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Things fall apart 3 (Click to select text)
In Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe shows the struggles of a village strong man, Okonkwo to achieve eternal greatness and keep the traditions of his village, Umuofia, alive. Okonkwo is portrayed as a person who strongly believes in the importance of showing one's strength and masculinity, and brands 'feminine' and 'weak' anything that does not come up to his standard. As the book progresses, he develops a severe animosity for the Christian missionaries who instate the 'white man's' law in Nigeria, and cause deep rifts between the African people. Upon reading the novel, the reader gets a strong sense of how Achebe develops his story and characters, along the lines, of Irish Poet, William Butler Yeat's "The Second Coming". Achebe repeatedly emphasizes the theme of one entity being impacted upon by another, and ultimately being destroyed or changed drastically. Herein, lies the thrust of his book, that of things falling apart. This is the extract from W.B. Yeat's poem, "The Second Coming" wherefrom Chinua Achebe chose the title of his book, and with good reason: Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. These lines form the epigraph of the novel, and are a conduit for expressing Achebe's main theme i.e. the destruction of one being by another. They also help in focusing the reader throughout the narrative to the underlying idea of the poem. However, before proceeding it is necessary to elaborate on the basic implication of the poem. The image that comes to mind upon reading the first sentence is that of an outward spiral formed by the falconer moving around the forest in search of his prey, the falcon. One can almost see the bird soaring high in the sky, and totally unaware of the hunter stalking it, waiting for the right moment to strike. Finally, when the killer does find his mark, the falcon is shaken from its blissful state. It finds itself involuntarily falling from the sky, and its world crashes around it. For the falcon, everything that it holds dear including itself has been destroyed, and therefore 'anarchy' prevails. Thus, from the very outset, Achebe introduces the idea of desolation. Before the coming of the 'white man', the Ibo culture greatly inculcated the virtues of kinship and unity among the people, as well as the 'will to fight for one's rights'. These values, along with the continuation of the beliefs and practices of ancestors, acted as a cohesive force for the tribes and villages. This was mainly due to the absence of any foreign influx of ideas that undermined those of the Ibo; a lack of influence which was cardinal in helping the people develop a sense of pride in their own culture and ways. However, after the 'white man' came to Nigeria, people began to see alternatives in all aspects of their lives whether it pertained to religion, government or even social structure. For example, Christianity placed great emphasis on equality, a concept quite alien to the Ibo system, where a noticeable hierarchical system existed. However, when this religion was introduced, a number of people especially the Osu (outcasts of society) converted, in the hope of a more egalitarian set-up. As we can see, these developments brought with it a disregard for the building blocks of Ibo culture and society, and effected a break in the old chain of continuity and unity. Thus, they took away the binding factor among the people, making them go their separate ways, and as a result of which changed the culture (and people) beyond recognition. But I fear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you. A man can now leave his father and his brothers. He can curse the gods of his fathers and his ancestors, like a hunter's dog that suddenly goes mad and turns on his master. I fear for you; I fear for the clan. (167) The issue of the 'white man' impressing his own system, upon the Ibo, while clearly reflecting Achebe's main theme, also ties in with the W.B. Yeat's poem. The connection is clear if one extends the idea of the falconer destroying the falcon, to the Europeans colonizing the Ibo people. Just as the falconer circled the forest looking for his prey, so too did the 'white man' constantly expand his sphere of influence. When the latter finally found one his many targets, the Ibo, he gradually entered their lives and instilled in them, his own materialistic system. As some people chose to follow the new system while others still remained loyal to the old one, the very center (i.e. the unity and uniform beliefs) that held them together was destroyed, and confusion or anarchy consequently reigned. Thus, the 'white man' after stealthily entering the Ibo's lives, destroyed everything they stood for, and changed them forever. But he (the 'white man') 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 (176) Apart from the plot, the characters in Things Fall Apart also develop under the framework of Achebe's basic theme. One sees this evolution markedly in the central character, Okonkwo. His motivation throughout the novel is based on the need to avoid 'weakness' and to show his prowess. But, his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness. It was deeper and more intimate than the fear of evil and capricious gods and of magic, the fear of 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. This desire coupled with the incredible strength he possessed compelled him to resolve all his disputes with violence and aggression. At first his ways brought him great success and he rose quickly in the ranks. However, as the book progresses he finds himself unable to change the course of events, simply with his 'fists'. One of these realizations comes when he is exiled from his village upon killing a fellow tribesman (an act that is illegal among the Ibo), and loses all his titles and wealth. He is forced to leave Umuofia, as he cannot fight the whole village. "The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan(124)." The second realization arrives, when he sees the extent to which the 'white man's' influence had pervaded his people, and they had done nothing to prevent it. Being one of the strongest proponents of fighting the foreigners out of the system, he found it incomprehensible as to why the very ferociousness of his village that he took pride in, had suddenly evaded them. Okonkwo's head was bowed in sadness as Obierika told him these things. "Perhaps I have been away too long."…"But I cannot understand these things that you tell me. What has happened to out people? Why have they lost the power to fight?" Upon seeing all this weakness around him, Okonkwo ultimately lost hope, as the things that he inherently believed in (i.e. the need for aggression) had been forced into the background, and he killed himself. Thus, one can see how fate and the 'white man' collectively, destroyed Okonkwo. The latter being the falcon, lost his core, the will to fight, and plummeted into his doom.
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