Things

fall Chinua Achebe

apart
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 Main Characters
Okonkwo (the protagonist) .He is a supercilious, sardonic and ardent clan leader in the village of Umofia. In
Chapter 1, we can see that he was very humiliated of his father, who was an insolvent, effeminate loafer
with a predilection for playing his flute. Hence, he abhorred being like his father . He was also a famous
wrestler who defeated Amalinze the Cat (the wrestler who was unbeaten for seven years, from Umofia to
Mbaino.). This, as well as the valour of fighting in wars, attributed to his attainment of a high echelon in
the clan. This opulence could support his big family. His demeanour is rash and flinty since he didn’t wish
to be as effeminate as his father. He also expressed abomination to the English people and wanted to have
an insurgency. In the end, he committed suicide by hanging himself after murdering an English head
messenger.

Nwoye : He is Okonkwo’s eldest son. Okonkwo often flail Nwoye because he was effeminate and idle.
When the teenager Ikemefuna came to live in Okonkwo’s village for three years, Nwoye became
precocious and masculine since he acted as an avuncular brother. Nwoye’s development pleased
Okonkwo. However, Nwoye was attracted to Christianity and was converted into a Christian in the latter
story. This infuriated Okonkwo and he believed that Nwoye was as weak as his father.

Ezinma She is the daughther of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi (the other children had been afflicted
with a disease which induced an early death. They are dubbed as ogbanje children). As the only one of
Ekwefi’s ten children to survive past infancy, Ekwefi adored Ezinma very much. Ezinma calls her mother by
her name, which was whimsical. Ezinma was also Okonkwo’s favorite child as she understood him better
than any of his other children. Okonkwo wished (many times) that Ezinma were a boy because she would
have been his perfect son.
Ikemefuna He was a boy given to Okonkwo to take care of because of the ultimatum passed from his
village Umofia to Mbaino. Ikemefuna dwelled in the hut of Okonkwo’s first wife. He and Okonkwo’s son
Nwoye became close friends. Ikemefuna even called Okonkwo his ‘father’. However, he did not live long as
he was killed because of the superstitious warning given from Ogbuefi Ezeudu, the oldest man in Umofia.

Mr. Brown He is the first missionary from England to set foot on Umofia. He was unaggressive and
cordial. He also became friends with illustrious clansmen because of his charisma and built a school and a
hospital in Umuofia. Unlike Reverend Smith, he respectfully attempted to proselytize the Ibo people
rather than harshly imposing Christianity.

Reverend James Smith He was the missionary who replaced Mr. Brown. Unlike Mr. Brown, Reverend was
very regimented. He demanded that his converts renounce their indigenous faith, and he showed no respect
for the indigenous customs or culture. He was greatly despised by the people who had not been converted
to Christians.

Obierika He was Okonkwo’s best friend. Obierika cared very much for Okonkwo during the exile, selling
Okonkwo’s yams to ensure that Okonkwo won’t be enmeshed in financial difficulties in Mbanta, his
motherland,and comforting Okonkwo when he was depressed.

Chielo
The priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. She had a persona evident during the night when
she ordained Ezinma to go with her to meet Agbala at once arbitrarily. While en route to the shrine, Chielo
spoke a priestly argot, praising Agbala. She didn’t feel fatigued with Ezinma on her back. She might be
possessed by a spirit. When she was not, she would return to normalcy.
 Setting • What:
• When: 19th century: •

•Where:
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• Who:
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 Brief Summary
Okonkwo had an unwavering steely character, except at the ultimate part of a
profane and opprobrious act of suicide where he succumbed to weakness and
disappointment. He was a wrestler so stalwart that he beaten the once unrivalled
Amalinze the Cat, plummeting him to eminence. He was an industrious farmer, a
valourous warrior and had garnered two titles and respect from the citizens. However,
one anathema was his father named Okoye. Okoye was such a disgraceful man of no
titles. He was insolvent and idle. His only penchant was playing the flute. In the end,
Okoye was burried in the Evil Forest since he had abrasions – a sin against the Earth
deity. Hence Okonkwo refrained from being effeminate and indolent just like his
father. He abhorred everything Okoye loved. He became puritanical to everyone,
including his family.
A fifteen- year old teenager named Ikemefuna was under Okonkwo’s tutelage and
stayed in his village for three years because of the ultimatum. At first, his eldest
son Nwoye was primarily lazy and he often had to whack him. Ikemefuna acted as an
avuncular brother to Nwoye, and he was influenced to be more masculine and
hardworking. Ikemefuna even called Okonkwo his father.
When the elders decided that Ikemefuna must be killed, Ogbuefi exhorted Okonkwo
not to execute him for it was veritably killing his own son. However, Okonkwo did not
want to be compassionate as it was a sign of weakness and helped to kill him. After
Ikemefuna’s death, he had no appetite to eat in the interim.
Then there was another calamity. The elderly leader Ezeudo had passed away and a
funeral was arranged. Unexpectedly, Okonkwo killed Ezeudo’s son by his gun. It was
indubitably fortuitous, so he and his family had to be exiled as a punishment.
…Continued
 Okonkwo’s compound became a conflagration and his animals slaughtered to
cleanse the land polluted with the blood of a kinsmen. Not long after, a
group of white men settled in Umofia where they built a church. They
introduced Christianity and attempted to build a good relationship with the
Ibo people. They also proselytized them to convert into Christians, saying
that their worshipping to made-up Gods of stone and wood was useless. The
missionaries claimed that there is only one God.
As the number of converts accrued, a new White government was established
in Umofia. When Okonkwo returned to Umfofia, he perceived that his village
was wholly catalyzed. He was livid when his son Nwoye had became a
Christian. He and the other tribal leaders conspired to burn a local church
and blaspheme. They were arrested and put on ransom. They were released as
soon as the fee was compensated.
The people of Umofia met again at the marketplace to plan for an
insurgency/mutiny against the white people. The messengers of the white
government ordered them to stop the meeting. Okonkwo killed the head
messenger with his machete but was disillusioned when the other Ibo people
did not chase the escaping messengers. He felt that the Ibo culture was
effete and there was nothing left to do.
Okonkwo hanged himself in his house in the end. His stature was
pulverized.
Climax

’
Outcomes of main characters

Okonkwo-

Nwoye-

‘’

’’
Originality Of Ideas
•What’s
stereotypical…
•It’s a primeval kind of setting with a
secluded group of people who had no
inkling of other cultures except of their
own. That was not anachronistic since
people had not discovered new places
around the Earth with inexpedient
technology in the past.
•The villagers were fastidious in religious
rituals and decorum (offering kola nuts to
visitors and palm-wine). As we know,
people have different cultures and
ideologies.
•They also worshipped nature objects like
trees and rivers just like the Indus people.
•Colonials were always ethnocentrically
biased. They coerced people of different
cultures to adopt their culture.
•What’s new…
The Oral Tradition
The language of the Ibo is filled with word pictures.
The phrase "Looking at a King’s Mouth, one would
think he never sucked at his mother’s breast" was used
by a sage to describe Okonkwo’s hardness of heart and
his ability to "kill a man’s spirit". (p.28) In Okonkwo’s
weaken condition, shortly after killing Ikemefuna, the
author tells us he felt like a drunken giant walking
with the limbs of a mosquito. They have a language
filled with tropes.
Chi
Since Igbo people did not construct a rigid and closed
argued system of thought to explain the universe and
the place of man in it, preferring the metaphor of myth
and poetry, anyone seeking insight into their world
must seek it along their way. Achebe has explained the
Igbo concept of “chi” in an essay: each individual has a
chi, a “spirit being” parallel to his physical being.
Thus, the concept of “chi” also entails a necessary
duality in the world – “wherever something stands,
something else will stand beside it.”
 Colonial forces take over the
political and cultural beliefs
and customs of the region,
and Okonkwo, a man rooted in
Things Fall Apart follows Okonkwo, a village leader who
the traditions of the past, feels
becomes one of the most powerful men in Umuofia, his
lost. Instead of portraying the
ancestral village. As Okonkwo strives to rise from obscurity to
British empire as the enemy
importance, he embodies the traditions that his village requires
and the villagers as the
of him. Even though Okonkwo faces hardship throughout the
heroes, Achebe puts these
novel, Achebe shows us that the cultural expectations and
political changes within their
beliefs of this region are complex and difficult to understand,
historical context; it becomes
but more powerful than the Western world portrays it,
clear that the events take
especially in 1958.
place at the height of Victorian
Okonkwo's rise to a powerful position in Umuofia also reveals
Britain, and the fervor
the struggles of a man torn apart by a multiplicity of emotions,
surrounding the Colonial
and Okonkwo faces these throughout the novel. At one point,
government becomes a fact
Okonkwo breaks the customs of Umuofia, and Okonkwo and his
that Okonkwo must face. By
family are exiled from the village for seven years. Okonkwo is
showing the nuances and
forced to start over, and he does so, building his power and
multiple customs and
manhood back.
traditions that Okonkwo knew
Achebe's novel takes an interesting turn when Okonkwo returns
as a young man, Achebe
to Umuofia, and he finds a village changed by outside forces.
shows how difficult it is for
British missionaries have set up a Christian church in the village,
Okonkwo to face these outside
and are trying to convert the villagers to Christianity. While
forces.
many of the villagers convert to the new religion,
The End

Copyrighted © Dante Newton

2011