Reading Assignment 3

Written by Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo. Okonkwo is the strongest and most beloved warrior of Umophia. He is the fabled wrestler who threw Amalinze the Cat. He passed his ill-respected father's notorious nature as being a debtor, growing to become one of the most titled man in all of the nine villages. Okonkwo's success and prestige do not last though, as the title so blatantly explains, things do begin to fall apart around him. Achebe's long revered novel has been excepted nearly world wide as one of Africa's greatest stories. I was made to read it Freshman year of High School as well as many other people I have met.

Things Fall Apart chronicles more truthfully the Ibo culture that Okonkwo grows up in, using the character of Okonkwo as the subject we most prominently see the change is this culture through. Okonkwo, being one of the greatest warriors of his land, believes very deeply in the traditions that have allowed him to reach such prestige. Due to the Ibo's strict rules on how to live one's life Okonkwo is very rigid in his manner and always stays fast to old traditions. Okonkwo also is very fast in becoming angry and is renowned for his fiery temper. It is through this very conservative person that Achebe shows the dismantling of an oral culture at the hands of a literate one. The first two-thirds of the book is set up giving us exposition on Okonkwo and the Ibo culture, showing us how steeped in tradition every little thing is in such an oral culture. The final third of the novel is where the title kicks in and things begin to go very wrong for Okonkwo. Okonkwo and his family are banished from his village due to an accident and are only able to return after seven years. In this time the white man has entered their nation and has begun to erect churches and convert the natives. This final third of the book shows the conflicts between those who wish to banish the white men and converts and between those who believe that the change is either inevitable or worthy.

Okonkwo quite obviously fights with all of his might the changes taking place in his life. These traditions that have so tightly held together his existence and have been part of his success are now being thrown by the way side. The futility of this fight is seen from the very beginning of the white man's presence. Things get worse and worse, finally culminating with our protagonist's suicide. The final paragraph of Things Fall Apart is truly harrowing. It discusses the District Commissioner's (the leading judiciary in the land) thoughts on the matter of Okonkwo's death. He quite bluntly states that he msut not show weakness to these savages in aiding the removal of a body, then goes on to pondering the notion that Okonkwo's death would make a very fun read, maybe a paragraph in length, in the book he is writing titled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. It really drives home the idea that the summarization of such a tale as Okonkwo's into some blurb style paragraph is highly unjustified. The differences between these two kinds of cultures is as apparent as night and day here. After being in this class for only three weeks I definitely have read this book in a different light than I had previously.