Things Fall Apart Assignment

Things Fall Apart by China Achebe

Brief Summary: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, written in 1958, follows Okonkwo who

features as a protagonist who engages in a failing battle to stop the missionaries and colonialists

from taking over his village. Okonkwo is a wealthy and well-liked warrior from the Umuofia
clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is made up of nine towns. Unoka, his cowardly and spendthrift
father, died in disgrace, leaving many village obligations unpaid. He is haunted by his father's
conduct. As a result, Okonkwo rose to prominence as a clansman, warrior, farmer, and family
provider. He has a twelve-year-old son named Nwoye, whom he considers lethargic; Okonkwo is
concerned that Nwoye would follow in the footsteps of Unoka and become a failure. He is
determined to avoid foreign invasion, which prompts him to fight desperately in ensuring that his
tribe and cultural ties are unshaken.
Critical Appreciation: In Things Fall Apart, Achebe hardly exaggerates, falsify, or
emotionalizes African customs during the pre-colonial period. As he reveals through Ezinma and
Ekwefi, women faced numerous challenges before they could acquire statuses comparable to
men. Women in this novel are excluded from the social and cultural activities with practices such
as forced marriage, parturition, domestic work, and nurturing. Their position is similar to women
in other retrograde societies that are governed by patriarchal principles. The power to make
major decisions that shape the fate of women is solely entitled to men. In Igbo land, the
exogamy and moiety nature of ethnic organization ensure that every man in the clan has a
motherland as well as a fatherland. This motherland is entirely meant to provide a sense of
comfort to a close relative when in distress. Nevertheless, the same motherland discriminates
against the unfortunate women who gave birth to twins. The customs define that such acts bring
curses and a bad omen to the village. So, twins are usually thrown to the forest, where they
starve to death or get killed by wild animals. Fatefully, Nneka, who is the first female in Mbanta
to transform to Christianity, suffers the brunt of the backward African traditions. Her
motherhood privileges are snatched away by her family due to her deviation from the very set of
rules that are believed to sustain the Igbo society.
In order for a society to undergo a cultural transformation, the colonizers started by
introducing religion to attract the local people. The foreigners then attempted to dispel anxiety by
introducing a platform of peace that claims to primarily change the ignorant deep-rooted beliefs
of the natives. Consequently, “the locusts finally descend to settle on every blade of grass, tree,
bare grounds, and roofs”. Although this quote is a symbolic representation, it precisely signals
towards the arrival of invaders whose teachings were steered by selfish desire to take precedence
over the Igbo community by forcing in the monotheistic religious conviction while overlooking
the highly venerated and adulated culture and tradition. Chinua introduces family conflicts as the
young generation attempt to embrace the foreign religion in spite of strong resistance from the
older folks. Conflict ensues between Okonkwo and his son as the father is unwilling to allow his
son to embrace Christianity and ditch the African traditions. However, Okonkwo eventually
realizes that there is little he can do to prevent the death of the values of his society. This trouble,
which is coupled with panic, is displayed in the following passage: “This white man is overly
cunning. Quietly, he arrived uninvited and was welcomed due to his positive tone and religion.
We laughed off his idiocy and unthinkingly allowed him to stay. Now, it is too late as our
brothers have begun to worship him. The clan no longer acts like one. He has used a knife to tear
apart the topes that tied us together. We have now fallen apart”. However, the men are
determined to resist foreign influence. For instance, Okonkwo hangs himself as he cannot submit
to the British customs and practices.
It is plausible that the colonizer’s goal was to spread religion and civilization to the
traditional African villages in the guise of subjugating the natives. They played a critical role in
the abandonment of feminism as they imposed modern practices that advocated for gender
equality and women empowerment. They further eliminated vicious practices such as ritualized
violence and sacrifices. Colonization claims the elevation of the economic structures and
creating an opportunity for knowledge acquisition, wiping out illiteracy that was responsible for
backward practices that degraded women. Consequently, the colonizer’s outlook ended up
succeeding Igbo’s cultural perspective. Once Okonkwo and his generation were gone, the
descendants were willing to abandon the traditional practices and embrace women as significant
players in the societal transformation. The transformation was welcomed in a society whereby
negative and degrading practices were upheld because they preserved the traditions. Once
Christianity and foreign practices were embraced, the Igbo practices changed, allowing twins to
get a chance to be reared by their parents and women got a chance to contribute to decision
making and social development.
Recommendation: This book is invaluable to understand the defining perspectives of
colonialism and feminism with a neutral perspective. Feminism is revealed through Okonkwo
and fellow men, whose identities are solely founded on the concept of masculinity. As Achebe
reveals, women faced numerous challenges before they could acquire statuses compared to men.
After the enlightenment brought by the missionaries, the women slowly realized that their culture
and tradition were not to blame for the inequality. Rather, they began to accuse their stagnant
frame of mind and flagrant ignorance that guided them to follow one train of thinking inherited
from the ancestors to the parents and children. Also after Okonkwo and his generation ended,
descendants were glad to leave traditional practices and allow women to be treated as crucial
players. This change was welcomed in the society in opposition to degrading practices that were
merely upheld to conserve the traditions. Thus I loved this book a lot and would recommend
people to read it.

Things Fall Apart Assignment

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Things Fall Apart Assignment

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Things Fall Apart Assignment

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Things Fall Apart by China Achebe

tribe and cultural ties are unshaken.

Critical Appreciation: In Things Fall Apart, Achebe hardly exaggerates, falsify, or

rules that are believed to sustain the Igbo society.

In order for a society to undergo a cultural transformation, the colonizers started by

to the British customs and practices.

making and social development.

Recommendation: This book is invaluable to understand the defining perspectives of

people to read it.

You might also like