Things Fall Apart
Chapters 24-25
Chapter 24
• Okonkwo and the other men are released as soon
as their fine is paid. They leave the courtroom
and do not speak to each other or anyone else.
• As they return to the village the women and
children do not speak to them and move out of
their way. Each man returns to their own
compound. Ezinma prepares food for Okonkwo;
she and Okonkwo’s friend, Obierika, see the
marks on his back from the whip.
Chapter 24
• The town crier beats his drum to announce
another meeting. In the quiet of the night
Okonkwo swears vengeance against the men
who imprisoned him.
• As the crier requested, the villagers gather in
the market place at sunrise. Many people
from the nine villages have gathered at the
market place.
Chapter 24
• The first man to speak in the market place is
Okika. He encourages his clansmen to stand
and fight against those who have caused their
brothers to desert them.
• During the speech, unnoticed, five white court
messengers come around the bend and stand
a few paces from the edge of the crowd.
Chapter 24
• Trembling with hate, Okonkwo stands in front of the
messenger but is unable to speak. The messenger
brings word that the white man orders their meetings
to end.
• This is what Achebe meant when he titled his book,
“Things Fall Apart!”
• As soon as the first messenger speaks, Okonkwo draws
his machete and kills him. The meeting is stopped, and
Okonkwo realizes that his clan will not go to war.
• Okonkwo wipes his machete on the sand and walks
away.
Chapter 25
• The District Commissioner comes to
Okonkwo’s compound with an armed band of
soldiers and asks for Okonkwo. Obierika tells
him that Okonkwo is not home.
• Angry, the commissioner threatens to
imprison them if they do not cooperate.
Obierika tells the Commissioner that although
Okonkwo is not home he will take them to
Okonkwo.
Chapter 25
• Obierika leads the men to a small bush behind
Okonkwo’s compound and then to the wall. Next,
they come to a tree from which they see
Okonkwo’s body hanging.
• A clansmen who hangs himself is an abomination,
so Obierika asks the Commissioner if his men will
take Okonkwo down from the tree. According to
custom, a man who takes his own life can not be
buried by his clansmen.
Chapter 25
• In a flash of temper, Obierika turns to the District
Commissioner and says, “That man was one of
the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to
kill himself; and now he will be buried like a
dog…”
• The commissioner orders his men to take down
Okonkwo’s body and decides to honor the
group’s request, but leaves his messengers to do
the work.
• The District Commissioner is a true politician!
Chapter 25
• As the commissioner leaves he thinks about the book
he plans to write, and decides to include a chapter or
maybe a paragraph about the man who killed a
messenger, then hanged himself. He will title the book,
The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower
Niger.
• Pacification is an attempt to create or maintain peace.
That can mean appeasing a hostile country through
diplomacy or even just by settling an argument. A
pacifist is someone who is against fighting and wars.
• Primitive - of, belonging to, or seeming to come from
an early time in the very ancient past