Chapter Three :

The Image of Africa and Africans

in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

3.1.Introduction :

The European stereotype about the previously colonised nations was faced by the image that

the writers of these later give in postcolonial literature. Writers as Chinua Achebe and Wole

Soyinka fromNigeria, Salman Rushdie and Arundhati Roy from India, Derek Walcott from the

Caribbean, Seamus Heaney from Ireland, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje from

Canada, Peter Carey and Patrick White from Australia, and J. M.Coetzee and Nadine

Gordimer from South Africahad, throughout the second half of the twentieth century, gave

another image to their peoples voicing their situations and mindset. Chinua Achebe’s Things

Fall Apart by which Achebe replies on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness are two of the

most novels on which lights are shed.

3.2. The portrayal of Africa and Africans in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall

Apart :

3.2.1. The Igbo society: a typical traditional community

Things Fall Apart gives a very clear picture of the Igbo society by the end of the nineteenth

century. It describes the style of life of a clan which enjoys living its traditions.Through the

rituals, the life of the community and that of the individual are placed and arranged in relation

to each other. The meeting of the villagers represent one of the most characteristic features of

the novel and a tie that relate the life of the one to that of the hole. The rituals played the role

of the vehicle by which the community expresses its concerns and hopes. The coming of the

masquerader who impersonates one of the ancestral spirits of the village or the egwugwuis an
example which best impersonate this (Carroll 32), as it is clear in many successful scenes like

the following:

And then the egwugwu appeared. The women and children setup a great shout and

took to their heels. It was instinctive. Awoman fled as soon as an egwugwu came

in sight. And when, ason that day, nine of the greatest masked spirits in the clan

cameout together it was a terrifying spectacle. Even Mgbago tookto her heels and

had to be restrained by her brothers. (qtd. in Carroll 32)

As a part of the African local colour, the lives of the individual and the community intersect

with each other in the meetings of the villagers.

This intersection, however, involves the subordination of the one to the whole. That is to say,

it is obliged for the individual to cooperate within the circle of the community. At an early

time of the one’s age, the Igbo society have a great influence on his behaviours and on his

moral values. It insists upon the obligation of accepting the superior forces and surrendering

to the will and the authority of the elders of the land who, by themselves, surrender to the

rules of previous rulers. Okonkwo is a careful, thorough, and extremely attentive to the details

of obeying society, yet, he finds himself in crossroads when it comes to his own interest. A

typical example of this is when the Priestess of Agbala, Chielo, comes to Okonkwo and

demands to take Ezinma for Agbala’s blessings. Despite his full adherence to the laws

governing the Igbo society, Okonkwo feels the need to face the socially established system of

thought. Standing against the decision of the Priestess to take his daughter at the middle of the

night, he recieves a warning scream from her : "Beware, Okonkwo! "Beware of

exchangingwords with Agbala. Does a man speak when a god speaks? Beware!." (qtd. in C.

Nnoromele 43) This incident is an example among many which illustrate the opposition of the

will of the socially constructed order to the interest of the individual. The obligation to obey
the decision of the Oracle of the Hills and Caves to see Ezinma in the cave involves absence

of free will and decision making (C. Nnoromele 43).

The laws of the land, despite they are established for the good of the society, did not serve the

well-being of the individual. The Igbo society follows blindly the ancient beliefs of their

ancesters, a set of beliefs that relates by no way to logic thinking. This blindly obeyed set of

beliefs, however, did not gain Obierika’s trust. Obierika, Okonkwo’s friend and a man who

thinks about things, in spite of having a negative attitude towards Okonkwo’s breakings to the

norms of the Igbo, did reconsider the righteousness of these rules and the beliefs behind them.

There was a lack of balance between the fairness these regulations seek and the private benefit

of the villager. This instability can be captured in the scene where Obierika sat in his obi and

mourned his friend’s calamity. At that time he remembered his twin children whom he had

thrown away without any sin they committed, just to satisfy the "earth’s Godess ." The earth

ordered that they should be thrown because they were born twins, otherwise, her anger would

be loosed on all the land and not just on the offender. Obierika’s questioning in this kind of

punishment reveals a state in which opposing forces or influences are unbalanced while they

should be.(C. Nnoromele 43)

3.2.2. The Igbo society’s philosophy: a philosophy that is voiced in proverbs

The Igbo society is community that depends heavily on proverbs to fulfill its communication.

Achebe asserts that "Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and

proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten" (Things Fall Apart, 2). Occupying a

principal place in the Igbo discourse, the Igbo proverbs are used to carry meaning with

integrity and honour in the verbal expression of an Igbo person. The absence of proverbs in an

Igbo communication denotes lack of maturity and wisdom within the speaker’s character,

what decreases the value of the speech.They simply expresse a traditionally held truth or piece
of advice, based on common sense or experience of previous generations.The Igbo culture is

defined distinctly by its language, and the element of language that best encapsulates this

society's values and beliefs is its proverbs. In some expressions, the Igbo people’s beliefs,

concerns, achievements, falings, and hopes are summed up (Kano 165). In this regard, Opoku

stresses that:

Proverbs may serve as prescriptions for action or act as judgment in times of

moral lapses. Often a proverb, cited at an appropriate time during an argument can

settle the dispute instantly, for the proverbs are believed to have been handed

down by the ancestors and predecessors to whom we own our communal

experience and wisdom. (qtd in Kano 165)

Proverbs, therefore, are the vehicle by which messages are transmitted from the speaker to the

listner in a way that enables the listner to understand directly the point without the need for

repition or explanations.

The Igbo-African philosophy is a wide and central way of thought among the African

communities. Thus, there could be generalizations from the Igbo ideology to other African

communities’ viewpoint due to the similarity in the ethics and attitude among different

African societies. African philosophy is the moral values that Africans cherish, values that are

the result of wonder and ponder in the rules that govern life and the world surrounding them.

Originated in Africa, it is not influenced by any foreign ideas or thoughts. This philosophy

shapes the Igbo’s way of life and defines the borders within which successful communication

in cases of major disputes over serious issues is achieved peacefully and wisely (Kano 166).

The Igbo proverbs, however, have a deep philosophical dimension in addition to their

literal meaning. On the level of the literal meaning, priority is given to the straightforward

meaning of the words forming the proverb itself rather than to the meaning behind the direct

one. To convey meaning, the Igbo people use, as a matter of example, humans, trees, names of
animals, and other known objects. Terms as udaratree, mango tree, kola nut, Nna (father),

Nne(mother), Chi (personal God), Eze (king), egbe (team), etc., are employed at the literal

level, a level in which they give nothing but their names. On the philosophical level, however,

the proverb is understood from the meaning that lays behind what words simply give about

themselves. This does not imply that the literal meaning has no relationship with the

philosophical meaning, but rather, they are complementary in a way that they cannot be

separated. That is to say, if a person does not understand the literal meaning of an Igbo

proverb, he definitely cannot grasp its philosophical meaning ( Kano 167).

As a matter of example, the proverb "The monkey said that his body is full of beauty"

describes the excessive pride in and admiration of the monkey’s own appearance while the

reality is the opposite. Intentionally, the monkey uses this as a protective shield for the safety

of his dignity. Despite his reality, he choses to be proud of it no matter what it represents to

the other. He simply holds positive attitude towards a negative aspect of his nature. This

situation, to a far extent, can be projected on people with comparable native-born

disadventages. Thus, the one cannot allow his defects or failings to have a strong negative

emotional effect on him. At this level of understanding, we moved from the literal meaning of

the proverb to what is behind it, the philosophical meaning (Kano 167).

Through the meaning that the Igbo proverbs hold, the following table shows to what extent

the Igbo community is a society of philosophy, a philosophy that is embodied in proverbs:

Literal Meanings of Proverbs Philosophical meanings of Proverbs

1. The black smith who does not know The universe is the best university. One

how to fashion the gong, let him observe should always learn from Nature.

the kite’s tail.

2. Two kitchen knives are found in the Nature abhors laziness. Killing time is only

home of the lazy man, the one that is the name for another of the multifarious
sharp has no head (handle), and the one ways by which timekills us.

that has a head (handle) is not sharp.

3. It is from the ground that one climbs to We attain heaven through the Earth.

the top ofthe tree.

4. It is he who climbs with his teeth that Experience is the best teacher.

knows the tree with bitter back.

5.When God wants a creature to fly, he God is omnipotent. The nature of the

gives him wings. world is His design.

6. It is what an animal eats that is used to set You will always be tempted based on

a trap for him. your good qualities.

7. With the passage of time the child Time is the great leveller.

becomes like the mother.

8. Death does not kill a person unless his The Power of death is in one’s Chi.

chigives consent. One who is at peace with his Chi is not

afraid of death. He has conquered death.

9. When a child washes his hands clean, Mature behaviour entitles even the young

he eats with elders. to sit beside kings.

Table 1. Igbo Proverbs as embodiments of Igbo-African Philosophy (Kano 167)

Also in Things Fall Apart (1958), lights are shed on the importance of family ties and social

relationships using a number of proverbs. Uchendu, Okonkwo’s uncle says that everyone in

the family must help one another. He considers the support a family gives one another as the

defining characteristic of humanity. Without family or respect for your family, you and the

animal are alike. He confirms his view with a proverb: "An animal rubs its itching flank

against a tree, a man asks his kinsman to scratch him " ( qtd. in Gogoi 53). An expression of

the interrelationship between the individual and his community and the dependency of the one

on the hole. The unity of the community is put oil it soiled the others. )"qtd in Gogoi 53)

That is to say, the bad doings of one person will reflect on the entire village just as Okonkwo’s

actions bring disrepute to the whole village if he would not be punished. Okonkwo’s

punishment after his breaking to the Weak of Peace and killing a clansman in the funeral
crowd is the proof that the one cannot stand against the whole since the outcomes of these

actions bring severe danger on the entire community. (Gogoi 53)

Proverbs of the Igbo soceity reflect the thoughtfulness of these people. As a result to the

crucial part proverbs occupy in the Igbo culture, Chinua Achebe in his Things Fall Apart

(1958) makes this more clear through including them as an integral part in the conversations

of the villagers of Umuofia. These are some examples from the story:

1. "When a man says yes his ‘chi’ says yes also" (Things Fall Apart, 8): This proverb

explains that even though a chi influences people, he is the ultimate controller of his own

destiny. This explains the concept that despite having a bad chi, a man can still become great

through hard work. It is used to explain Okonkwo's success thanks to his will and continuous

efforts.

2. "A toad does not run in the daytime for nothing"(Things Fall Apart,7) : This proverb

means that there is a cause for anything strange that happens in the world, because toads

are normally nocturnal creatures. This shows that even though the Ibo people believe in

many gods, they still see a reason for their actions and behavior. It is said by the leaders of

Umuofia at the meeting after the imprisonment of the six elders to try and persuade the

villagers to go to war with the missionairies.

3. “A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness” (Things

Fall Apart, 6) : This proverb explains how if you learn and seek guidance from successful

people you can become successful yourself. This tells us that in the Ibo society they looked

very highly upon their elders, especially the ones that achieved greatness earlier in life. It is

used by Okonkwo to explain why he has come to Nwakibie seeking guidance.

3.2.3. Okonkwo: A Tragic Hero

At early middle age, Okonkwo, the hero of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958), is an angry

young man. The fear of following the legacy of his father makes of him a successful different
man. Okonkwo seeks to achieve greatness and high status among his clansmen and to have an

honourable legacy.

One of the most challenging obstacles for Okonkwo is face was to wipe out his father’s

reputation. His father, Unoka, was a man of constant laziness and refusal to work. Though

Unoka was always a passionate and talented musician and enjoyed playing the flute, he could

never seem to make himself passionate about anything else, even to work to provide for his

family. Unoka, in life, drank a lot of palm wine, and the villagers all laughed at him for his

incompetence and laziness, plus the fact that he never earned a title or a leadership role.

Unoka was always deeply in debt because of his constant borrowing of money. Therefore, he

never had an inheritance to pass on to his son. Living in Okonkwo’s memory, he always

brought him a great deal of shame. In terms of biological differences, he was a male, yet, in

sociological terms, he did not fit in the category of men because he does not have the gender

role characteristics and behaviours that his culture attribute to the male sex ( C. Nnoromele

41).

Thus, Okonkwo, in order to gain mastery over his inner sense of weakness, decides, at an

early age to become a hero and a notable man in his village. His single ambition and " life-

spring" was "to become one of the lords of the clan". Achebe states about him that: "His fame

rested on solid personal achievements,""He had no patience with unsuccessful men" and his

whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness" ( qtd in C. Nnoromele

41). Moved by an inner obsession, he is determined to succeed, to achieve success in

everything his father had failed in. As a result, he grows to become victorious in terms of

warfare, wrestling, wealth and status. An incident in his life had its effective influence in

fueling his ambition, his survival from a farming disaster. A chance that played the role of the

motive for the pursuit of more achievements. Okonkwo whenever confronted with a

challenge, he repeats: "SinceIsurvivedthatyear,Ishallsurvive anything." (qtd in Carroll 41)The

Igbos believe strongly in destiny, yet, they attribute success to hard work and personal effort.

Achebe puts it :

If ever a man deserved his success, that man was okonkwo. At an early age he

had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not luck. At

the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people

have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes

very strongly, so his chi agreed. And not only his chi but his clan too, because it

judged a man by the work or his hands. (Things Fall Apart, 8)

Forgetting where he comes from, Okonkwo depends on himself to build a remarkable

reputation and a wellfare state to live in.

Okonkwo, due to his fear that he might look like his father, expresses rashness, anger, and

violence in his life. One insident that illustrates his inflexibility is breaking the Week of

Peace. He severely beats his third wife, Ojiugo, for not arriving home in time to cook his

midday meal. While his other two wives run to stop him and remind him not to violate the

rules of the sacred week and possibly make the earth goddess angry, he continues beating her

because he is not a man who stops beating somebody half-way through. Another occasion in

which Okonkwo’s brutality appears is when he refuses his son’s gentleness and kindness, for,

he considers them as signs of weakness. Okonkwo tries to wipe out the features of femininity

from his son, Nwoye, by keeping him with him in his obi and telling him stories of wars and

bloodshed. Nwoye, however, prefers to stay in the women’s obi and listen to his mother’s

stories, what drives his father to more extreme rage. Okonkwo, is an angry man, a victim of

his own impatienttendency to behave angrily or emotionally, and of his sense that he had a

failure father. (Carroll 41,42)

Achebe, nontheless, does not deprive Okonkwo from his humanity. Okonkwo, despite

his harshness had instances when he could not resist the emotional side of his character. After
he violated the sacredness of the Week of Peace, he accepts to give donations as the age-old

custom of Umofia states, and he donated generously. In addition to that, in a moment of rage,

he fires on his wife Ekwefi. When he knows that nothing harmful had happened to her, he

takes a deep breath and relaxes. It happened when he sends for his rusty gun to go hunting, his

second wife Ekwefi mumbles about "guns that never shot," he grabs his gun, aims it at her,

and pulls the trigger. Although it goes off, she is not injured. Okonkwo sighs and walks away

with the gun. In another occasion, Similarly, on the night when the priestess of Agbala carried

his daughter off to the Oracle of the Hills and Caves for the young girl to pay homage to her

god, he feels anxious and scared that something of harm might happen to the girl. Thus,

Okonkwo is not a brutal person by nature, but rather, by his obligation not to relive his

father’s life. (C. Nnoromele 44, 45)

Okonkwo returns to his village, after seven years of exile, to continue the journey to greatness

which he had already started before his punishment. Being basicly with the same mentality,

Okonkwo returns to find his village radically changed. The british influence extended to reach

all the villagers’ mentality. Christianity was spread over Umuofia and old-age order was in its

way to vanish and replaced by a new one. Okonkwo grieves for the loss of the ancient Igbo

culture and does not get convinced with the changes that require compromise and

accommodation — two qualities that Okonkwo finds intolerable. Filled with anger from

the mistreatment of and humiliation from the British district officers, he rashly

assassinatestheir messenger expecting his clansmen to rise up with him against the British

rule. Blaming him of what he did, the clansmen step back in fear.He feels pain and despaire

about the villagers and takes his life by hanging himself. It is his inflexibility and refusal for

change that led to the tragic end of Okonkwo. (Bloom 2)

This pitiful end of a once great hero represents the collapse and the disintegration of the Igbo

society on the individual level. The disintegration of the tribe and its falling apart is best
shown in the rise and fall of Okonkwo, who represents the best and worst of his culture. Thus,

Okonkwo himself becomes a symbol of disintegration. Several critics describe Okonkwo as a

representative to his society’s values and a figure of certain masculine characteristics along

with high socialist ideals of his culture. G. D. Killam considers Okonkwo as "the embodiment

of Ibo values, a manwho better than most symbolized his race". C. L. Innes adds:"the reader

never doubts that he is the product of his society’s system … He is … a typeof his

society",while Abiola Irele assumes that his "power to fascinate"can be attributed to "his

physicality, all projected outward… in such a way as toconstitute him as the incarnation of his

society’s ideal of manhood." (qtd in Wittaker and Msiska 9) Therefore, Okonkwo is the result

of his society’s superficial beliefs.

3.4. The Igbo society : A masculine community

Within the people of Umuofia, superior qualities and appearances are traditionally associated

with men. In a direct way, the text of Things Fall Apart (1958) links power and authority to

masculinity. The Igbo society is a community where the power of making decisions, the right

to give orders, and the ability to enforce obedience is attributed to the men of the clan.

Umuofia’s system of ideas and ideals revolves around all what is masculine. Greatly admired,

it is represented through Okonkwo’s excessive preoccupation with the possession of

masculine treats, power, wealth, and high status among his people. In a fierce famous

wrestling fight and at a young age, Okonkwo beats Amalinze the Cat, who for seven years

occupied the position of a great wrestler, and brings by that honour to Umuofia (Osei-Nyame

9).

After the experience of being famous and wellknown among the nine villages, Okonkwo

gives credit to his violence and, above that, to the fact that he is a male. Therefore, he takes

the masculinity that brought him his remarkable achievement as a protective shield for

personal honour against what he sees as an inimical world as well as a reason to justify his
actions and decision making. Being tormented by his father’s past and ashamed by the

laziness, squandering, and the effeminacy of such male parent, Okonkwo has an aggressive

masculine approach to these issues to the extent that he uses violence in order to keep his

affections secret. The society’s appreciation to manliness lead to Okonkwo’s obsession with

masculinity (Osei-Nyame 9).

The achievements that proved Okonkwo’s masculinity received a wide social acceptance on

the expence of other events and achievements of other people. The specific traditions of the

Igbo society along with qualities as Okonkwo’s affirmation on masculinity work together to

exclude many other people’s good qualities within the Igbo society, others like women and the

outcasts (Osei-Nyame 9). The incident of calling Ezinma, Okonkwo’s daughter, by the Earth

Goddess reveals so much. When Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, interrupts Okonkwo’s

household with the message that Agbala, the deity of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves,

wanted to see their daughter, the mother Ekwefi takes the risk and follows her to the caves

despite the warnings of Chielo from the rage of the Earth Godess and the possibility of

encountring the wandering spirits of the wild (Osei-Nyame 16).

3.5. Women of Umuofia within the Igbo masculine community

The women of Umuofia in Things Fall Apart (1958) are excluded from the political, the

economic, the judicial, and even the discoursal life of their society. The make-up of the

council of elders ruling the clan, ndichie, and that of the egwugwu group is completely male.

The meeting to settle the dispute of murdering a woman from the clan by a neighbourig clan

was anounced by the speaker as: "Every man of Umuofia was asked to gather at the market-

placetomorrow morning". Achebe adds about the people gathering to attend the event’s

procedures: "It was clear from the way the crowd stood or satthat the ceremony was for men.

There were many women, but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders". In addition to

that, there is the ritual of prohibiting women from looking inside the Egwugwu house. Achebe
writes in this regard: "These women never saw the inside of the hut. No woman ever did …

No woman ever asked questions about the most powerful andthe most secret cult in the clan."

In another passage, the bride is excluded from her own engagement proceedings (qtd in

Stratton 108) :

Akueke [entered] carrying a wooden dish with three kola nuts and alligator

pepper. She gave the dish to her father’s eldest brother and thenshook hands, very

shyly, with her suitor and his relatives . . . When shehad shaken hands, or rather

held out her hand to be shaken, shereturned to her mother’s hut to help with the

cooking. (qtd in Stratton 108)

The exclusion of women from these events relates to the masculinity the Igbo society deeply

celebrates as a part of cultural heritage.

Simultaneously, while women are banned from getting access to all what is related to the

men’s area, men can intervene in all women’s issues. Therefore, when his wife does not

prepare the midday meal at time, Okonkwo walks inside her hut and asks his other wives

about her. This exclusion does not include only the general social rituals of the clan, but also

encompasses the domestic concerns of the household (Stratton 108). Okonkwo’s reply to his

first wife when she asked about the period during which she is to look after Ikemefuna was:

"do what you are told, woman.... When did you become one of the ndichieof Umuofia?" (qtd

in Stratton 108).

The weakness of the female expands to encompass the Earth Godess, Ani, the deity in

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958). The principles the Earth Godess adopt are not for the

benefit of the woman kind of the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo as a matter of example, is

punished for a series of criminal behaviours that are against the teachings of Ani, the Godess.

He has beaten his wife breaking the sacred Weak of Peace, he has taken a part in Ekemefuna’s

assassination, and has put Ezeudu's son to deathduring a funeral service. Thus the Godess,
despite the prescribed punishments, does not serve in the protection of women in the clan

( Stratton 110).

What demonstrate the lower status women occupy in the village in comparison with the men

of Umuofia, Achebe, in the text of the story, does not refer to the wives of the protagonist

Okonkwo by their names until he moves forward in recounting the events (Stratton 111). As

the first chapter is about to reach its end, they are recognizable through numbers, as though

they are no more than secondary achievements for Okonkwo:

Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but hehad won

fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was awealthy farmer and had

two barns full of yams, and had just married histhird wife. To crown it all he had

taken titles and had shown incredibleprowess in two inter-tribal wars. (qtd in

Stratton 111)

Thus, it is until chapte four that the reader knows that his first wife is "Nwoye’s mother", and

his third wife is called "Ojiugo". His second wife is refered to namelessly when she was

mistreatedviolently by her husband. She is not called Ekwefi untill her close escape from his

shoot (Stratton 111).

According to Innes, the African characters of Achebe in Things Fall Apart (1958) are complex

characters that the settlement of whose conflicts is important to the sequence of events of the

story in comparison to their counterparts in colonial literature, Joyce Cary’s portrayal of

Africans for instance. This affirmation, however, is true as long as the reference is to the male

characters. Unlike the female personalities, except for Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Chilo, the

personalities of the males - Okonkwo, Unoka, Nwoye, Ikemefuna, Obierika, Uchendu - are of

considerable complexity. Ekwefi, Ezinma, and Chilo, the priestess of Agbala, remain blurred

figures (Stratton 111).

The primary role of Ekwefi and her daughter Ezinma is to uncover Okonkwo’s gentle feelings

of fondness and liking, thus, to prove that he may attract the reader’s sympathy despite his

violent nature. Therefore, their characterization swings between male activeness and female

inactiveness and tend so much to play an essentially passive role in the drama. Ekwefi and

Ezinma as having male characteristics according to Okonkwo’s view, they attract his attension

and affection, a feeling that he works to hide. Hence, mourning his fate, he considers his son

Nwoye as womanish and his daughter Ezinma as having the right spirit. Consequently,

attempting to make them meet the characteristics that their society and culture draw in

accordance to their sex, he tries to convince his son Nwoye to listen to stories of war and

bloodshed in his father’s hut and to make Ezinma sit like women do. Unlike Nwoye who

disobeys his father’s beliefs, Ezinma gives way to Okonkwo’s agressive way of thought by

becoming the controllable, manageable, and the compassionate daughter. For example, she

agrees to rejectall suitors in exile until the family returns from to Umuofia when it will give

amuch needed boost to her father’s prestige to have a marriageable daughter in the house

(Stratton 111, 112).

When it comes to the mother Ekwefi, there is a marked similarity between her reactions and

that of her daughter’s. Ekwefi, to have the chance to live with Okonkwo, she had run away

from her first husband. Yet, Okonkwo does not put that into account before practicing

violence against her. He severely beats her and she can barely escape a gun shoot from him.

So far, instead of meeting that with fierce resistance, she does not show a mere opposition

towards it (Stratton 112).

Reading the reason behind the characterization of the priestess of Agbala Chieloby

Achebe in Things Fall Apart (1958) ends with two interpretations : the first is that he as an

African writer, Achebe had the intention to show that the African custom is of great depth and

value and the second is that he had the desire to manifest the inability of women to carry the
special burden of taking responsibility over a community. The depiction of Chielo holds the

message that if authority is ever given to women, it will be used arrationally. Irrational

authority is exercised by fear and pressure on the basis of emotional submission, and women

are of intense emotions creatures. Men on positions of authority, however, are more depicted

to be more reasonable than women and of valuable decisions. This can be seen in the coming

of the Egwugwu, the ancestral spirit masqueraders who play a significant role in the religious

traditions and rituals of the Igbo people of Nigeria, and the way they settle the marital dispute.

Things Fall Apart (1958) was written in the period between Nigeria’s independence from the

British rule and the beginning of forming the new Nigerian government where women are to

be given the right to vote. The character of Chielo, especially after her incident with Ezinma,

is the manifestation of Achebe’s scepticism over the power of women (Stratton 113).

Two angles through which the masculanization of the Igbo society can be seen emerge. From

the one hand, Things Fall Apart (1958) as written in response to colonial literature, of

Haggard’s and Conrad’s writings for instance, masculanizes the Africans in order to put them

in opposition to the feminization the colonial discourse gives them. The feminization of the

African people in Western literature renders them as non-participative in their society, by so,

giving the right to the British rule in settling the lands of Africa. On the other hand, when it is

seen in relation to male-female ralationships, the depiction of this masculinity tends to be in

support of male-domination in which men have all of the power and influence(Stratton 118).

3.3. The Lexical Level:

Using the specialized Tropes Computer Software ( Tropes V8,4), a stylistic analysis is

used to examine, lexically, the text of the novel Things Fall Apart (1958). The next table

illustrates the results :

Word category percentage Number Word category Percentage numbre

Verbs Adjectives
Factive 45.9 % 2213 Objective 61.6 % 2628
Stative 28.7 % 2630 Subjective 25.5 % 1089
Reflexive 25.0 % 2297 / / /
Performative 0.3 % 32 / / /
Figure : 02 the percentage and the number of verbs and adjectivesused in Chinua Achebe’s

Things Fall Apart (1958)

3.3.1.Verbs :

Factive verbs are highly used in the novel, expressing presupposition. This type of verbs

expresses an implicit assumption about the world or background belief related to an utterance

whose truth is taken for granted in discourse. This is interpreted in that Achebe as an African

writer, unlike Conrad who portrayed Africans as people who lack the ability to think or have

any ideas, depicts the ability of Africans to think and make assumptions. According to the

number of factive verbs in table, people of Africa in this story make lots of assumptions

about the world, other people and events surrounding them, at the same time, lots of

assumptions are made about them by the writer. In so doing, they estimate the existence of a

fact from an already known existence of other facts, what provides a basis for excercising

action in order to simulate different realities or possible situations. Next to assumptions,

achebe adds the ability of critical thinking to the Africans, the objective examination of

assumptions. When his friend Okonkwo was exiled for a crime he did not commit

intentionally and reflecting on the fate of the twins he once had, Obierika sat alone and

objectively examined the assumptions underlying his people’s beliefs to assess their

correctness and legitimacy, and thus, to valid or invalid the beliefs.

The use of stative verbs and reflexive ones is remarkable also within Things Fall Apart

(1958). In English grammar, a stative verb is a verb used primarily to describe a state or

situation as opposed to an action or process. People who are described mostly using stative

verbs do no actions, thus, they are passive when it comes to decision making. Reflexive verbs,

on the other hand, subjects and objects always refer to the same person or thing are used to

serve the same purpose. Achebe by so, does not deny the negatives of the Igbo people. Being
passive is the main feature of some characters in the novel, taking for instance, Okonkwo’s

wives when they are beaten, they show no type of reaction or resistance. For some others like

Okonkwo, it is a partial quality, the best example is when he took part in Ikemefuna’s death

just so that he does not appear in front of his clansmen as scared, despite the affection he

always felt towards to the boy who for three years called him father. Achebe writes describing

him: "He was afraid of being thought weak". (Things Fall Apart 19) Achebe, thus, takes an

objective stance towards the Igbo people.

When it comes to performative verbs, they are used with the Africans in Things Fall Apart

(1958). Performative verbs are verbs that perform certain actions rather than simply

describing them. Using performative verbs, Achebe demonstrates many relations that govern

the African people’s lives through the decisions they make and actions they take. He writes

for instance when Obierika replies on Okonkwo about the marriage of his daughter: "My

daughter's suitor is coming today and I hope we will clinch the matter of the bride-price. I

want you to be there"(My Emphasis, Things Fall Apart 21). Hence, Chinua Achebe unfolds a

variety of interesting connections between people. Relationships with parents, children,

neighbours, elders of the clan, Gods, and inner self are interweaved in a systematic manner.

Therefore, Africans do notonly take orders.

3.3.2. Adjectives :

The number of 2628 objective adjectives and 1089 subjective adjectives is a large number for

a novel of about 140 pages to contain. As a fictional work, Things Fall Apart (1958) relies

heavily on adjectives. Achebe’s use of adjectives in the novel is of important influence on the

meaning he intends to convey. As a part of his objectivity, Achebe uses specific,descriptive

adjectives to narrate what he sees, leaving it up to the reader,who is influenced by facts and

not by the feeling of the writer, to experience and decide on the events of the narrative. Yet, he

does not leave it completely to facts to control and shape the reader’s opinion. Writing for
instance about Unoka, Okonkwo’s father : "he was lazy and improvident and was quite

incapable of thinking about tomorrow" (Things Fall Apart 1) reveals how Achebe helpsthe

reader to have a complete image by adding a number of subjective adjectives.

3.4.The Syntactic Level :

Syntax is defined, in the broad sense in which it is commonly used today, as the "level of

lexicogrammatical form that mediates between the levels of sound and meaning. Thus it

includes both lexical choice – choice of words and multi-word expressions from the

vocabulary of the language – and the grammaticalchoices involved in combining these into

sentences" (Leech and Short 96). The syntax of the text which describes the Africans in

Things Fall Apart ( 1958) makes their real image more clear and understandable. Thus, it

serves to deny the European stereotype.

-Minor sentence types, sentences with no verb, does not occur in the text. But rather, the text

that is about the Africans is made up of major sentences, complete sentences that contain

an independent clause. We take for instance :

"We killed twelve of their men and they killed only two of ours." (Things Fall Apart 65)

-when it comes to sentences’ complexity, the structure varies widely according to the meaning

it holds. This structure is due to the presence of other juxtaposition of clauses and other

equivalent structures, what reflects the occurring relationships between Africans themselves,

Africans with other people and Africans with Gods and ancesters. For example:

" He ground his teeth." (Things Fall Apart 65)

"Although they had not agreed to kill the missionary or drive away the Christians, they had

agreed to do something substantial." (Things Fall Apart 63)

-The length of the sentences varies throughout the novel. Thus, the average sentence length, in

number of words, is notably intermediate. For instance in :

"The chilling sound affected Mr. Smith, and for the first time he seemed to be afraid." (Things

Fall Apart 63)

Achebe uses verbs with African agents in a remarkable way in his Things Fall Apart (1958).

Agency is the relationship of the subject with the verb of the sentence, a relationship that the

reader of the novel observes its existence between the African characters and the action verbs

as he moves throughout the narrative. Agency makes more sense when restricted to a 'doer'

who, in a real sense, initiates an action, than when applied to the subject of some 'mental

process' verb or of a verb of 'being'. Unlike Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1898), sentences in

Things Fall Apart (1958) of which the grammatical subject is the agent are very common in

the novel :

01."The elders, or ndichie, met to hear a report of Okonkwo's mission." (Things Fall Apart 4)

When Umuofia had a dispute with another village Mbaino, they sent Okonkwo as an emissary

of war to settle the dispute. When he arrived, they gathered in a meeting to discuss the results

of the dispute.

02. "Okudo sang a war song in a way that no other man could. He was not a fighter, but his

voice turned every man into a lion” (Things Fall Apart 65). As he lay on his bamboo bed, he

thought about the treatment he had received in the white man's court and the ancient times of

war when Okudo was the crier.

The act of arranging a meeting by the elders and singing by the crier to encourage the warriors

in a war time denotes the presence of an ability within the African character, the ability of

causing or initiating an event or action. The Africans were deprived of this capability in

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1898).

Using the active voice in English writing is of great importance, and so it was in Things Fall

Apart (1958). Achebe introduces the events of his novel to the reader using mostly the active

voice, a voice through which the actions of the Africans are set clear. Avoiding weak words of
the passive voice and its abstract terms like /am /are /was /were /being /been/has/have/had, the

definite article (the), and prepositions like "by " and "of", he makes the image of the Africans

more clear and more plain. He simply avoids this voice taking that it holds empty, weak

words in addition to being dull and colorless compared to concrete nouns, powerful verbs, and

vivid adjectives. Above all, they can reduce the real value of the African behaviour. Thus, the

active voice has a crucial role in making the heart of the sentences said by Africans beat in

their strong verbs, concrete nouns, and vivid description. We can take as an example how

Achebe reports what one of his characters says on one of Mr. Brown’s visits:

"You say that there is one supreme God who made heaven and earth," said Akunna, and adds :

"We also believe in Him and call Him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other

gods."(Things Fall Apart 58)

3.5.The Semantic Level:

To provide emphasis, freshness of expression, or clarity to his text, Achebe employs stylistic

devices. As it is the case for other literary works, there arewords which diverge from their

normal meaning, or a phrase that has a specialized meaning not based on the literal meaning

of the words in it. Examples are metaphors and similes.

3.5.1.Figures of speech : Metaphors, Similes

To create an impact in the minds of his readers and to paint a vivid picture about the

Africans, Achebe usesexaggerated expressions as metaphors. Metaphors are defined as " a

figure of speech in which a term thatis usually associated with a certainentity is used to

describe another, as in ‘the dawn of history.’(Chapman and Routledge 131) Achebe uses
forms of figurative language as a literary tool to convey a thought more forcefully than a plain

statement would, as the following statements show :

01: "Okonkwo was popularly called the "Roaring Flame." As he looked into the log fire he

recalled the name. He was a flaming fire." (Things Fall Apart 50) In this metaphor, Okonkwo

is compared to the blazing fire for his fiery temperament that allows him to wipe those he

does not like off the face of earth.

02 : "Amalinze was a wily craftsman." (Things Fall Apart 01)This metaphor compares

Amalinze the wrestler to a skillful artisan who artfully produces magnificent objects. As

Amalinze is skillful in wrestling, he is like a worker skilled in a particular craft.

To make his writing in Things Fall Apart(1958)animate and convincing,Achebe uses other

figures of speech that are easier to identify than metaphors, they are

figure of speech in which two unlike things are explicitly compared. Comparing Africans to

other things, he uses similes to convey the African thoughtto reader's consciousness. Similes

can make our language more descriptive and enjoyable. Writers, poets, and songwriters make

use of similes often to add depth and emphasize what they are trying to convey to the reader

or listener. It is a figure of speech that Achebe as an African writer employes, next to other

tools, to connect between two extremely different things, the African culture about which the

novel is written and the reader’s consciousness that is shaped by his cultural background. He

writes for instance :

01."Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. " (Things Fall Apart 01)

This simile explains how quickly Okonkwo’s fame spread throughout the nine villages and

even beyond after throwing Amalinze the Cat. The very short time Okonkwo’s fame took to

grow reflects the African people’s regular communication.

02. "You drove him to kill himself and now he will be buried like a dog."(Things Fall Apart

68) In a trembling voice, Obierika compares his best friend’s burial to that of a dog. In a
reasonably objective manner, a plain picture of Obierika’s feelings is drawn in the reader’s

mind.

3.6.Conclusion :

What we have in this novel is a vivid picture of the Igbo society at the end of the nineteenth

century. Achebe describes for the world the positive as well as the negative aspects of the Igbo

people. He discussed the Igbos’ social customs, their political structures, religions, even

seasonal festivals and ceremonies. He provided the picture without any attempt to romanticize

or sentimentalize it. Achebe told the story as it is, the characters are normal Igbo people and

their events are real human events.