Chinua Achebe: Father of African
Literature 1930 - 2013
Lecture 2
http://viennachinuaachebe.wordpress.com/
Derek Barker
www.derekbarker.info
Dr.Derek.Barker@gmail.com
Things Fall Apart
• It was published in 1958, two years before
Nigeria’s independence
• Translated into over fifty languages and has sold
above ten million copies
• Achebe regarded as “father of African literature”
• Did not receive the Nobel prize in spite of fierce
lobbying by supports
Summary I
The chief protagonist Okonkwo is strong,
hard-working, and strives to show no
weakness. Okonkwo wants to dispel his
father Unoka’s tainted legacy of being
cheap (he borrowed and lost money, and
neglected his wives and children) and
cowardly (he feared the sight of blood)
Summary II
Okonkwo works to build his wealth entirely
on his own, as Unoka died a shameful
death and left many unpaid debts.
Although brusque with his three wives,
children, and neighbours, he is wealthy,
courageous, and powerful among the
people of his village. He is a leader of his
village, and he has attained a position in his
society for which he has striven all his life.
Summary III
Because of the great esteem in which the
village holds him, Okonkwo is selected by
the elders to be the guardian of Ikemefuna,
a boy taken by the village as a peace
settlement between Umuofia and another
village after Ikemefuna's father killed an
Umuofian woman. The boy lives with
Okonkwo's family and Okonkwo grows fond
of him. The boy looks up to Okonkwo and
considers him a second father.
Summary IV
The Oracle of Umuofia eventually pronounces
that the boy must be killed. Ezeudu, the
oldest man in the village, warns Okonkwo that
he should have nothing to do with the murder
because it would be like killing his own child.
But to avoid seeming weak and feminine to
the other men of the village, Okonkwo
participates in the murder of the boy despite
the warning from the old man
Summary V
In fact, Okonkwo himself strikes the killing
blow even as Ikemefuna begs his "father"
for protection. However, for many days
after killing Ikemefuna, Okonkwo feels
guilty and saddened by this.
Summary VI
Shortly after Ikemefuna's death, things
begin to go wrong for Okonkwo. During a
gun salute at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's
gun explodes and kills Ezeudu's son. He and
his family are sent into exile for seven years
to appease the gods he has offended.
Summary VII
While Okonkwo is away, white men begin
to arrive in Umuofia with the intent of
introducing their religion. As the number of
converts increases, the foothold of the
white people grows and a new government
is introduced. The village is forced to
respond with either appeasement or
conflict to the imposition of the white
people's nascent society.
Summary VIII
Returning from exile, Okonkwo finds his
village a changed place because of the
presence of the white men. He and other
tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on
their native land by destroying a local
Christian church. In return, the leader of
the white government takes them prisoner
and holds them for ransom for a short
while, further humiliating and insulting the
native leaders
Summary IX
As a result, the people of Umuofia finally
gather for what could be a great uprising.
Okonkwo, a warrior by nature and adamant
about following Umuofian custom and
tradition, despises any form of cowardice
and advocates for war against the white
men. When messengers of the white
government try to stop the meeting,
Okonkwo kills one of them.
Summary X
He realizes with despair that the people of
Umuofia are not going to fight to protect
themselves — his society's response to
such a conflict, which for so long had been
predictable and dictated by tradition, is
changing.
Summary XI
When the local leader of the white
government comes to Okonkwo's house to
take him to court, he finds that Okonkwo
has hanged himself. He ultimately commits
suicide rather than be tried in a colonial
court. Among his own people, Okonkwo's
action has ruined his reputation and status,
as it is strictly against the teachings of the
Igbo to commit suicide.
Characters
•
Okonkwo is the novel's protagonist. He has three
wives and eight children, and is a brave and rash
Umuofian (Nigerian) warrior and clan leader.
Unlike most, he cares more for his daughter
(Ezinma) than his son, Nwoye (who is later called
Isaac), who he believes is weak. Okonkwo is the
son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, a man he
resents for his weaknesses. Okonkwo strives to
make his way in a culture that traditionally values
manliness. As a young man he defeated the
village's best wrestler, earning him lasting prestige
Characters
•
Unoka is Okonkwo's father, who lived a life in
contrast to typical Igbo masculinity. He loved
language and music, the flute in particular. He
is lazy and miserly, neglecting to take care of his
wives and children and even dies with unpaid
debts. Okonkwo spends his life trying not to
become a failure like his father Unoka.
Characters
•
Nwoye is Okonkwo's son, about whom
Okonkwo worries, fearing that he will become
like Unoka. Similar to Unoka, Nwoye does not
ascribe to the traditional Igbo view of
masculinity being equated to violence; rather,
he prefers the stories of his mother. Nwoye
connects to Ikemefuma, who presents an
alternative to Okonkwo's rigid masculinity. He is
one of the early converts to Christianity with
the arrival of the missionaries, an act which
Okonkwo views as a final betrayal.
Characters
•
Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. He
is given to Okonkwo in a settlement when an
Mbaino tribesman murders the wife of an
Umofian. Ikemefuna is ultimately murdered, an
act which Okonkwo does not prevent, and even
participates in, for fear of seeming not
masculine.
Characters
•
Ezinma is Okonkwo's favorite daughter, and the
only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma is very much
the antithesis of a normal woman within the
culture and Okonkwo routinely remarks that she
would've made a much better boy than a girl,
even wishing that this was the case of her birth.
Ezinma often contradicts and challenges her
father, which wins his adoration, affection, and
respect. She is very similar to her father, and this
is made apparent when she matures into a
beautiful young woman who refuses to marry
Themes I
Notion of success and failure. Okonkwo's
personal ambition to avoid a life of "failure"
similar to his father, Unoka, leads to his high title
and affluence in the community. He ardently
tries to avoid failure. The notion of failure draws
a parallel with the idea of cultural alteration in
Umuofia and a shift in cultural values. Failure, for
Okonkwo, is societal reform, hence Okonkwo's
drastic, and at times unpredictable, exploits in
opposition to anything foreign or lacking in what
he perceives to be masculine traits.
Themes II
Social value of communication. In spite of
innumerable opportunities for understanding,
people must strive to communicate. For
example, Okonkwo and his son Nwoye have a
difficult time understanding one another
because they hold different values. On the other
hand, Okonkwo spends more time with
Ikemefuna and develops a deeper relationship
that seems to go beyond cultural restraints.
Themes III
Inter-dependence of society and individual.
Individuals gain strength from their society or
community, and societies derive strength from
the individuals who belong to them. In Things
Fall Apart, Okonkwo builds his titles and strength
with the support of his society's customs.
Likewise, Okonkwo's community profits from his
hard work and willpower to remain strong.
Themes IV
Struggle between change and tradition is
constant. Change can be accepted, as evidenced
by how the people of Umuofia refuse to join
Okonkwo as he strikes down the white man's
messenger at the end. Okonkwo is bothered by
change perhaps because the idea of losing
everything he has built up, such as his fortune,
prestige, and title, depends on the old values
being maintained. These will be replaced by new
values.
Question
Any other themes
that you can think
of?
Orature – some features
• Single narrative perspective
• Absence of omniscient narrator /
speculative statement / internal
dialogue
• Simple in plot, stereotypical phrases,
proverbs
• rhetorical questions, songs, moral
endings, ideophones.
Question
• Are there any features of orature
present in “Things Fall Apart”?
Question
• What is postcolonialism?
Postcolonial literature
•
Post-colonial literature (also Postcolonial literature, New
English Literature, and New English literatures) is a body of
literary writing that responds to the intellectual discourse of
European colonization in the Asia, Africa, Middle East, the
Pacific, and other post-colonial areas throughout the globe.
Post-colonial literature addresses the problems and
consequences of the de-colonization of a country and of a
nation, especially the political and cultural independence of
formerly subjugated colonial peoples; and it also is a literary
critique of and about post-colonial literature, the undertones
of which carry, communicate, and justify racism and
colonialism.
Abiola Irele
Things Fall Apart provides an image of an
African society reconstituted as a living
entity and in its historic circumstances, an
image of a coherent social structure
forming the institutional fabric of a
universe of meaning and values
Question
• Is “Things Fall Apart” a historical
novel?
Questions
• Why does Things Fall Apart end with
the District Commissioner musing
about the book that he is writing on
Africa?
Question
• What is the role of weather in the
novel? How does it work, symbolically
or otherwise, in relation to important
elements of the novel such as
religion? Are rain and draught
significant? Explore the ways in which
weather affects the emotional and
spiritual realms of the novel as well as
the physical world.
Question
• Role of women: Women suffer great
losses in this novel but also, in certain
circumstances, hold tremendous
power. What role do women play in
Okonkwo’s life? Is there any
difference between his interaction
with specific women and his
understanding of women and
femininity in general?
Question
• In what ways does the idea of
progress shape the novel? If Unoka,
Okonkwo, and Nwoye are symbolic of
three successive generations, how
does society in Umuofia change over
the course of their lifetimes? Where
does Ikemefuna fit into this picture?
Question
• What is the role of the number 7 in
the novel? Are there any theological
and moral similarities between
Christianity and Igbo religion?