Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart
Every society that aims to prosper must have systems that support itself and the members of the society. Such systems must be closely intertwined together to create a formidable bond that will last the test of time. Chinua Achebe in the novel, Things Fall Apart sets out to expose how failure to believe in your customs and culture can lead to not only your downfall but also that of your society. He uses the main protagonist Okonkwo to elaborate this intricate concept of lack of self- acceptance and belief.
While the rest of other young men still look up to their parents to provide for them, Okonkwo sets out to fend for himself and also take care of his parents. He particularly doesn’t want to be like his father who would spend all his wealth on palm-wine. He has a huge fear of ending up like his father. Okonkwo becomes extremely unhappy with his tribe’s lack of strong will in fighting the whites. This way, Chinua Achebe manages to persuade his people that self-pity and laziness will only bring more misery. Everyone should work hard to earn a living in whichever means possible.
Okonkwo visits Nwakibie to ask for some yam seeds to plant. Chinua depicts him as a hardworking man who is quite determined to fend for his family, unlike his lazy age mates. Okonkwo while talking to Nwakibie tells him, “I have cleared a farm but have no yams to sow. I know what it is to ask a man to trust another with his yams, especially these days when young men are afraid of hard work.

I am not afraid of work” (Lawall 2429)
Chinua Achebe uses Okonkwo to depict how his society has failed to cope with the evolution of the tribe and how its own abasement that follows leads to things falling apart. He can’t accept the role the missionaries have played in shaping his village but only focuses on his own achievement. He seems to be running away from the reality. By Okonkwo later hanging himself after he kills a messenger and the others are let free, Achebe portrays the Igbo society as unwilling to adapt and this inevitably leads to the collapse of the society. Just remaining rigid will only lead to self-destruction.
Okonkwo is much concerned by how the whites mistreat them rather than what good things they can borrow from these colonialists. They remain abused by how they respond to the challenges that arise due to the coming of the white man.
The Igbo society is one that is bound by many factors ranging from political, social, cultural and religious. These factors bring joy to many of the society members as they live in harmony. Things, however, change when the white man arrives. Despite the first white man being killed and his metal horse- his bicycle tied to a horse, the problems of Umuofia villagers do not end. Mr. Brown, also a white man arrives and sets out to convert many of these villagers into Christianity. As Obierika rightly observes, the white man is helped by his fellow black Igbo men and this becomes very difficult for them. They realize that the white man has centered his efforts on the things that bind these villagers of Umuofia together.
The main thing the white man begins with is to attack their religion and disregard their gods of Amadiora as dead and powerless. This way, a doubt is cast on the power of their gods and existing superstition. The villagers give the white men part of the Evil Forest hoping that if they venture into it, they will be dead after the fourth day. This, however, doesn’t happen to make more people start believing the white men’s religion as powerful. Even the son of Okonkwo, Nwoye, is converted to the dislike of his father.
The white man doesn’t stop at this point. “But apart the church, the white man also comes with a government” (Lawall 2493). This government threatens the existing forms of the power structure where excellent wrestlers like Okonkwo always had their say. The people who offend the white man are arrested and detained. Okonkwo hopes that his villagers will gang up to attack the white man but it never happens. He sadly realizes that the white man has put a sword to the things that bind them together as Obierika says.
The white man also brings a trade center where the villagers can trade their palm wine and other local products. This earns them huge profits and the Umuofia people begin to like the white man except for Okonkwo. Their unity is at the point of falling apart. Their own villagers now help the white man to not only spread his religion but have joined his ranks. Devastations set in. As the culture of the Igbo collapse, so does the pride of Okonkwo. He feels his community has lost the fight. Obierika notes sadly that “Our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger. They have joined his religion and they help uphold his government” (Lawall 2494).
Work Cited
Lawall, Sarah. The Norton Anthropology of Western Literature. (8th Ed.) New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2006. Print.