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Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart: Okonkwo’s Character as an
Analogy to England
Nandhini. R
Assistant Professor
Department of English
S.I.V.E.T. College
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
India
Abstract:
The protagonist of the saga Things Fall Apart –Okonkwo is more than a life size character
due to his extraordinary mental and physical qualities. While narrating the story of Okonkwo,
Achebe very skillfully weaves the reasons for the protagonist’s downfall and displacement.
The article tries to draw an analogy between Okonkwo and England. . The parallelism
between Okonkwo and England creates a new cultural and social condition in the lives of the
colonizer and the colonized. Okonkwo on the whole is not a figure of knowledge that can be
directly applied to England in order to discover what England does or does not reflect.
Rather, Okonkwo is a vehicle for the representation of England and the text does contain
insights into the formation of historical moments. The character does not behave passively
towards England, in other words he does not reflect England as a mirror. Rather he is
symmetrical to England in some of his characteristic traits.
Key Words: Okonkwo- England Similitude, W.B.Yeats-Things Fall Apart.
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“The end may justify the means as long as there is something that justifies the end.”
ʊ Leon Trotsky, Their Morals and Ours
The texts of History have often suffered at the hands of its professed exponents. In a measure,
it has almost been falsified. It has sometimes been converted into a record of the doings of the
great men of this world, of the lives of kings and statesmen and their peers. But if history is
anything, it is the record of a nation’s life. A mere knowledge of a Fredrick or of a Napoleon
is not to know the history of Prussia or of France during the epochs upon which those
conquerors left their impressions. It is something that is beyond all the whims and fancies of
the winners. According to New Historicism, the texts have political ramifications of literary
interpretations. Further, texts of all kinds are the vehicles of politics, as texts mediate the fabric
of social, political and cultural formations. With this perspective Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall
Apart is examined, focusing on the subtext to draw an analogy between the life of Okonkwa
(protagonist of Things Fall Apart) and the History of England.
Things Fall Apart is the first and by far the most cherished of Achebe’s novels. It is also a
land mark in the history of Anglophone literature from the African continent. It is located at
the turn of the nineteenth century when the whites had just made their entry into Africa. They
were exploring the possibilities of enlarging the frontiers of the British Empire, which had
already enslaved a large part of the world.
Structured on a limited frame on one hundred and forty eight pages, the book, which is little
more than a novella, is a revealing account of African life and the changes it had been subjected
to. It is the story of an Ibo warrior told in three parts. Part one is devoted to the rise and
reputation of Okonkwo. Simultaneously, placing the focus on Ibo culture and traditions. Part
two exposes the anarchy in the Ibo culture and the advent of the white man with his civilizing
mission in this part of Africa. The final part of the book uncovers the process of anarchy
working into the roots of the native culture.
Proud, ambitious, and ill-tempered Okonkwo is the tragic hero of Things Fall Apart. The
parallelism between Okonkwo and England creates a new cultural and social condition in the
lives of the colonizer and the colonized. Okonkwo on the whole is not a figure of knowledge
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that can be directly applied to England in order to discover what England does or does not
reflect. Rather, Okonkwo is a vehicle for the representation of England and the text does
contain insights into the formation of historical moments. The character does not behave
passively towards England, in other words he does not reflect England as a mirror. Rather he
is symmetrical to England in some of his characteristic traits.
Okonkwo is a self-made, well-respected member of the Umoufia clan. Though outwardly stern
and powerful, much of his life is dictated by internal fear. His greatest, overwhelming worry is
that he will become like his father – lazy, unable to support his family, and cowardly. Okonkwo
considers many of his father’s characteristics to be feminine. His father begged and borrowed
from his neighbors often. His life was solely controlled by others. Much of Okonkwo’s
behavior results from a reactionary desire to be completely unlike his father.
Unlike many young men of his age, Okonkwo did not inherit either a barn or a title or a wife.
He has to earn everything by the sweat of his brow. Above all he was very scared of being
compared to his idle, no good father. His fear was “ Deeper than and more intimate than the
fear of evil and capricious gods and magic, the fear of forest, and the forces of nature,
malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these” (9) so he spared no
effort to prove to the society that he is a shadow of his father.
Okonkwo thereby, adhered to the demands of his culture without questions and followed its
ethics very faithfully. His culture placed immeasurable faith on manliness and courage. Right
from his childhood, Okonkwo decided to live up to the tenets of his clan. The fact that his father
Unoka proved a failure as far as the male values is concerned added strength to his resolution
to make a name for himself among the titled elders of the society of Umoufia. For him
fortunately, his society placed achievement on a higher pedestal than age. So, Okonkwo
worked from dawn to dusk and succeeded in becoming rich and prosperous.
There is, however, the problem of love and intimacy. Okonkwo rarely showed these aspects of
himself since he considered these emotions soft and feminine – but the emotions are there
nonetheless. At the same time, he tended toward the emotions that are extreme, and his
disquietude motivated him to take actions which are often unnecessary and ultimately
destructive.
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In spite of this impetus trepidation, Okonkwo became successful in many ways – he turned
out very wealthy, held a high-ranked position in the community, had three wives, and is
known for his skill as a wrestler and warrior. Okonkwo ruled his household with an iron
hand. When he walked, he hardly made a sound. It looked as if he walked on springs. When
he slept his snoring could be heard far. “His fame rested on solid personal achievements” (9)
As an uncompromising man’s man, Okonkwo’s relationship towards his family was one of
complete dictatorship. His three wives were there to serve him his food and raise his children.
By seeing them as his subjects, Okonkwo can justify his brutal behavior against them. He can
beat his wives without guilt. He can threaten Ekwefi with a gun when she talks back. He can
rebuke Nwoye for listening to old wives’ tales. This sense of ownership is exemplified when
Okonkwo takes Ikemefuna’s life. Though he does have qualms about killing Ikemefuna, they
are not qualms about whether or not he has the right to do it. Okonkwo feels complete
ownership over his family. Okonkwo, the self-made emerges as the representative of the Ibo
culture at the age of eighteen as he possesses the very best of qualities glorified by that cultureculture, valor and fearlessness.
On the other hand, fervent, resolute and zealous, England emerged as a country exuding power
and imperialism. England stumbled from centuries of subjugation and finally became so
powerful, that till today she is the only country which held a very vast empire. British history
encompasses events that shaped and reshaped the world map, influential figures whose legacy
remains with us today and disparate people from every corner of the globe. The remarkable
words of Confucius: “Our greatest glory is in never falling, but in rising every time we fall”
suits England Better. Else how could a small island nation which was controlled for more than
thousand five hundred years can become the largest imperialistic realm. May be the reason
for England’s gigantic advancement is because of her sheer fear of being ascended by others
like Okonkwo.
It is observed that “the early history of Britain is essentially the history of its invaders”. The
Celts, the Romans, the Anglo Saxons and the Normans were some of the significant conquerors
of England each in their own unique manner. From 55 B.C to the end of 13th century England
was controlled by various powers. The language, economy and government of Britain were
solely constrained by the external powers. When in the 14th century, England became a free
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state she was like that of a seed which was once dormant under the pressures of the mud started
growing immensely like a tree.
Britain began colonizing mainly because of her need to trade, rather than the need for
military conquest. This is the reason why England is known as a trade-based empire. When
Britain was completely free in the 14th century she was very poor, and did not possess a good
capital. In order to improvise the the standard of living England began to colonize other
countries to seek immediate profits.
The Industrial Revolution which took place in Europe in 17th century gave rise to the need for
raw materials. England looked at Southeast Asia as a good target as she had rich natural
resources. After some early colonies were established and become the sole markets to buy
English goods, the England realized the huge commercial potential of overseas acquisitions
and consequently tried to expand her colonization
The 'first British Empire' included the Americas in the 17th and 18th centuries. The 'second
British Empire' included many countries in Asia and Africa from the 18th century until the
early 20th century. At its height in the late 19th and early 20th century, the British Empire had
colonies on all continents. England made up to about a quarter of the world's population and
area. The British Empire lasted very long because of three reasons. First, the British had good
command over the sea. Second, the British were outstanding in international trading, and
finally, the British rule was flexible but at the same time rigid. This made England gain the
enormous colonial possession among the other nations and a monopoly position in the world
market.
Next, in Okonkwo’s case, he represented everything his society valued both strength and
weakness. He attained a tragic end because of the flaw in his virtue of strength. The British
invasion has little to do with the falling apart of Okonkwo’s village. The damage was done
before the British even arrived. In killing the messenger at the end of the novel, Okonkwo was
trying to save the culture when no one resisted. Whether or not he hanged himself, under British
rule he would have still been dead.
Okonkwo’s self-interpretation led him to conclude that a “good man” was someone who was
the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father did was weak and
unnecessary. Okonkwo’s fear led him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his
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son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could
have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter
how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially
his women) he was not really a man" (45). Okonkwo wrestles with his fear that any sign of
weakness will cause him to lose control of his family, position in the village, and even himself.
Like many heroes of classical tragedy, Okonkwo’s tragic flaw, fear, also makes him
excessively proud .Okonkwo construes change as weakness, and as a result of his interpretation
he only knows how to react to change through anger and strength. He derives great satisfaction,
“hubris” or prideful arrogance, from the fact that he is a traditional, self-made man and thinks
that to change would mean submitting to an outside force.
Following Okonkwo’s seven year exile (due to Okonkwo’s accidental killing of a member of
the tribe at Ogbuefi’s funeral -the climax of the novel or Aristotle’s definition of a dramatic
reversal), the village Okonkwo once knew has changed due to the influence of Christianity and
the influence of the British. Okonkwo’s initial reaction is to arm the clan against the colonists
and drive the British out of Igbo. “Now he (the white man) has won our brothers, and our clan
can no longer act like one. He (the white man) has put a knife on the things that held us together
and we have fallen apart” (152). Okonkwo had always used his strength and courage to protect
the community from destabilizing forces, and because Okonkwo was a traditional man the
introduction of Christianity posed a threat to all the values, morals and beliefs he sought to
protect. Okonkwo resists change at every step and instead resorts to violence toward anything
he perceived as a threat to his culture or values.
Okonkwo’s arrogant pride makes him believe that the clan leaders would eventually reunite
the clan and drive the British colonists out of Umuofia. Hoping that the clan will follow his
lead, Okonkwo beheads a messenger of the British who was sent to break up a village meeting
regarding the possibility of going to war. However, the clan instead of following Okonkwo’s
symbolic action is shocked by Okonkwo’s brutality. Okonkwo recognizes “that Umuofia
would not go to war”, because the clan “had broken into tumult instead of action” and realizes
that he must now face his disgrace alone.
The Igbo culture had made Okonkwo a hero, but the Igbo culture changed with the coming of
the British colonists. Okonkwo, the hero, would rather die than be humiliated by his enemies
and by committing suicide and prevented the European colonizers from avenging him.
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Aristotle’s statement, “Man, when perfect, is the best of animals, but, when separated from law
and justice, he is the worst of all”, embodies the rise and fall of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s
novel. Okonkwo, like many tragic heroes before him, maybe a hero but his tragic flaw prevents
him from achieving true greatness as a human being.
Similarly, being the owner of a huge colonial empire who provided exclusive markets and
capital investments, Great Britain entered an imperialistic epoch. The aspiration of English
capitalists to expand the British Empire made England stern and unyielding. This in turn led to
the expansion of the army and colonial bureaucracy. British Empire represented the difficult
political-economic system to which all the colonized countries should submit themselves.
Britain became so stern as she feared that Germany or France or America might overpower her
and all her riches will be unshackled to rugs like it was before the fourteenth century. Also she
thought that all her colonies will follow her rules in a blind-folded manner. But there was a
persistent counteraction from the colonized nations, which paved way to complete dependence
from Britain.
World War I dismantled the developed economic state in the British Empire. On the other
hand it accelerated economic development in the British domains .Hence, Britain was
compelled to recognize her rights to conducting independent foreign policy. There was chaos
and confusion even after the First World War. Throughout the world there prevailed unrest
which soon resulted in World War II. Though the British Empire won the Second World War,
results of this war were terrifying. England ruined completely which was then occupied by the
armies of the USA and the USSR to which the balance of force was ousted. In colonies
anticolonial movement sharply amplified ensuing decolonization in many countries. From the
world’s largest empire England just shrank to a few scattered islands and outposts.
In the darkest periods of slavery, like Okonkwo England had never wavered from her courage.
The fear of falling made her courageous and big. Her then contemporary conditions made her
get involved in the two world wars. Just as Okonkwo failed in spite of being strong, the country
of England did not win against the will of other nations. In the “Second Coming” W.B.Yeats
states that
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
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The blood dimmed tide is loose and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is lost. (3-6)
In the view of the poet, no individual or civilization can either remain static or evolve forever
towards a more inclusive perfection. It must collapse from within and the replacement that
follows will appear most opposite to itself, being built from what it overlooked or undermined.
Neither the colonized (Okonkwo) nor the colonizer (England) is an exception to it.
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References
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1995. Print.
Ashok, Padmaja. The Social History of England from Tudor Times to 1990. Chennai: Angel
Offset Printers, 1996. Print.
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