Things Fall Apart is a novel by Chinua Achebe in which Okonkwo, an Igbo man, struggles to adapt as his village is overrun by missionaries.
- Okonkwo is given charge of a boy named Ikemefuna, whom he views as a son. When an oracle declares that Ikemefuna must die, Okonkwo kills the boy himself so he won’t appear weak.
- Okonkwo is exiled after he accidentally kills another villager.
- Okonkwo returns seven years later only to find his village plagued by missionaries.
- Okonkwo tries to drive off the missionaries, but he receives little support from other villagers.
- Okonkwo hangs himself, a shameful act in Igbo culture.
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Summary
Part 1 introduces readers to the main character, the Igbo warrior Okonkwo, who lives in Nigeria in the 1890s. Okonkwo is the son of a lazy debtor, Unoka, who was irresponsible and seemed to never work. Embarrassed by his bad heritage, Okonkwo sets out to become a great man, winning early fame as a wrestler by throwing Amalinze the Cat. On the strength of this fame, he’s able to borrow seeds from a man named Nwakibie in order to start a farm.
After years of hardship, he’s able to pay his debt and become a wealthy farmer with several barns full of yams (a sign of great social status). In the process, he also marries three wives, who bear him many children, including Nwoye, his eldest son, and Ezinma, his favorite, whom he often wishes were a boy.
In recognition of Okonkwo’s great wealth and status, he’s charged with the care of a prisoner of war, a young boy named Ikemefuna who was sacrificed by his home village of Mbaino so they might avoid war with Umuofia, Okonkwo’s clan, after men from Mbaino slaughtered one of the daughters of Umuofia. Unsurprisingly, Ikemefuna is afraid of Okonkwo at first, because the man is curt and violent and often acts rashly, spurred on by his extraordinary arrogance; but with time, the boy begins to think of Okonkwo as his father, and though Okonkwo won’t show it, he feels great affection for his charge—more so than for his own son, whom he considers weak.
One day, Okonkwo’s youngest wife goes to her friend’s house to plait her hair and doesn’t return in time to make the afternoon meal. Okonkwo beats her, but because it is the Week of Peace, he’s punished for this, because his tribesmen fear that his actions will anger the earth goddess Ani and lead to trouble in Umuofia. He’s required to repent by giving a tribute to the goddess. Soon after, during the Feast of the New Yam, Okonkwo is again driven to anger by his youngest wife when, after witnessing his poor shooting, she makes a snide remark about his pistol, of which he’s very proud. He shoots at her, but misses. The Feast continues, and Okonkwo and his wives all enjoy watching the ceremonial wrestling matches.
Locusts appear in the village. They appear to be a good omen, at first. People roast the locusts to eat as a delicacy, but their arrival portends the death of Ikemefuna, which has been decreed by an Oracle. Okonkwo and several men from Umuofia agree to lead Ikemefuna away from the village on the pretense of taking him back to Mbaino. On the way, the men try to kill Ikemefuna. Scared, the boy turns to Okonkwo, calling him father, but Okonkwo strikes him down, afraid of seeming weak. He’s understandably upset by this, and the elders question his actions. He’s able to help his friend Obierika negotiate his daughter’s bride price, but soon after, Ezinma grows gravely ill, and a medicine man must be called to heal her. This contributes to Okonkwo’s downward spiral.
Following incidents where the fate of an abused wife is determined by Umuofia’s spirit ancestors and Okonkwo’s daughter Ezinma is roused from her sleep by Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, the village gathers to celebrate the day of Obierika’s daughter’s uri, when her suitor brings palm wine for her parents and the other villagers. The joyous occasion is immediately followed by a somber one: the funeral of Ogbuefi Ezeudu, the oldest man in their village. During the funeral, guns are fired in Ezeudu’s honor. Okonkwo’s gun, however, explodes, and the shrapnel pierces the heart of Ezeudu’s son and kills him. Okonkwo is subsequently banished to his mother’s village of Mbanta for seven years.
In his mother’s village of Mbanta, Okonkwo is given some land and yam seeds in order to build a new farm and compound. He’s well received in the village, but he falls into despair, so one of the elders has to explain to him that his suffering isn’t nearly so terrible as those who are exiled from their villages forever or who bear sets of twins, who are left to die in the Evil Forest because the villagers think that twins are like demons. In his second year of exile, his friend Obierika comes to visit, bringing him stories of how white men on “iron horses” (bicycles) came to their village. Because the Oracle said the white men were evil locusts come to destroy them, the villagers killed the white man, and the man’s friends killed a clan called Abame. The visit ends with Obierika giving Okonkwo some of the money from the sale of his yams and yam seeds, which would have rotted in Umuofia had Obierika not sold them.
Two years later, Obierika again visits Okonkwo, this time to talk about his eldest son, Nwoye, who has joined the Christian missionaries. Okonkwo had disowned Nwoye because of this and had grown to hate the missionaries intensely because they offended the Igbo gods. He and some of the other men in the village had given the missionaries part of the Evil Forest to build a church and some huts, thinking that the Evil Forest would destroy them, but the missionaries were never harmed by the gods, and they were able to convert Nwoye to their cause. However, when one of the missionaries kills a sacred python, tensions between the two groups heighten, and the men of the village consider taking action against the missionaries. Then, when the man supposed to have killed the python takes ill and dies, the villagers think the gods have spoken and decide to not retaliate. Soon after, Okonkwo invites the great men of Mbanta to an enormous feast.
Part 3 opens with Okonkwo planning a glorious return to Umuofia. He has convinced Ezinma, who has been dubbed the “Crystal of Beauty” in Mbanta, to refuse offers of marriage until their family returns to Umuofia. However, when the exile ends, Okonkwo is disappointed to learn that the missionaries have built a church in his village, where white men have imposed their foreign form of government on the villagers. Mr. Brown, a kind Christian man who preached compromise and peace with the villagers, is replaced by Mr. Smith, who takes a more aggressive approach. Upset by the changes that have taken place in Umuofia, the egwugwu burn the white men’s church to the ground. The group’s leaders, including Okonkwo, are subsequently arrested and humiliated by a group of court messengers, who demand payment to set the warriors free.
Without the support of the villagers, Okonkwo decides to take matters into his own hands. After he kills the head messenger, he hangs himself in his compound. Suicide is an abomination in his culture, and the men in his village are not allowed to cut him down or even to touch his body. A white man has to cut him down under orders from the district commissioner, who arrived at the compound intending to arrest Okonkwo. The commissioner then leaves, thinking of the book that he’ll write about this country and of the interesting paragraph that Okonkwo’s story will make.
Question And Answer
In Things Fall Apart, why does Okonkwo commit suicide and what is the final message of this work?
Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is a novel by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe. It details life in southeast Nigeria prior to and in the aftermath of the arrival of white European colonists in... Read It
What is the moral lesson of Things Fall Apart?
The novel's protagonist, Okonkwo, epitomizes what we would now call toxic masculinity. As he has antiquated ideas when it comes to gender roles, Okonkwo firmly believes that men should be powerful,... Read It
Compare and contrast Okonkwo and his father in Things Fall Apart.
Unoka and his son Okonkwo appear to be polar opposites. Unoka was an ineffectual, dreamy man who achieved little. He loved music and drinking, was poor and lazy, took no titles, and died heavily in... Read It
What are the major lessons in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart?
The lessons of Things Fall Apart are not generally uplifting or optimistic. It is, after all, a book about the degeneration and destruction of a society. One of its grimmest lessons is that force,... Read It
The Pacification Of The Primitive Tribes Of The Lower Niger
In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the District Commissioner is the reigning symbol of Western imperialism, an ignorant, condescending administrator who is brought to the area to mete out... Read It
What is the importance of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves in Things Fall Apart?
In Umuofia, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves is also revered for her clairvoyance or supernatural insight into the future. She is a kind of prophet, foretelling what Umuofia's future will... Read It
What does "those whose palm-kernels were cracked by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble" mean?
As was mentioned in the previous post, Okonkwo had recently called a man with no titles a woman during a meeting. Okonkwo's callous nature and harsh response upset the other elders at the meeting.... Read It
What are some differences and similarities between Nwoye and Okonkwo?
Okonkwo and his son Nwoye have very few similarities, and they are all superficial. We could say that their similarities include being part of the same family, tribe, and village. The only other... Read It
What causes the downfall of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart?
The story of Things Fall Apart comes closer to Aristotle's definition of tragedy than most of the extant Greek tragedies do. In many ways, Okonkwo resembles Oedipus, a great man, respected by those... Read It
What is the conclusion of Things Fall Apart?
Things Fall Apart is an appropriate title because of how well it applies to Okonkwo, his life, and his Igbo culture. When readers first meet Okonkwo, the novel's protagonist, they see a self-made...Read It
Justify the title Things Fall Apart in relation to the text. How is it related to the protagonist and notions of...
The title of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was taken from a poem by W. B. Yeats called "The Second Coming." The specific lines it references are: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;... Read It
What did Okonkwo name the two children he had that were born in Mbanta?
Okonkwo makes some very interesting choices when it comes time for him to name the two children he sires in his time in exile in Mbanta. First, it is important to note that Mbanta is his mother's... Read It
Why is Okonkwo's exile ironic in Things Fall Apart?
Okonkwo's exile is ironic in that Okonkwo leaves and everything in his village changes. While Okonkwo is away, the white man comes in and begins converting more men from Umuofia to Christianity. It... Read It
Who are the egwugwu in real life (reference from Things Fall Apart)?
The egwugwu are masked dancers that represent the nine ancestral spirits of Umuofia. These masked ancestral spirits are enigmatic in nature and comprise of nine revered village elders, who... Read It