Saturday, November 19, 2011:
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Characters:
Okonkwo - An influential clan leader in Umuofia. Since early childhood, Okonkwo’s embarrassment about his lazy, squandering, and effeminate father, Unoka, has driven him to succeed. Okonkwo’s hard work and prowess in war have earned him a position of high status in his clan, and he attains wealth sufficient to support three wives and their children. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is that he is terrified of looking weak like his father. As a result, he behaves rashly, bringing a great deal of trouble and sorrow upon himself and his family.
Nwoye - Okonkwo’s oldest son, whom Okonkwo believes is weak and lazy. Okonkwo continually beats Nwoye, hoping to correct the faults that he perceives in him. Influenced by Ikemefuna, Nwoye begins to exhibit more masculine behavior, which pleases Okonkwo. However, he maintains doubts about some of the laws and rules of his tribe and eventually converts to Christianity, an act that Okonkwo criticizes as “effeminate.” Okonkwo believes that Nwoye is afflicted with the same weaknesses that his father, Unoka, possessed in abundance.
Ezinma - The only child of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi. As the only one of Ekwefi’s ten children to survive past infancy, Ezinma is the center of her mother’s world. Their relationship is atypical—Ezinma calls Ekwefi by her name and is treated by her as an equal. Ezinma is also Okonkwo’s favorite child, for she understands him better than any of his other children and reminds him of Ekwefi when Ekwefi was the village beauty. Okonkwo rarely demonstrates his affection, however, because he fears that doing so would make him look weak. Furthermore, he wishes that Ezinma were a boy because she would have been the perfect son.
Ikemefuna - A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village. Ikemefuna lives in the hut of Okonkwo’s first wife and quickly becomes popular with Okonkwo’s children. He develops an especially close relationship with Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, who looks up to him. Okonkwo too becomes very fond of Ikemefuna, who calls him “father” and is a perfect clansman, but Okonkwo does not demonstrate his affection because he fears that doing so would make him look weak.
Mr. Brown - The first white missionary to travel to Umuofia. Mr. Brown institutes a policy of compromise, understanding, and non-aggression between his flock and the clan. He even becomes friends with prominent clansmen and builds a school and a hospital in Umuofia. Unlike Reverend Smith, he attempts to appeal respectfully to the tribe’s value system rather than harshly impose his religion on it.
Reverend James Smith - The missionary who replaces Mr. Brown. Unlike Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith is uncompromising and strict. He demands that his converts reject all of their indigenous beliefs, and he shows no respect for indigenous customs or culture. He is the stereotypical white colonialist, and his behavior epitomizes the problems of colonialism. He intentionally provokes his congregation, inciting it to anger and even indirectly, through Enoch, encouraging some fairly serious transgressions.
Uchendu - The younger brother of Okonkwo’s mother. Uchendu receives Okonkwo and his family warmly when they travel to Mbanta, and he advises Okonkwo to be grateful for the comfort that his motherland offers him lest he anger the dead—especially his mother, who is buried there. Uchendu himself has suffered—all but one of his six wives are dead and he has buried twenty-two children. He is a peaceful, compromising man and functions as a foil (a character whose emotions or actions highlight, by means of contrast, the emotions or actions of another character) to Okonkwo, who acts impetuously and without thinking.
The District Commissioner - An authority figure in the white colonial government in Nigeria. The prototypical racist colonialist, the District Commissioner thinks that he understands everything about native African customs and cultures and he has no respect for them. He plans to work his experiences into an ethnographic study on local African tribes, the idea of which embodies his dehumanizing and reductive attitude toward race relations.
Unoka - Okonkwo’s father, of whom Okonkwo has been ashamed since childhood. By the standards of the clan, Unoka was a coward and a spendthrift. He never took a title in his life, he borrowed money from his clansmen, and he rarely repaid his debts. He never became a warrior because he feared the sight of blood. Moreover, he died of an abominable illness. On the positive side, Unoka appears to have been a talented musician and gentle, if idle. He may well have been a dreamer, ill-suited to the chauvinistic culture into which he was born. The novel opens ten years after his death.
Obierika - Okonkwo’s close friend, whose daughter’s wedding provides cause for festivity early in the novel. Obierika looks out for his friend, selling Okonkwo’s yams to ensure that Okonkwo won’t suffer financial ruin while in exile and comforting Okonkwo when he is depressed. Like Nwoye, Obierika questions some of the tribe’s traditional strictures.
Ekwefi - Okonkwo’s second wife, once the village beauty. Ekwefi ran away from her first husband to live with Okonkwo. Ezinma is her only surviving child, her other nine having died in infancy, and Ekwefi constantly fears that she will lose Ezinma as well. Ekwefi is good friends with Chielo, the priestess of the goddess Agbala.
Enoch - A fanatical convert to the Christian church in Umuofia. Enoch’s disrespectful act of ripping the mask off an egwugwu during an annual ceremony to honor the earth deity leads to the climactic clash between the indigenous and colonial justice systems. While Mr. Brown, early on, keeps Enoch in check in the interest of community harmony, Reverend Smith approves of his zealotry.
- How could Okonkwo killing Ikemefuna anger "The Earth" even though the Oracle ordered Ikemefuna's death? - it was like killing his own son (Okonkwo treated him like his own son). Okonkwo was, maybe, flollowed Ikemefuna to comfort him in someway and to kill him fast to make him not suffer so much. Obierika said, "but if the Oracle said that my son should be killed i would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it."
- What is the significance of the story of the tortoise in chapter 11? - (Proverbs) to teach lessons for kids. with shells; "life falls apart but we can always put it together."
- What is the significance of Okonkwo killing the son of Ezeudu at Ezeudu's "Worriori Funeral?" - it was a crime of the Earth God. female crime vs. male crime; "we are not strong enough to commit the big crime like male can (accidentally killed)" vs. "Okonkwo killed him on a special day and beat his wife on a special day."
- How does the exile of Okonkwo to his Motherland limit him in leadership during the introduction of the white missionaries? - i think that Okonkwo doesn't have any power. his uncle has the knowledge that Okonkwo doesn't have and his uncle treated him a child who still needed to learn more.
- If Okonkwo had not been exiled to his Motherland in Mbanta, how do you think his Fatherland village of Umuofia would have responded to the missionaries and their one God philosophy had the great warrior Okonkwo been there to help make village decisions? - Okonkwo is the fighter and if he had not been exiled then people in the village might have been stuck with the order of Okonkwo, going to the war, maybe.
MY RESPONSE:
This response is very detailed, especially with the characters. With Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart it is very important to understand the different characters and culture so one can truly comprehend the story. A few things I would add are its parallel to William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming" such as when it states, "the falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold..." thus depicting the lack of foundation in the Igbo culture. The culture had no proof to validate their beliefs, for instance the python, whereas the Christian church seemed to have support to back their claim to faith. All of the Igbo's beliefs are from authority figures, which end up falling apart because there needs to be a root or foundation not just a belief, because just as a building needs support, so does a culture. In response to this poem, Achebe wrote his story to clear up some misconceptions about the culture in addition to providing a more accurate portrayal.
Okonkwo yearned to be the lords of the clan, and when he had nearly achieved it his world started to "fall apart." This led to, "Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women (Achebe 2937)." The pain and weakness translated to the inequality when viewing men as better than women.
