The Same Things Still Fall Apart Essay Example for Free

The Same Things Still Fall Apart Essay In his first acclaimed novel, Things Fall Apart, one of Chinua Achebes many accomplishments is his uncompromisingly toughened rendering of Nigerian tribal life pre and post colonialism. The book was first published in 1958, which was just two years ahead before Nigeria declared independence from Great Britain; the book abstains from the obvious attraction of portraying pre-colonial life as a kind of Eden. Instead, Achebe outlined a world in which cruelty, war, and anguish exist; but at the same time, is filled with a balanced and strong sense of belief, ceremony, and social coherence. But more important than that, let us focus on his protagonist—Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a self-made man. He is the son of a charismatic good-for-nothing father. Okonkwo hated his father for this; and because of such, he worked day and night all his life to triumph over his fathers flaws. He was able to overcome his father’s reputation and has finally arrived at great richness and even greater status amongst his colleagues in the village of Umuofia. He is a champion warrior, a wealthy farmer, has three wives and father to several children. But more important than the characteristic that he portrays in the story, in a deeper and more objective angle, he is the epitome of a man who displays the flaws of a well-known Greek catastrophe: â€Å"Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. 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. Okonkwos 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.† (Achebe) At the same time, Achebe was also able to make this man cruel and sympathetic at the same time. And no matter how he conceals it, Okonkwo is fond of his eldest daughter and Ikemefuna—a little boy that was sent from a different village as payment for the wicked death of a young woman from Umuofia (another village). He starts to be delighted in his eldest son, in whom he has too frequently seen his own father. A series of catastrophic events tests the determination of this strong man, and it is his dread of weakness that eventually undoes him. It is only near the end that the real climax of the story begins. By then, Okonkwo and his village are already being colonized by the white men. But, with the traditions of his culture and village, his hopes for redemption are too mighty high to be abolished. The arrival of the white men with intentions to convert them into Christians, and the pursuance of the officials from the colonial government made his village confused and disrupted the Ibo culture completely. Okonkwo realized that it will be very hard on his part and for his fellow villagers to adapt to the incoming modern influences. And with these in mind, Okonkwo is now confused and lost between the abyss of the old and new ways. Because he believed that they should keep their traditions, Okonkwo self-decided that they should rage a war against the colonizers: â€Å"Does the white man understand our custom about land?† â€Å"How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.†   (Achebe) With this ideology, it is quite clear that Okonkwo does not want to be colonized and he will do anything in his power to avoid that. He was ready to go to war but when he realized that his clan is not ready, he was very disappointed and just decided to hang himself instead. When the commissioner decided to write a book about his rebellion and his clan, from the title of the book itself (The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger), it is sufficient to say that he was not successful in attaining his goal. The title of the book itself implies that the book will only be filled with biased point of views and opinions from him. Both the commissioner and Okonkwo failed in meeting half-way to share their culture. Since it became harder for him adapt and at the same time he does not want to be colonized, he decided and resorted that war is the answer. But his bravery is not the same as his villagers. He failed to emphasize to them the importance of their culture. This scenario not only happens in secluded villages in ancient years. It also happens in modern times in different forms and intensity but the same ideologies persist. Last December 2007, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in her homeland of Pakistan. For the longest time, she kept on fighting for the liberation of the vast minority in Pakistan. With the power that she has, it was inevitable that there will be people who will dislike her, and so, they assassinated her. Though this example is very political in nature, it has similarities from the story because they fought for the same thing—which was liberation for their people and at the same time, both characters were not able to fully achieve what they are fighting for. Somehow, both characters failed to achieve their goals. Works Cited: Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1st Anchor Books Ed edition ed: Anchor, 1959.