Eddie Heinrich
S. Bosch
English 10 Honors
13 August 2006
Things Fall Apart Essay One
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a story based on the heritage and lifestyles of African tribes around the 1890's. The ways of the tribes is very different than our Western culture in the United States, and involve very controversial beliefs and traditions on such topics as family, heritage, language, memory, and lives. As the story unfolds and the cultural ways of these people are explained, the pride the author has for these such things is revealed and expressed.
Family is a big part of the Umuofian culture in Things Fall Apart. The families live together, work together, and survive together. A family consists of a husband, multiple numbers of wives, and however many children each wife produced. The families maintain a reputation within the tribe, and whether it be the youngest of the family to the very eldest, the actions of each of the members is reflected on the family in a whole. And it wasn’t only the live members of the family to whom it consists of. Ancestors play a great role in these peoples’ lives, as they “prayed to the ancestors for life and health” (Achebe 6). A situation in the story which reflected much of Achebe’s beliefs in the importance of family and his pride that lied with it was involving Okonkwo’s eldest son, Nwoye, when he left his family to join the White man’s church. Okonkwo’s reaction wasn’t well, as he strangled and banished his very son. On Achebe’s part, this action committed by his character Okonkwo reflects the importance he believes is in family and staying with your parents’ and ancestors’ customs.
Heritage is the second big part of Things Fall Apart in which Chinua Achebe’s pride in is greatly displayed. Achebe went to such lengths as to stress the heritage of these people as to write the whole first part of the book based on it, and to explain its importance in how the people live their lives. The main character, Okonkwo, is a big reflection of Achebe, and is feelings on heritage. Throughout the book, White men from England are inhabiting the African villages and converting the people while destroying their customs and ways. Okonkwo suffers greatly because of this, and felt that his clan “was a womanly clan” (Achebe 159) and hated the thought that “such a thing could never happen in his fatherland” (Achebe 159) in relation to the white men changing the customs. In the end, it played such a great burden on Okonkwo that the white man “drove him to kill himself” (Achebe 208).
Language is also greatly portrayed through Achebe’s words in the story. I believe that even the unorthodox way the story was written was a statement to the language of the African people. With such short, to-the-point sentences, I believe this was a reflection to the language spoken by the Umuofians and the format it was spoken in. Another event in the story where language showed an importance was when the eight men of the village were tricked by the white judge and captured. While these men were tied up, a man watched guard over them and their own unique language was unknown to this evil man standing over them so they could talk without him knowing what they were talking about. In this situation Okonkwo states “We should have killed the white man if you listened to me” (Achebe 195), and if said in a language understood by the very men he was speaking against, it could have led to big trouble for him.
Memory is another topic in the African culture in which Achebe took pride in and saw as important. The concept of memory to the African people as a whole is a big deal, having no writing methods for their language. Every story told was passed through the generations through memory. The stories about the earth, their gods, their ancestors, and the way things came to be were all topics on which stories were told, and if these stories weren’t retold and memorized, they would vanish along with the heritage of the ancient people. Achebe must have taken great pride in this topic by even including such said stories about the way things came to be such as the story of how the turtle’s shell became separated into pieces.
The last topic in which Achebe took great pride in was lives. In the Igbo culture of Africa, life is the center of all things. The people work so hard to stay alive, yet they will sacrifice their lives for their beliefs. Life is an important thing because it can bring you pleasure by both doing great things with your life or by losing it while doing something great. Okonkwo was a hero in his culture. He was a magnificent wrestler, and a ferocious warrior. He was famous and revered, and his life was sacred until the unfortunate events of the story led him to kill himself. Life is so important to these people and “it is an abomination for a man to take his life” (Achebe 207) in their customs.
When Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart, he not only did it to share the ways of the African people, but also interpreted his own feelings towards things in the text. He took a true situation and transferred it into a creative story which expressed the sorrows felt at the time. The rich culture of the land was important to Achebe, and certain topics he felt had a stronger standpoint in the Igbo culture than others.