Pride- A Deadly Sin

The last part of Things Fall Apart demonstrates the extent of Okonkwo’s unwillingness to change and highlights several ironies throughout the novel.

After being arrested and beaten by the missionaries, Okonkwo’s anger and resentment for them increased exponentially. As a brutal and violent man who often beat his wives and children, it is ironic that when he faced the same acts of cruelty, he found them intolerable. “…He thought about the treatment he had received in the white man’s court, and he swore vengeance” (199). Another irony that exists in the novel centers on Okonkwo’s last act as a man. He chose to commit suicide and shirked the consequences of his actions. Despite being a man that deeply advocated for masculinity and mental and physical strength, his last act on earth is considered one of cowardice, in American culture and in his culture.

Part three of the novel also shows the wrongdoings of western people. Achebe used characters like Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith, the Commissioner, and the messengers to represent the virtues and the immoralities of western culture. Mr. Brown represented the merits of western society and the civility, compassion, and opportunity that can be offered to less privileged societies. However, most of the novel’s westernized characters demonstrated the worst of human nature. Reverend Smith is used as a foil to Mr. Brown. He wanted to annihilate the established culture in the village while Mr. Brown simply wanted to enhance it with Christianity and education. The messengers represented the corruption inevitable in a society that is not ruled by fear, and the Commissioner represented the arrogance and self interest that many people in modern societies exhibit. “He had already chosen the title of the book…The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger” (209).

Unexpectedly, Okonkwo and the Commissioner are very alike. Both of their actions are driven by pride: the most present sin in the novel.

People of western society have committed the atrocities described in the book. This picture of a Native American that was "civilized" shows this dark part of American history.

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Nwoye’s transition to Christianity is quite understandable. He has been pushed away by his tribe since the abandonment of the twin babies and the killing of Ikemefuna. Since these events he has not been fully committed to the tribe. “Something had given away inside him.”(Pg 62). The arrival of the missionaries just gave Nwoye the outlet to convert from his native religion. Since he did not really believe in their religion, he felt like an outcast in Umofia. This allows him to fit in extremely well at the Christian church as most of the members are outcasts in society. Nywoye’s conversion really hurts Okonkwo. But does Nywoye’s conversion hurt Okonkwo because his son cannot be a great clansman or because it hurts his own reputation.

The rulers of Mbanta and Okonkwo both have the same views of the Christian church and they understand the problems it causes. Despite this, the tribe allows to church to exist and does not resort to violence. Okonkwo objects to this as he feels violence is the answer. This shows that Okonkwo is willing to go against the tribe’s morals to preserve them. This again goes back to Okonkwo's fear of weakness. He does not want to look weak by letting the “enemy” convert his people so he would rather resort to violence. He believes that Umofia would have used violence because the “men were bold and warlike” (Pg 162).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/11chapter6.shtml

How many Africans converted to Christianity. 

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                By the second half of the novel, the main conflict of the story is revealed. European settlements and missionaries interfere with the Ibo society. Events within these interferences result in the downfall of Umuofia along with Okonkwo. Achebe also includes a major theme and irony within these last few chapters.

            The clash of cultures between the Ibo and western society is inevitable and predictable. The real matter is the villagers' response to these foreign missionaries. Just as people from first world countries will find the Ibo practices to be absurd, most members of the Ibo think the Christians are crazy. One of them is Okonkwo, who “was convinced that the [missionary] was mad” (pg. 147). However, there is another group of people that accepts the missionary as its alternate sanctuary. These people are rejected by the Ibo society (outcasts) or disagree with certain customs. Nwoye is part of this group. He questions the fate of “the twins crying in the bush and…Ikefuna who was killed” (pg. 47).  As time progress, the missionaries begin to disprove each one of the Ibo beliefs. Citizens in Umuofia realize the falseness of their practice and question it.

            The theme that ignorance leads to violence and failure is shown multiple times throughout the end of the novel. The first instance is the news about Abame. A white man “riding an iron horse” greets the dwellers of Abame. Instead of leaving the man alone, they kill him because they do not understand him and the Oracle tells them that he brings harm. Even Uchendu admits, “Those men of Abame were fool. What did they know about the man?” (pg. 140). Another example of ignorance is Okonkwo’s treatment to Nwoye. Instead of persuading his son to not join the Christians, he scares Nwoye to run away by strangling him. Uchendu also questions Okonkwo’s senseless act of violence by asking, “Are you mad?” (pg. 152).

            Achebe includes irony that involves Okonkwo’s circumstances. The first case of irony is Obierika’s remark to Okonkwo “Kill one of your sons for me” and “Then kill yourself” (pg. 142). Obierika does not want Okonkwo to literally kill himself; however, Okonkwo ends up killing himself ten chapters later. It’s also ironic that Okonkwo killed Ikefuna, who was close to him like a son, and loses Nwoye to the Christians. Achebe may have been foreshadowing Okonkwo’s death and loss of his son. The next demonstration of irony involves Okonkwo’s character. His discipline and aggressiveness made him successful in the beginning of the novel, but these traits destroy his life at the end of the story. Okonkwo’s life is parallel to the decline of the Ibo culture.

Nwoye looks to Christianity because it seems to answer his thoughts about his native religion,especially when the twin newborns are left and Ikemefuna’s death. Also Nwoye feels himself as being an outcast to society because of his views on its laws. This is where the church comes in to rescue to help him cope with these disagreements. The church allows the twins to live, which lets the pregnant woman feel relieved who had to rid of her newborn babies four times. Also men without titles turn to Christianity to find out their worth in society. The osu can change people's perception of them as members of the outcasted society.

Okonkwo though, dismisses Christianity. If Mbanta did not rid of the missionaries, him killing Ikemenfuma would be a crime.Okonkwo hates the church because they do not view his accomplishments like he himself does which mean much more and have a larger value. Religion plays a large role in this book to many of the characters thoughts and actions. It affects much of the plot line.http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/109637/the-role-of-the-christian-missionaries-in-chinua-achebe-s-things-fall

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In chapter 17 you can see the village's fears start to come to light. That their way of life is beginning to change, especially with christian missionaries coming and setting up refuge near their village. Even after Okonkwo has been exiled etc. he still stays true to village beliefs and begins to choke his son when he heard that he was with some of the christian missionaries. Overall the village begins losing more and more people to Christianity and the elders don't want to do anything about it as they feel their gods will take care of the problem for them. You can see that they are so stubborn and afraid of change that they refuse to acknowledge the refugees and they than shun those that do communicate with them.

Post #4

     In the later chapters of Things Fall Apart, we are introduced to the real main conflict: the "white man's religion". Missionaries began settling in tribes and attempted to convert the clans-people to Christianity. One thing that stands out at this point in the novel is how easily some people converted religions; one day they are worshiping Gods of "wood and stone" (pg 146) and wearing masks like the ones shown in the image below, and the next they are bowing down and praying to a brand new God.

    This ease of conversion to Christianity evinces the instability of the religion of the tribes. The fact that men are willing to drop the respect of the clansmen and everything that comes with their religion to follow the missionaries goes to show that they may not have been truly faithful in their religion to begin with. Especially a man (Nyowe) who's father is successful and well-known among the tribe should not be willing to convert after hearing one preaching.
     Okonkwo was expecting anything but this upon his return to Umuofia after 7 years. He had it all planned out, 2 beautiful daughters ready to be married and 2 sons ready to be initiated into the ozo. When he returns to a broken clan with even men of great reputation and power in Umuofia converting to Christianity, it sends him into a depression. Okonkwo not only grieved because he was not given a memorable acceptance back to Umuofia, "He mourned for the clan."(pg 183). He thought things were bad back in his motherland, but things are truly falling apart now in Umuofia.

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The title, Things Fall Apart, begins to become more fitting as the story begins to conclude. Okonkwo seems accident prone after killing Ezeudu's son. Nothing but negativity is associated with Okonkwo. It is very interesting how Achebe describes such a steep downfall for a figure that was once extremely respected by everyone. After, Okonkwo is exiled to Mbanta. Things begin to truly fall apart shortly after Okonkwo's absence. Mr. Kiaga, a white man, goes to the Umuofia and began to preach Christianity. The villagers questioned this religion as the newcomers continuously refer to villagers' religious figures as "False Gods." (pg.145) At this point, readers begin to see how deep rooted the villagers religious beliefs are as they offer a plot of land to the newcomers in the evil forest. This shows that despite the newcomer's claims of their Gods being false, the villagers still have faith that "doom awaited these men" (pg.150). The religious aspect of the villagers’ lives is quite intriguing. In my opinion, it is something to be admired. Despite many naysayers, some villages last undeterred from their native beliefs. In chapter eighteen, Okonkwo shows slithers of his early self as he has yet to change. Okonkwo's  lack of ability to adapt  continuous to hurt his situation. Oknokwo wants to drive the Christians out with violence and stated there "would be no peace" until the "abominal gang was chased out of the village." (pg.158) Once again, referring to a previous post, Okonkwo refers to femininity as weak as he calls the tribe womanly for not acting in violence toward this new religion.

 

Last post!!

Things fall apart rapidly in the last four chapters of Achebe’s novel. Slowly but surely, subtle hints throughout these chapters foreshadow the destruction of the Umuofian tribe. In chapter twenty, Obierika reveals the ugly truth to Okonkwu that the white man has “put a knife on the things that held [them] together” and that the tribe has, indeed, “fallen apart”. (pg.176) Later in chapter twenty-one, Okonkwo began to “mourn for the clan” when he finally saw for himself that it was “breaking up” (pg.183). The reader can feel the story’s abrupt shift from minor events, to extremely influential ones. This shocking transition makes the reader feel as if they were a part of the clan themselves, and have been hit with the element of surprise just like the people of Umuofia. The novel is cleverly written in third- person omniscient to show every aspect of the conquest, the side of the white men and the side of the native Umuofians.

Okonkwo was a man that only knew one way: the way of his tribe. When men disturbed his village and forced change onto his people, it was not unexpected to find his body "dangling "from a tree (pg.207). The reader is told of this in the last chapter of the book, and it is discussed only for about five chapters. When Okonkwo dies, the tribe's old traditions and ceremonies die with him. He was the last person to be unwavering in protection towards Umuofia; as he fell, so did the clan. 

Achebe concludes his novel with the thoughts of the Commissioner. He is planning on writing a book about "bringing civilization to different parts of Africa"(pg.208). The title of the white man's book would be "The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger", which is very ironic because in order to obtain their so-called "pacification", the white men had to create war and hatred between the Umuofians (pg.209). The end of a pure culture that lasted thousands of years marked the beginning of a newer, more controlled society.

Erin Howard 12/4 Post #4

   Relating to the cultural clash theme, the issue of rigidity or flexibility also contributes to the character’s destiny. Okonkwo has an inflexible nature, which makes his destiny seem self-destructive, even before the arrival of the European missionaries. The arrival of the new culture only expedites Okonkwo’s hapless fate.

   Other characters in contrast to Okonkwo in this regard are Obierika and Mr. Brown. Okonkwo’s good friend Obierika is an introspective and fair person. He doesn't advocate the use of force to rid the colonizers and opposition. Rather, he is more open-minded about wavering values and foreign culture. He goes so far as to comment, “Who knows what may happen tomorrow?” when the foreigners show up (60). Like Obierika, Mr. Brown, the first missionary, is an open and adaptable man, whereas Okonkwo is an adamant man of action. Mr. Brown wins over the novices by first respecting the traditions of the Igbo society and finally allowing some accommodation in the conversion process. 

   In addition to the flexibility, or, lack of, the Igbo tribe also relies on chi to determine their destiny. Okonkwo, at his best, feels that his chi relates to his ambition: “When a man says yes, his chi says yes also” (27). At his worst, he feels his chi is against him: “Here was a man whose chi said nay despite his own affirmation" (97).

   The Igbos' lack of unity and  leadership suggest the inevitable fate of becoming victim to colonization by an enforced and ambitious power. Their destiny is decided.

http://www.spiritual-knowledge.net/life/we-are-creators-of-destiny.php

We as humans determine our own fate based on our decisions and the nature we exhibit in everyday life.

Things Fall Apart Chapter 13- A Eulogy

Chapter 13 in Things Fall Apart is a eulogy for Ezeudu. Dictionary.com defines "eulogy" as "a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially a set oration in honor of a deceased person." But this is a little different in Umuofia.

Most of the chapter speaks about how Ezeudu "was a great man (121)", so much so that "all the clan was at his funeral (121)."

But the eulogy for Ezeudu is executed more through actions than through words like a typical speech. This speech is done through retributions, dances, and music. Guns shout, drums bellow, and footsteps beating against the ground softly console the dead's spirit into the afterlife. After someone important dies, the rest of the clan almost goes crazy and let's all of their anger out. They "dashed around in frenzy, cutting down every tree or animal they saw, jumping over walls and dancing on the roof (121)." (We all know how dancing can relieve pressure and let us escape our thoughts.)

The book does pay tribute in real words as well, and it credits how well respected a man he was. He held one of the highest titles in the clan- the third. Because of this, he "was to be buried after dark with only a glowing brand to light the sacred ceremony (123)." This was considered highly respectable.

This aspect of the funeral also shows the culture of the clan and the land. Titles were highly valued along with elders. It was viewed the older you were, the wiser you were. This once again establishes Ezeudu's rank and importance.