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Weebly - Things Fall Apart
Weebly - Things Fall Apart
Chelsey Summerlin
Mrs. Ostwalt
English IVP
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe uses the Igbo culture to reveal his
negative perspective of American Imperialism and he brings out his views through the
tragic hero, Okonkwo, and the tragedy of change versus tradition. Several themes are
prominent throughout the novel. The novel was set in Nigeria around 1900 in the
villages of Umuofia and Mbanta, before colonization. Those themes include the Igbo
Society Complexity, the Clash of Cultures, and Destiny. All themes are related because
they all deal with human motives and emotions across cultures and time.
Today 250 tribes and more consider Nigeria their home. Nigeria is in West Africa,
just north of the equator. Nigeria covers an area of 356,669 square miles which is
equivalent to two times the size of California. The country has three main environmental
regions known as the Savanna, tropical forests, and coastal wetlands. These
environmental regions greatly impact the cultures and the people that live there. The
Niger and Benue rivers come together in the center of the country, creating a “Y” that
splits Nigeria into three isolated sections, which marks the three major ethnic group
boundaries. Politically Nigeria is separated into thirty-six different states. Nigeria has the
largest population of any African country, with almost 345 people per square mile. It is
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the most densely populated country in Africa. Nearly one-in-six Africans are Nigerian.
Nigeria’s population continues to grow at 2.6% each year. Nearly 45% are under
fourteen years old. The Igbo society makes up 18% of Nigerians. English is the official
schools. The most prominent languages of the south are Yoruba and Igbo. Prior to
colonization, these were the unifying languages of the southwest and southeast,
regardless of race. Another language used is called Pidgin, a mix of african and english,
it basically uses english words mixed with Yoruban or Igbo grammar structures. In
Nigeria, there is weak national unity among the people. The main national symbol is the
country’s flag. With three parts, the center is white and the two flanks on the outside are
green. The green stands for agriculture and the white is for unity and peace. Nigeria’s
national motto is “Peace and Unity, Strength and Progress.” In Igbo society, each village
Igbo society were Family groups, village councils, Age grades, and the Ala. In depth,
the family group is one of the most recognized institutions and the basic unit. The village
council was also known as the council of elders and it compromised the family heads in
the village. Age grades carried out the maintenance responsibilities of the community.
They took care of the peace and order, sanitation, helping out during harvesting and
enforcing laws. The Ala is another important political institution. The Igbo society is
Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani pre-colonial administration. The novel relates to the igbo
society because they were a culture on the verge of change, some conformed to the
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change while others in their culture struggled to grasp the concept of changing and
benefiting.
Problems between the colonizers and the Igbo people revolved around religion.
England thought that christianity was the one true faith and that all people should
believe in it. Many of the missionaries learned that the nigerians were satisfied with their
own spiritual beliefs and were not interested in changing them which led them to believe
that the Igbo people couldn’t be trusted. The settlers began to fear them and think of
them as evil. They failed to comprehend that the Igbo were very spiritual people with
strong beliefs in unseen powers. All native tribes had ceremonies to honor creatures
because they were all connected closely to nature. The nigerians raised crops, some
were warriors and hunters, while others were peaceful. Since the missionaries and the
Igbo were not comfortable with each other, they would react to what they saw as an
attack. Fear and failure to compromise between the two different societies was
common. Each society was trying to influence their beliefs on one another. For the Igbo,
“It was like beginning life anew without the vigor and enthusiasm of youth, like learning
to become left-handed in old age,” (Achebe). The clashing of cultures would continue as
more and more colonizers would appear. The issues in the novel were based on a
culture on the verge of change, the struggle between change and tradition, and how the
western society viewed the African society as primitive and simple. Achebe depicts
negative and positive elements of Igbo culture, and is sometimes critical of his own
A theme brought out in Things Fall Apart was Destiny. Based off of the main
self-destruction, even before the arrival of European colonizers. The arrival of a new
culture only hastened his fate. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo wasn’t a cruel man.
But his whole life he was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. It was the
fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” (Achebe) Chinua
Achebe made the protagonist of the story a static character. Okonkwo was a static
character because of his violence from beginning to end was constant. He was unable
to put communication before physical action. He had the inability to change his behavior
and emotions. “He had a slight stammer and whenever he got angry and couldn’t get
his words out quickly enough, he would use his fists.” (Achebe) Okonkwo sticks out the
most of all characters because not only is he a static character, you could also consider
failure to harmonize his family and that he needs to. He recognized that the only relief
from all his built up failures was to commit suicide. Personally, I thought of him as a
coward since all he did was drag his family down with him because of his selfishness. I
am upset that Okonkwo spent his whole life swallowed by the fear of being like his
father. I think he tried too hard and didn’t realize how bad he was until all his failures
started adding up. Then, he finally realized everything he had done to his family and his
people; the burden of himself was too much for him to handle. It is ironic that throughout
the book he tried everything to never be like his father, when in reality he turned out to
A social issue discussed in the book was Gender and the way the Igbo treated
their women. “Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said ‘This meeting is for men.’
The man who contradicted himself had no titles. That was why he had called him a
woman. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit.” (Achebe) In this quote from the novel,
you can see how they think of their women. The men acted that being called a woman
is such a terrible insult that it could “kill a man’s spirit.” Also, this behavior is still found
today with all cultures, including the Igbo society. In that time, it was important for the
men to be in control and have the upperhand. In the book quotes like these were very
common, “ No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women
and his children (especially his women) he was not really a man.” (Achebe) Reading
this novel as a girl has really opened my eyes to how masculinity is so prominent in
Okonkwo’s time. It’s crazy to think of a time that I would’ve been so mistreated just
because of my gender. In their culture, you could be looked up to at a young age, they
let their youth speak up and share their ideas instead of shooting them down because of
their age or education level, like we do today. For example, “Age was respected among
his people, but achievement was reversed. As the elders said, if a child washed his
In conclusion, the Igbo society is a complex culture with many traditions and in
this novel, Chinua Achebe mixed it up by bringing in the christian missionaries creating
the change versus tradition theme. Throughout the novel, various themes and issues
appeared and they all revolved around the Igbo people and culture. The novel included
a tragic hero, Okonkwo, who was destined for self-destruction. In my opinion, the
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protagonist was his own antagonist. He was selfish and cowardly when it came to the
way he took care of his village and family. Throughout the novel Okonkwo tried to be
the hero and stay far away from the path his father paved for him, but ended up on that
path when he was not careful. In the end, Okonkwo himself was his biggest enemy.
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Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe. Spark Publishing, 2014
profseunoyediji.wordpress.com/2014/04/06/igbo-pre-colonial-political-system-in-nigeria/
Chua, John, and Suzanne Pavlos. CliffsNotes on Things Fall Apart. 03 Oct 2017
</literature/t/things-fall-apart/book-summary>.
Inc., www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Nigeria.html.
Voa. “American History: A New World Clash of Cultures.” VOA, VOA, 5 Oct.
2012, learningenglish.voanews.com/a/1519967.html.