Things Fall Apart

This is my first book review for the Classics Club Challenge. As I have said earlier, I started the challenge with "The Moonstone". It’s interesting and I am going slowly. Meanwhile I finished Things Fall Apart, hardly 150 pages.

Book – Things Fall Apart

Author – Chinua Achebe

Country – Nigeria

Genre – Historical Fiction

Publisher – William Heinmann Ltd

Publication Date – 1958

(Source: Wikipedia)

The title of the novel is taken from the poem “The Second Coming” by W.B. Yeats which foretells the end of the world. Chinua Achebe wrote this novel to shatter the wrong portrayal of Africans in earlier novels (Heart of Darkness and Mr. Johnson) by Europeans. Both Conrad and Joyce Cary portray Africans as savages.

Things fall apart is a gripping tale written in simple language. I had at first difficulty with the names but then I got over it. It’s a tale about a man named Okonkwo who lived in Umuofia. Umuofia is a cluster of nine villages in the outskirts of present Nigeria. Okonkwo had earned name and fame at a younger age. His father Unoka was called Agbala (means effeminate) by his playmate when he was young and he was still haunted by this bitter memory. Unoka was a lazy man and was always in debts. He died a shameful death. Okonkwo strives hard not to be like his father. He hated his father and despised everything his father liked- one of the thing was gentleness and another was idleness. According to Okonkwo, manliness means being strong and aggressive. He often used to beat his wives and children. Being kind and compassionate are according to him being effeminate. He hated his eldest son Nwoye, who according to him is not showing signs of manliness. As a peace settlement with a neighbouring village, a young lad named Ikemefuna was left under his care. He becomes fond of him, but he doesn’t express it for he thinks, expressing affection is a sign of weakness. Later when the village oracle tells that Ikemefuna should be sacrificed, he even kills Ikemefuna to show his clan that he is not weak. However he feels guilty and becomes depressed for many days. Later, Okonkwa and his family are exiled for seven years because he shoots a lad at a funeral, accidentally though. While in exile he hears from his friend that white Missionaries have entered a nearby village. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after exile, he finds the white Missionaries had damaged his long valued traditions and customs. The rest of the tale tells the fate of Okonkwo amidst all the changes around him.

Through the tale of Okonkwo, Achebe portrays the daily life of Nigerian people in the late 19th century and the culture and tradition of Igbo society. The society is well organized and led by a group of village elders. Though there are some tradition and customs which are not digestible, he points out the Igbo society would have evolved on its own like any other society in the world. Though the British colonialism had brought some reforms nevertheless it had let to the devastation of the Ibo culture and tradition and the Igbo society had fallen apart.

Achebe’s writing is powerful and brilliant in bringing the daily life of Ibo people, Igbo culture and tradition before our eyes.

Okonkwo is not a lovable character but a character with who I can sympathize with.

“Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of the forest and of the forces of nature, malevolent, red in tooth and claw. Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.”