“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe: The Essence of Cultures, Book Review Example

“Things Fall Apart” is a beautiful English language novel of the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe written in 1958. The book is widely studied in the high schools of not only African countries but the whole world. The novel has received global critical acclaim and is said to serve as a so-called unique metaphor of African life, politics and despoliation.  “Things Fall Apart” is more than just a classic book; it is an incredible archetypal African novel. “It has been translated into 50 languages.” (Guardian) The story described shows typical breakdown of African societies with the appearance of the white man and the disintegration of the African traditional society as its result. Moreover, the book takes the reader into the essence of understanding the cultures of African tribes and white men.

Native of Nigeria, Chinua Achebe was raised in the missionary teachers’ family as a Christian. In early 70’s writer was invited to the US to be a visiting professor to several universities. However, he returned back to his motherland to work at the University of Nigeria-Nsukka where he was lecturing literature. He is accredited to building the African literature foundation. Achebe’s unique style of writing as well as the proverbs and idioms from African cultures make his stories remarkable and truly African.”Although he is now considered to be the man who invented African literature”, writer sees his personal role as a writer to be of strong social responsibility. (Gikandi, ix)

Novel “Things Fall Apart” describes the life of Okonkwo, a leader and a wrestling champion in Umofia, which is a group of nine villages in Nigeria populated by the lgbo ethnic group. The story focuses on leader’s three wives and his children. And it most importantly provides a solid insight into the influences of the Christian missionaries and British colonialism in general on the traditional lgbo group.

Even though Okonkwo’s father was a lazy person who had no titles within the tribe, his son became a respected great man. He did not approve his parent’s life style and tried his best to become nothing like this man. The boy simply “had no patience with unsuccessful man.” (Achebe, 4) Since young age Okonkwo was working very hard on his social status by defeating a big wrester and acquiring respect in the community. He constantly worked towards his goal and never showed any kind of emotional or physical weaknesses to anybody. With his strong will and persistence Okonkwo became a wealthy, powerful and courageous leader in his village. The acquired the status that he has been striving for all his life.

Being a man of strong self-esteem in the society, Okonkwo was chosen by elders to become a guardian of Ikemefuna, a boy imprisoned by the tribe as a peace settlement between the two villages.  Okonkwo took the boy to his house waiting until the Oracle provides instructions to the elders on what to do with the young boy further. Ikemefuna spent three years in the house of the leader and became very close to the family. The boy even started to consider Okonkwo his own father. However, when the Oracle finally spoke to the elders of the tribe, it has instructed that the boy should be killed. Okonkwo did not know what to do because some people were against the murder and others were strongly for. But despite the warning of the oldest man in the tribe to withdraw from murdering, Okonkwo helped to kill the boy.

Shortly after the accident the life of Okonkwo took a rough turn. Everything went wrong in all matters and aspects. Furthermore, an accidental murder of another person at the funeral ceremony provided strong grounds for the leader and his family to be sent to the exile for long seven years. It was the time for Okonkwo to pray to gods in order to have mercy over his wrongdoings.

While the tribe leader was in exile, white man from Great Britain started to come to Umofia and introduce their religion. “The English arrive in the region, with the Bible – rather than the gun – their weapon of choice”, says Phil Mongredien of Observer magazine. As more and more people became converted, white people outgrew their religion and brought a new government to the tribe.

When Okonkwo returned to his community, he found that the place has been totally changed because of the invasion of the white men. Together with other leaders of the tribe, he tried getting his power back by destroying the Christian church. However, Okonkwo and his team ended up in prison with further humiliation by the white government. Shortly people of Umofia gathered in an uprising. However, when one of the messengers of the white government tried to stop the meeting, Okonkwo killed the man. It was then when he finally understood that his tribe is lost for good. People of his tribe were not going to defend themselves or rebel because they let go other messengers and saved their lives. When the white government came to arrest Okonkwo, they found him hanged in his house. His suicide tribe viewed as a true disappointment.

Achebe showed lgbo tribe as the people who had great social institutions. They had a rich culture full of laws and traditions that emphasized fairness and justice among people. The tribe was ruled by a king where all tribe males gathered together in order to make a decision about something important. With the arrival of the white man to the community, changes happened. But it is ironic that it was not the British men who introduced the principles of democracy to the lgbo tribe, but they already had its origins in their own society. Lgbo tribe had a strong social mobility and primitive equality principles. People were not judged in accordance of their wealth but their personal achievements and will. And Okonkwo was its best example. The tribe was also patriarchal like Victorian England of that same era.

Many critics say that “Things Fall Apart” is a book of demonstration of how terrible the British people were treating the natives of African tribes. But Achebe argues that the novel is more of a social commentary about the need to change and flexibility. The writer agrees that change is inevitable. It was exactly Okonkwo’s inability to change that resulted into his fall and suicide. In his book Achebe gives his audience a commentary on the representation of the lost culture and traditions. It is obvious that the culture of the tribe has been compromised by the decision and will of the Umofian society to accept new religion and its traditions.

The novel that describes a story of the culture on the verge of changes, shows the audience how the reality of the change and its prospects have influenced various characters. The tension that appeared when thinking of the privilege change has over traditions, often involves the existing status people have in their community. In case of Okonkwo, reader sees that he strongly resisted the new religion and white political leaders. He thought of it as being unmanly to surrender or accept. And on the other hand, he was afraid that with the appearance of the new leaders, he will lose his power and status. His own self-esteem is based on the traditional standards of his society.

The villagers depicted in the story are shown as being trapped between embracing and resisting the change. Many of them were excited about the new values and traditions that white men brought. However, Europeans were scaring natives because by introducing new techniques, they were getting rid of the traditional methods of building, cooking or harvesting. In his novel Achebe often emphasizes that abandonment of tribe language in favor of English, shows the danger of the abolition of African traditions.

“Things Fall Apart” is a milestone in the literature of Africa. In his writing Achebe shows African society in a way to disregard the misconception that their culture was primitive and naive. In the story western culture is depicted as ethnocentric maintaining a belief that African tribes were in need of a leader. Therefore, the culture of Umofia was vulnerable to the western civilization invasion. The change of language that readers see at the end of the novel emphasizes the influence of British in the abolition of African culture and traditions. It “is the essential novel about the colonization of Africa, written from the point of view of the indigenous African”. (Barcock, 4)

Told by a brilliant storyteller “Things Fall Apart” is an important attempt of the writer to describe cultural, religious and social issues of the African tribes. Novel shows tensions and conflicts between the lgbo communities as well as between the tribe and British white men. The uniqueness of the novel of Achebe lies in the fact that the writer intended to provide a true story of past events and have his audience make a decision about what was going on and who was at fault. He did not take sides of either of cultures presented in his book. He challenged us, readers, to read and think about it from our own perspectives.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. “Things Fall Apart”. Hikmah Publishing House (2008): 4

Barcock, Christopher. “Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe.” Harcourt Education Limited (2006): 4

Dowden, Richard. “Chinua Achebe: A Hero Returns.” BBC News. (18 February 2009) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7896665.stm

Gikandi, Simon. “Chinua Achebe and the Invention of African Literature”. Heinemann Educational Publishers. (2000): ix

Mongredien, Phil. “Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe”. The Observer. 31 January 2010 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/31/things-fall-apart-achebe-review