Essay

Cheyanne Barba
Mrs. Bosch
English 10 honors
5 August 2007

Things Fall Apart

Everyone has some kind of pride in them about the kind of individual that they have shaped into or the reasons why they have developed the characteristics that make them, them. This feeling of pride is usually connected to the way that a person is raised and the history of their heritage. As a rule many people take a certain pride in their family’s traditions and passing them onto the different generations even though each generation is very different than the last. There are many ways in expresses this pride too, like learning one’s ancestral language, whether it is just one or many different languages. Although this pride is very strong among certain people, sometimes it can be lost within the growth of some families new generations. This is somewhat true in the case of Okonkwo, a character in the book Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo was a proud man, even though he strove to be nothing like his father, who was considered a failure in their hometown of Umuofia. Okonkwo tried as best he could do be a honorable man who was considered strong and appreciative of his ancestors and this is what he tried to pass down to his children and other’s who were not like him. The book describes Okonkwo’s life, from his childhood up until his death. Throughout the book he struggles with the impression he has of what a man, such as himself, should act like, all the while trying to sustain an imagery of a strong Igbo man that was no worries and no emotional war fighting inside of him. He never strays away from his heritage’s traditions and beliefs, even when the white man comes to their village and takes over, Okonkwo stands strong and proud of his family, heritage, language, memories, and life that he has.
Family is a major role in a child’s life; people’s families teach them how to be an individual and how to act in society. The people with the biggest roles in teaching a child are the parents. They try to be positive role models for their children and teach them how to respect others and be responsible. If the child is a girl her mother is the prime role model, for a boy it is his father. Okonkwo’s father was a poor role model, “…he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow” (4). Although Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, was a poor model on what kind of man to become when Okonkwo grew up, he became a model in what not to be like. Okonkwo grew up to believe that laziness and being cowardly were traits that he should not have and that his children should not inherit. Okonkwo’s children, from what Achebe describes, are proud of their father and their beliefs, except for the oldest son, Nwoye, who in the last parts of the book decides to leave his family and join the Christian missionaries. Okonkwo is of course very ashamed of his son and is hurt by the fact that Nwoye gave in so easily to the new religion. Achebe stresses the fact that family is very important to the Igbo people and that a person should always be proud of their family.
Heritage is very important to people, it tells them who they are and it gives them the traditions of their forefathers. Achebe illustrates in his book that everyone should be proud of their heritage by having Okonkwo follow his ancestors’ beliefs, traditions, and lifestyle very closely. In many families there are stories that are passed down from each generation and in Umuofia there are many stories of animals and people whose stories teach people about morals. Okonkwo, however, does not enjoy these stories as much as the women and some other men do. He does not prohibit his wives from telling their children these stories though, but he does mind that his wives tell the young boys who are supposed to grow up like men and not listen to “…foolish…women’s stories” (54). He tells stories too but only of bloodshed and violence not sincere like “…stories of the tortoise and his wily ways, and of the bird eneke-nti-oba who challenged the whole world to a wrestling contest and was finally thrown by the cat” (53). Achebe also shows the bond between family and heritage when Okonkwo gets exiled from his fatherland for accidentally killing a young man and he moves to his motherland for seven years. His oldest living relative on his mother’s side is his uncle, Uchendu, who actually lectures Okonkwo about being sorrowful because he had to live in his motherland. Achebe tries to illustrate the fact that a person’s heritage is all of them and that they should be proud of who they are and the traditions that they celebrate.
Everyone has memories from when they were children, wonderful memories or the kind that people wish they did not remember. Okonkwo has the kind of memories of his childhood that he is not so proud of having. His father has a very lazy man who did not represent a strong Igbo man who took good care of his family. “If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-whine, called round his neighbors and made merry” (4). He owed many neighbors large sums of money and never seemed to pay them back. By having Okonkwo’s father so irresponsible it shows that anyone can have memories but it’s a strong and proud person who can learn from others and their own mistakes and better themselves.
When people speak a foreign language other than their native tongue it shows others how proud they are of their cultural background. It also gives people an idea of where you come from and a little bit of your history. In Things Fall Apart Achebe does not translate all of the words that the characters speak. Like when Achebe is telling his readers about the “…egwugwu…” he could easily translate it to an ancestral spirit but he chooses to leave it in the African language. Towards the end of the novel the Commissioner comments on how he “…did not understand what Obierika meant when he said, “Perhaps your men will help is.” One of the most infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words, he thought” (206). This ignorance of the Commissioner shows the readers how judgmental people can be if they do not understand a person’s customs, it also shows that he is slightly frightened by the clansmen because they are not as barbaric as he thought. Achebe gives his readers the sense that he is proud of his African cultural and shows it by keeping the language of his family throughout the book.
Life is such a beautiful thing, whatever way you look at it. Some people have the benefit of accomplishing many goals in their lifetime and others accomplish smaller ambitions. Some people take life for granite and others take the time to stop and smell the roses. Okonkwo had accomplished a lot in his lifetime, he rose from being a poor child with barely anything to eat, to a strong man who was respected all around the nine villages and who had three wives and many children. “At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land” (27). He had very large yam fields and smaller vegetable fields for his wives; he “…deserved his success…” (27). Despite all these accomplishments Okonkwo could not handle all the changes that were happening around him, like the white man coming and taking over, and he hung himself. Some men of the clan had found him at his compound suspended from a tree and asked the Commissioner’s messengers to take Okonkwo’s body down. Obierika, Okonkwo’s close friend, did most of the talking and blamed the Commissioner and his men for Okonkwo’s death. “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” (208). Okonkwo’s body could not be taken down by his fellow clansmen because committing suicide is an offense against the Earth and the only way to get him down was for strangers to do it. Then the clansmen would have the other men bury Okonkwo and the villagers would perform “…sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land” (208). The novel ends with the Commissioner thinking about his new book and how he is going to include Okonkwo’s death in it, but he decides that Okonkwo’s incident is only significant enough to write one paragraph. The ironic thing is that Achebe had written a whole novel on Okonkwo’s life and this clash of thoughts shows that the Commissioner portrays Okonkwo as an unimportant man who did not have any respect for his clan. In reality Okonkwo valued his life and tried so hard to be what he thought a man should be, but in the end his strive to be perfect was conquered by his fears of being perceived just like his father. Achebe shows us how proud he is of life by writing this story about Okonkwo and how he went through so many ups and downs throughout his life.
Through his main character Okonkwo, with the support of many other characters, Chinua Achebe illustrated his pride in family, heritage, memories, language, and lives. Achebe had Okonkwo take pride in his family by always giving them fresh food and by protecting them from dangers, he did not show his kindness very well but his family knew it was in him. He demonstrated his pride for heritage by having Okonkwo standing by his ancestors’ beliefs and traditions instead of giving in to the white man’s new religion. He also took pride in his memories by knowing that he was not a failure like his father and that he was his own man who was very well respected. Achebe also shows his pride in his native language which is reoccurring throughout the novel. His pride in life is manifested by Okonkwo’s entire life and how he strove to be a courageous enduring man who was looked upon as a great warrior, strong, and a man who achieved many titles, although he did commit suicide these descriptions were what he was considered even though Okonkwo could not entirely see it.


Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Heinemann Educational Books, 1959.