet and culture. ■ Yams as a symbol represent wealth / man crop / hard work-effort / livelihood / sturdiness - ruggedness / reliability / strength / vitality ■ Man's crop: it requires hard work / therefore it could symbolically suggest manhood in the African tribes. ■ Other values come to re-enforce this symbolic value: it does not just require hard work when it is being planted ■ This specific symbolic value is due to its appearance: rough - rugged - dark outer skin ■ As African traditional men are supposed to look like / and to be ■ The fact that it is exclusively planted & harvested by men due to the sheer amount of work it requires would definitely give it gendered associations , linking it in people's minds with masculinity (of the African type well represented in the novel) ■ The farmers, if they work hard enough like Oknonko, could make great harvests and have more yams than is necessary to feed their families
