Things Fall Apart

Important Quotes and questions

"Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?" 125

"You think you are the greatest sufferer in the world?" (135) followed by "Do you know how many children I have buried?... I did not hang myself.." Which I think must be foreshadowing the end of the novel in some way..

"Never kill a man who says nothing." (141) So it's okay to kill a man who speaks? Is this why Okonkwo decapitates the white messenger? Or the son of another man in the village, leaving him to be banished for 7 years?

"A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland.. that is why we say that mother is supreme." 134

Why is Okonkwo abusive to his wives and members of his own family? Why does he struggle to see the value of women? He depends on his wives for support and meals daily, but they still displease him. He could, you know.. be thankful for once.. just saying.

Okonkwo repeats "I wish Ezinma had been born a man" several times. Why is value associated with being a man? How do gender roles define the social behavior of this time period? Have we really changed away from this thought process?

I think that a crime committed, even inadvertently, still does harm to those inflicted. Otherwise, Okonkwo would be able to kill and use this excuse no matter what his true intentions were. Sometimes the sins of others alters our lives too.

For a man who creates purpose for his life by stepping over those around him, he certainly does a lot of complaining. Uchendu's reality check at the end of chapter 14 is an attempt to help Okonkwo understand that his treatment of women is so beyond unwarranted. He never cooks meals or births the children, but he seeks solace in his mother's land when he is in need. To him, women exist to be stepped over in the pursuit of man's own want. I think the realization of his own behavior is the thing that led him to suicide. He took life away from others in one form or another, all for the reason that "being a man" justifies this level of behavior.

What exactly does Okonkwo learn in his 7 years away from the clan? He kills before he leaves, and soon after he returns, he kills another man, and then kills himself. Is suicide the only escape from the white man's burden unfolding in Umuofia? Or was the weight of what he has done finally caught up to him?

"How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? He says that our customs are bad, and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad..Now he has won our brothers..He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." 176

Things fall apart...Not even a blood connection is enough to keep people together in the end.

"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" 183

Similes often link men to women in a degrading fashion. Is the clan falling apart because of the Christians? Or because Okonkwo killed two men? Or because the foundation of the clan itself, women, are constantly insulted? Or because men aren't as manly as they were? Are his priorities with the gender roles of the time, or the treatment of those around him?

“It seemed as if the very soul of the tribe wept for a great evil that was coming—it’s own death” 187.

Who or what causes the death? Okonkwo’s behavior? Or the actions of the white man? Why did the sons of the clan convert to the white man’s religion?

Devices!

Dialect and Language

Metaphor

“He, Okonkwo, was called a flaming fire.” (5) Fire is a symbol that reveals Okonkwo’s ruthless character. Okonkwo is a leader, fueled by passion. His authority is respected and important amongst the other clansmen. He is threatening to many, including his own family. The metaphor emphasizes his character by suggesting that he is a threatening symbol.

Imagery

“Nwoye turned round to walk into the inner compound when his father, suddenly overcame with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck” followed by “Okonkwo seized a heavy stick that lay on the dwarf fall and hit him two or three savage blows” (116)

The fiery brutality of Okonkwo is something his wives and children are fully aware of. Okonkwo’s viciousness, previously introduced through metaphors, is now more literal than metaphoric. He is clearly an aggressor, but truly, that makes him no better than the white men that colonize their clan. Their brutality is hidden under the facade of peace. In reality, it tears the clan apart, and causes Okonkwo to kill out of rage. Their “peaceful” religion causes the clan to “fall apart” as the title suggests. Their aggression is subtle, but present. Okonkwo’s aggression is more obvious, but in the end, both forms of aggression cause the clan to fail out of its once prosperous state.

Imagery creates more verisimilitude in the narrative. Concrete details about the clan and situations at hand help to create that reality in reader’s minds. Also helps to shed light on this reality unfolding in the clan. It was a real thing going on within clans during the period of colonization. It’s difficult for readers to put themselves in their shoes to understand exactly what this means to them. We are descendants of these white missionaries. We will never understand the true impact of what we have done to these clans. Their history and culture will be lost forever, all because we wanted more people to adopt our religion. This was a real thing that happened in clans during the age of colonialism. But readers struggle to understand the exact degree to which our desire to force religion onto others actually destroyed whole clans and ages of history. All we can do now is acknowledge what was done and change in the future.

Point of view

"Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offense he had committed inadvertently?" 125... is it too far to say that this is exactly what readers are doing? If we are meant to realize that what our ancestors did to these clans was wrong, should we feel the blame? Colonizing these clans was a crime, one that we now obviously feel ashamed about. But is it our job to grieve over these mistakes when we weren’t the ones committing them? These white colonizers deserve the blame. We realize that what we did was wrong. But it was the colonizers who needed to realize that what they were doing was wrong, not us.

Rhetorical Questions

“When a man blasphemes what do we do? Do we go and stop his mouth? No. We put our fingers into our ears to stop us hearing. That is a wise action.” (77)

This quote is discussing their plan of action to combat the Christians setting up in their clan. The snarky response to the question reveals their dislike of the imposed religion. Readers are given insight to the culture of the clan, and their reluctance to accept the presence of Christians. We can now better understand their perspectives and why they may or may not like the idea of having these missionaries present in their clan. Sets up a comparison of their religion versus the clan’s. The clan’s religion focuses on earning the respect of gods, through sacrifices and respectful practices. Missionaries make claims that their god accepts and loves all believers without that unrelenting amount of work and constant sacrifice.

Fables

Similes

Though the narrative is written in English, Achebe incorporates various phrases of their clan's native language, such as egwugwu, chi, and ogbanje. This allows for both cultures to merge, and the English language used specifically helps us readers understand what he us saying. It's interesting how both English and Igbo are used, especially since they probably didn't speak any English until the missionaries arrived and taught them English. So the "acceptable" way to publish this novel is in a way that missionaries understand.. not their own native tongue.

Achebe writes in the third person omniscient point of view, which allows him to explore all the thoughts and emotions of characters, not just for Okonkwo, the main character. This becomes more interesting as it develops from the differing opinions in the clan to the difference between the perspectives of the clans against that of the missionaries.

Motifs and themes

Presence of Darkness: "He just carried her into his bed and in the darkness began to feel around her waist for the loose end of her cloth" 109

Darkness synonymous with objectification and under-appreciation of women..

Masculinity

"and he told them stories of the land--masculine stories of violence and bloodshed. Nwoye knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent.." 53

"It was fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father. Even as a little boy he had resented his father's failure and weakness.. That was how Okonkwo first came to know that agbala was not only another name for a woman, it could also mean a man who had taken no title.." 13

"No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children, he was not really a man" 53

"He allowed Ikemefuna to accompany him, like a son.." 29


"Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water." 12


"Okonkwo's fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan." 47

Similes are the device that I noticed the most in TFA. Achebe focuses on putting similes to use because he understands that readers can't precisely understand what happens within the clans. If we consider our ancestral backgrounds, most kids in our class don't come from families who belonged to these clans. Our ancestors are the missionaries and Christians that sought to push their religion on others. Those missionaries can't understand why what they did caused things in the clan to "fall apart" which is why the narrator is forced to use these similes. Members of the clan understand everything the narrator says because they experience it firsthand. But readers and missionaries struggle to understand the clan's values and ways of life. Similes are the bridge between understanding other cultures that we are not a part of.

Being a man is synonymous with control, power, not being like your father, and being unappreciative of the women who fuel their success. In Okonkwo's situation, he has wives who cook him 3 meals a day, bear his children, and offer him solace when he is in need. His scorn towards them is unwarranted, and I wonder how far he would be able to go without them.

Yams

"Yam, the king of crops, was a very exacting king." 33


"Ifejioku, the god of yams.." 17


"If you give me some yam seeds I shall not fail you" 21

"There is no one for whom it is well." 135

Yams represent wealth, power, and masculinity to the Umuofia clan. Their daily lives, wedding ceremonies, and important events are central to the presence of yams. Okonkwo scorns his father for leaving no yams or a barn behind for his son, so he focused on transforming that into his own success. Those in the clan worshiped yams because they symbolize their own success and power.

Motif of clan tradition vs. change: "You might as well say that the woman lies on top of the man when they are making the children.” 77


"He has a put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." 112

Traditional stereotypes and roles within the clan become reversed and overcome over time. This is accentuated more as the white missionaries come and integrate with the clan, pushing their rules and government onto them. Women are offered more respect and influence in the clan, especially in the scene where Uchendu stands up for them in spite of Okonkwo's judgement towards women in the name of his own masculinity.

The white missionaries transform Umuofia into a clan of change. Okonkwo tries to resist this change, because with the way things are now, he retains power. He is allowed to retain his power over women, his title in society, his strength, his influence, etc. If things change, Okonkwo will lose all of this. His fear of change translates into hatred for what causes the change.

“Our hosts in the sky will expect us to honor this age-old custom.. The tortoise also took one. He was to be called All Of You.” 97


”The quarrel between Earth and Sky long ago, and how Sky withheld rain for seven years, until crops withered and the dead could not be buried.. At last Vulture was sent to plead with Sky, and to soften his heart with a song of the suffering of the sons of men” 53

The chosen quote reveals the Tortoise’s underlying desire to manipulate the birds. His selfishness and greed was his downfall, symbolized by the broken shell after his literal fall to the earth. Okonkwo also has this tragic flaw of deep greed and pride. Following that parallelism, Okonkwo must be destined to experience a downfall of sorts because of his greed he carries. Other fables and stories are tied into the narrative, such as the one about Vulture, Earth, and Sky. These fables are intertwined with reality in the narrative. The misfortunes in these fables are exercised in real life to show that they continue to be relevant. Members of the clan must remember to consider these fables as they make decisions or act in certain ways, because their own ancestors have warned them of what happens through these fables.