Things Fall Apart

Why do things fall apart? 

Failure and success 
Okonkwo despises his father for his laziness and weakness and lack of possessions and title. He thinks that these represent failure, so he strives to be the opposite in all ways. He is presented as one of the ‘great men’ of Umuofia, yet he is disgraced by his exile and final act of suicide. Are these two qualities what they seem to Okonkwo, and what are the consequences of his pursuit of ‘success’?

Powerful emotions which Okonkwo finds it difficult to understand and express 
Okonkwo loves his son Nwoye but treats him very harshly when Nwoye disappoints him. He thinks highly of Ikemefuna but will not express his feelings or admit them to himself. What does his part in the killing of Ikemefuna (which he is told he does not have to be involved in) tell us about this inner conflict?

Personal ambition which exceeds loyalty to the traditions of Umuofian culture
Okonkwo beats Ojuiugo, his second wife, in the week of peace: a blasphemous act; he joins Ikemefuna’s killing party; he is responsible for his own exile by the accidental shooting of Ezeudu’s son.

The ambiguous place of women in Umuofian culture 
They are treated as the inferiors and servants of the men and yet have a central place in the religious beliefs of the Ibo.

The effects of Okonkwo’s exile from his homeland which intensify his wish to return but also detach him from the way it develops in his absence
How would Okonkwo have dealt with the arrival of the white men in Part Two of the novel if he had been in Umuofia, not in exile?

The double standards which the white men demonstrate to the native Ibo
Does Okonkwo’s behaviour at the end of the story, culminating in his killing of the messenger, have any of its roots in the behaviour of (some of) the white men?

Style
An important feature of Achebe’s style is his use of proverbs. These come from an oral tradition of story telling, but are told in the language of the white men who trigger the falling apart at the centre of the story. Achebe is writing in the English that Nwoye would have learnt at his teacher-training college

Structure
How do the three sections of the story connect and interrelate? How does this structure support the issues of theme and character we have already looked at? Some points to think about:
The opening section is the longest and gives an account of many aspects of the Ibo culture prior to the arrival of the white men. Look back at the previous sections of these Notes to see how clearly and firmly the culture is presented. Many key aspects of culture are highlighted and questioned:

• The role of the family and the place and status of individuals within the family. 
• The differences in gender roles, both literally and symbolically.  
• The concept of heroism and the purpose and function of war and fighting.  
• The concept and purpose of justice.  
• Relationships between parents and children. 

The second section concerns Okonkwo’s exile. He is exiled because his killing of Ezeudu’s son is a female crime: it is accidental, committed in a society which is obsessed with masculinity. As a result Okonkwo is limited by his incapacity to do anything other than attend to his family’s needs, and hence to the nurture of his basic sense of himself as the ‘hunter-gatherer’ Ibo man.
Because Okonkwo has been uprooted from his homeland, we focus on his second-hand responses to the news of the white man’s arrival. He is consumed with anger and hatred at what he hears (is there any evidence of fear here, also?). Increasingly he finds himself in conflict with the society he has left behind. He accuses his fellow tribesmen of being no longer men but old women: the very reason for which he has been exiled from his homeland. What follows is the inevitable consequence of this contradiction.

The third section, therefore, charts the inevitable consequences of the contrasts of the first two sections. It is brief, clear cut and predictable. Okonkwo commits suicide because he has failed to recognise and respond to the way his community is changing. His eldest son has changed sides: the head messenger becomes the personification of Nwoye. Okonkwo and the white missionaries and bureaucrats are equally ruthless and intransigent. We are left to judge the niceties of this comparison for ourselves

GCSE English and English Literature for OCR

A Different Cultures Text Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe

© Harcourt Education Limited, 2006