The Conflicts Between Europeans And Africans

Upon an initial reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it is easy to blame the demise of Okonkwo’s life and of the Umofia community on the imperialistic invasions of the white men. After all, Okonkwo seemed to be enjoying relative peace and happiness before then. He did have a few mishaps; one of them resulted in him being exiled for eight years. Nonetheless, he returned to his home town with high spirits and with prospects of increased success. However, everything has changed. The white men have brought with them a new religion and a new government. Okonkwo’s family falls apart. The men in his village lose their courage and valor; they do not offer any resistance to the white men. Consequently, Okonkwo kills

From the bad perspective of Okonkwo, he is known as the value of the igbo people, but he had accidentally shoot Ezeudu son during his father funeral, and soon died after he was shot. And later, his tribe decided to exiled him from Umuofia for 7 years because of the incident the incident and his wrong doings. Which have him, his wives and children to move away from the exiled. But luckily, Okonkwo mother family was able to help take care of him and his families through his

The scorching imagery in the aforementioned quote predicts Okonkwo’s impending doom with the missionaries’ successful imposition of Christianity in Umuofia during his absence.

The disparity between Okonkwo’s true motivations and his warped motivations lead Okonkwo to behave in ways which shocked other members of Umuofia with his apparent disregard for others, but which made sense to him as he saw weakness and Unoka in alternatives. When Ezeudu, a respected elder in Umuofia, informed Okonkwo that the village Oracle called for the killing of Okonkwo’s adopted son Ikemefuna, he asked Okonkwo not to take part. However, Okonkwo not only accompanied them,

“He had a large barn full of yams and he had three wives. And now he was going to take the Idemili title, the third highest in the land” (12). Okonkwo was a successful man in his culture and lands far beyond Umuofia. He was prideful of what he had accomplished from a very young age, his culture meant everything to him as he had made his way to the top. He had everything he ever needed, the honor, he was a warrior, and he had made it to the top from absolutely nothing that his own father did for him. Sadly, towards the end of the book, Okonkwo had broken clan rules on purpose and killed himself. “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” (Achebe 207). In this quote, it explains that Okonkwo had hung himself on the tree killing himself even though it went against everything he believed in; bravery, customs, and masculinity. Okonkwo’s personal pride was his response to the cultural collision because he was to stubborn to change his culture. He had shown resistance but also went against the clan rules. Okonkwo’s response to the colonizers shapes the meaning of the work as a whole by his suicide signifying things falling apart since it was the first time he purposely had broken the clan law. This shows that he had been struggling with any type of change in the book and finally he couldn’t adapt to any change. He was a

Once the egwugwu went to confront Mr. Smith for the killing of one of their members, Mr. Brown’s ignorance and rudeness were revealed even greater than before when he refused to leave the grounds when asked. Because of the reputation and the friendships that were built by Mr. Brown, Mr. Smith was treated with the same respect when confronted by the spirits. Unfortunately, Mr. Smith still would not go and respect the wishes of “the spirits and leaders of Umuofia” despite their kindness regarding the situation at hand. Although “Mr. Smith stood his ground… he could not save his church” (pg. 191) and the hands of the egwugwu tore apart the hard work Mr. Brown put into the church in Umuofia before having to leave both physically and

His tragic downfall truly begins when his is sent away because of an accidental murder of a boy. Okonkwo and his family are exiled from the tribe for seven years and Okonkwo is stripped of the fruits of his hard work. While he is away the white missionaries move into the village. They preach against the culture and its violent ways, causing Okonkwo to become saturated with rage. Seven years later, Okonkwo is able to return. He plans to reestablish himself and his position with the help of his family. However, Umofia is not as it once was. The white men have moved in and dismantled the tribe with their laws and government. Okonkwo wishes to fight, but the clan does not agree with his suggestion. After realizing the fate of the village, Okonkwo chooses to take his life. He would rather die than watch everything he had worked for fall apart because of weak people. His tragic flaw, a fear of weakness, is so strong it destroyed him.

Okonkwo thinks that his mother’s clan is too womanly compare to his father’s clan of Umuofia, however even when he returns to his father’s clan after the completion of his exile he is also very much out of place there also. This is due to his obsessive masculinity and also because he just cannot adapt to the changing of times. Okonkwo “had lost his place among the masked spirits in the village” in addition to that “he had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion” consequently he lost any voice he ever had and was a “stranger” in his land seeming as nobody appeared to have taken any special notice of the “warriors” return. He speaks with his friend Obierika about the strangeness of his home land saying,

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe the Igbo people encounter the “white man” who brings forward change. He brings with him the religion of Christianity to the clan. Up to this point the Igbo believed in natural spirits and their egwugwu and their oracle provided everything they need to do. The church was becoming appealing because it offered redemption from being ostracized, didn’t require the murder of others, and offered a less punishable god.

In Part I, We learn the story of his father Unoka. He was a complete bum to say the least. He never paid off any of his debts and was just a lazy man. He dies 10 years before the story sets. Okonkwo is like the complete opposite of his father. He’s a successful Yam farmer with 3 wives and is actually able to support his family. One morning, the Umoufia clan announces that one of their daughters was murdered by the Mbaino. This drives Okonkwo to go to war with the other clan. However, they give Okonkwo a peace offering, a virgin girl and a boy, a 15 year old named Ikemefuna. Okonkwo grows attached to boy. Ikemefuna becomes like a bigger brother to Nwoye, one of Okonkwo sons. To Ikemefuna, Okonkwo slowly becomes his own father.

The novel notes that “The Church had come and led many astray” (Achebe p.174). The many stemmed from all levels of hierarchy within the Igbo society. For example one of the converts included “Ogbuefi… who had taken two titles…” (Achebe p.176) which was very significant because of the level of importance that titles were regarded with within the Igbo society. One of the largest pieces of evidence from the novel comes from Obierika who describes the manner in which the cultural shift occurred. He says, “He came… with his religion… allowed him to stay” detailing the manner in which the missionaries came. The acculturation becomes apparent when Obrierika says “…he won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one” (Achebe p.176). This demonstrates the instability of the Igbo society as a result of the introduction and further influence of the Christian faith and its teachings. The Church’s followers being members of the Igbo people as well made it difficult for the Igbo people to fight back, thus debilitating the clan’s ability to function as a unit. The end result being the complete acculturation of the Christian faith leading to postcolonial times in which the Igbo culture like many of the other cultures existing at the time have been phased out due to the cultural shift.

From there he was well received by his mother’s kinsmen in Mbanta. Note that Okonkwo mother is dead and Okonkwo has not been in Mbanta years ago. Uchendu which is the kinsmen has noticed Okonkwo and his family carrying their personal items. Uchendu has not spoken the reason why Okonkwo has come until the following day and from there Okonkwo has told him the whole story on what had happened and the reason why he came to Mbanta. In his second year of exile Okonkwo has gotten a visit from his friend Obierika to tell him some things that has been going on in Umuofia. Obierika has told them that a white man has appeared in their clan with an iron horse riding on it. The elders had spoken to the white man and the white man in response has told them that they would break their Oracle, break their clan, and also spread destruction. From that point on Obierika has left and paid another visit nearly two years later but this time circumstances were less happy. Obierika has told Okonkwo that the missionaries had come to Umuofia and built a church, won a handful of converts, and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding villages. Next after hearing everything that has been happening in Umuofia about the white man and missionaries taking over places and telling the villagers that there is only one God and trying to change their view on religion. Okonkwo exile of 7 years has come to an end he is ready to go back home.

Okonkwo’s inability to change and him being at odds with his community represent how he has not made progress in understanding what is happening around him. Okonkwo’s hamartia is his reluctance to change. He believes that violence will solve the problem with the white men. This leads him to behead one of the court messengers. “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body... [Okonkwo] knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He

When he, Ikemefuna and other leaders of the tribe went to the woods to carry out the task, Okonkwo did not want the other men to think that he was weak so he cut down his own son. Okonkwo’s actions were also motivated by the fear that his whole village would become weak. After returning from his exile in Mbanta, Okonkwo realized that the Christians were taking over. Unlike the rest of his tribe he wanted to go to war with them and drive them out. Soon he realized that during his seven years in exile Umuofia had changed and no longer was feared tribe it used to be. Okonkwo continued to fight the inevitable. His actions were never able to help his village; his worst fear had come true, they had become weak. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a

Unoka was know as “agbala” which means woman or man with no title, okonkwo feared being weak like his father so he embraced his culture and traditions with zeal. He was willing to do anything and everything to show his manliness, even things that would destroy other people inside. “He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, “My father, they have killed me!” as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.” (Achebe 46). He killed a young boy who lived with him and his family for a few years and who he grown to love because he was afraid to look weak and effeminate. Okonkwo rarely showed emotion, he felt he would lose his manliness if he cared too much. He ruled his house harshly, his wives having to walk on eggshells for fear of being beat, same for his children. “Okonkwo was specially fond of Ezinma. She looked very much like her mother, who was once the village beauty. But his fondness only showed on very rare occasions.” (Achebe 31-32). Even his favorite child ezinma isn't shown much affection because of his cruel and absurd one track mind. Okonkwo’s refusal to accept change causes his life to go south and ultimately his own