At the most basic level, Things Fall Apart is a novel about the life and village of Okonkwo. However, author, critic, and poet Chinua Achebe has infused great significance into the story of this Ibo father, son, and husband. Achebe is fascinated with African culture and religion and as a Nigerian himself, he has personal ties to the subject matter on which he writes.[1] Ultimately, Achebe sees the ingrained racism within the way colonialism is often represented and in the way that African life and traditions are forgotten or marginalized. Achebe writes this book to counter these misrepresentations and omissions. In Things Fall Apart he seeks to document and share a dramatic account of Igbo life before and after Christian influence.
It is obvious that Achebe is concerned with the literary development of African culture, traditions, and religions because he spends over half of his novel expanding the reader’s understanding of the characters and their lives and values. When the white Christians finally do enter into the storyline, they seem very out of place because Achebe has so thoroughly accustomed his readers to that which is African. More specifically, Achebe employs occasional Igbo language and details of tradition and culture are descriptively interwoven within the overall plot.
Initially, Achebe was criticized for writing TFA in English; people said that to be a truly African literary work, it must be in an African language. Achebe, however, was intentional in choosing English as his expression – he wanted to create a novel that specifically paralleled and yet contrasted with other similar novels such as Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Even though Achebe used English, he still shares bits and pieces of the Igbo language and some terms are especially integral to understanding the plot and characters. Some of the words to which the reader is introduced include: egwugwu, ogene, obi, chi, and ogbanji. The African words that Achebe uses throughout the book help to deepen the reader’s understanding of Igbo culture. For instance, the term egwugwu is introduced very early on in the novel and has great significance in the end when the tribe’s egwugwu is desecrated by a Christian convert. This act carries both religious and cultural significance. The egwugwu is a group of 10 men, nine of whom represent each village and their leader is called The Black Forest (Chapter 10). This group of men represents religious and governmental tradition and power and is one of the most sacred gatherings among the Igbo people. Thus, the Igbo language works as an anchor for understanding Okonkwo and his story.
In addition, Okonkwo, in his inner monologues, is often preoccupied with his chi. Also anchored in language, this theme helps the reader to understand Okonkwo’s history and desires. Chi is, simply put, one’s personal god; a chi can be either good or bad (29). Okonkwo struggled with poverty and misfortune but he is resolved to succeed; thus, his life exemplifies the Igbo saying, “When a man says yes his chi says yes also” (29). The establishment and illustration of the chi helps the reader to see Okonkwo as a tragic hero in the end. One begins to understand the history of experiences and emotions that lead to Okonkwo’s final two acts: murder and suicide. His acts are not born out of foolishness and savagery, they are the product of a highly complex set of conflicts, experiences, beliefs, and actions. The complexity and meaningfulness of Okonkwo’s life and deeds bring shame to the Commissioner’s last reflections of a stoic and grotesquely reduced account of Okonkwo’s death (191).
Okonkwo’s life, too, has many lessons to give about Igbo religion. In sharing Okonkwo’s story, Achebe illustrates the intricacy of religious life that the African people lead. The Christian missionaries did not arrive to find that the African people were void of faith – instead, Achebe shows that the Igbo people had a highly developed system of religion with rules, traditions, and expectations. Okonkwo accidentally kills a young boy when his gun explodes and within the next few pages we become privy to the spiritual laws within the Igbo tribe. Okonkwo and his family must be exiled for 7 years, his obi, barn, and huts all burnt, and these are the least of possible punishments for he has committed a ‘female’ or ‘inadvertent’ sin. Other religious lessons are given in Achebe’s description of marriage, wedding matches, town criers, spiritual trances, the killing of children, and protocol for death by suicide. All of these events are small windows opening to the life and culture of the Igbo people – views that were often omitted or misrepresented in classic literature.
Achebe truly does a remarkable job of expressing, dramatizing, and respecting African history, language, and religion within this novel. He sets out to tell the story of Okonkwo and through the interweaving of African language and formative events, Achebe successfully illuminates Africa from the darkness that Conrad’s book and the like have inflicted. Within the novel, Achebe accomplishes all that he set out to. I especially enjoyed reading this novel during Black History Month this year. Both the church and Western culture at large still have a lot of learning to do about black and African culture and this book is an exquisite beginning to the subject. So much of reconciliation between races involves learning about and celebrating a history that has been lost, marginalized, and intentionally forgotten, Things Fall Apart is an intentional memorial to those histories.
[1] http://chinuaachebe.net/
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