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Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe’s literary acclaimed African Trilogy.

It is a classic story about Africa’s cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent.

Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, the novel explores one man’s futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political and religious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.

Bibliographic Information

Title: Things Fall Apart

African Writers Series, ISSN 0065-4108

African writers series. Classics in context Classics in context Heinemann

African Writers Series

Author: Chinua Achebe

Edition: illustrated, reprint

Publisher: Heinemann, 1996

ISBN: 0435905252, 9780435905255

Length: 148 pages

Subjects: Fiction › General

Fiction / Genera

Fiction / Literary

About the Novel

Things Fall Apart is the first novel of Nigerian author Chinua Achebe first published in 1958. It portrays the events of pre-colonial life in Igboland (modern-day southeastern Nigeria) and the subsequent appearance of European missionaries and colonial forces in the late 19th century.

It is seen as an archetypal modern African novel in English and one of the first novels to receive global critical recognition. It is a staple book in schools throughout Africa and is widely read in English-speaking countries around the world.

The novel was initially published in the United Kingdom in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd and became the first work published in Heinemann’s African Writers Series.

The novel revolves around the life of Okonkwo, an influential leader of the fictional Igbo (“Ibo” in the novel) clan of Umuofia. Among other things, he is a fearless warrior and a local wrestling champion.

The novel is divided into three parts, with the first describing his family, personal history, his violent exterior and tortured soul, and the customs and society of the Igbo.

The second and third parts introduce the influence of European colonialism and Christian missionaries on Okonkwo, his family, and the wider Igbo community.

Characters in the Novel

Here are some of the characters in Achebe’s ‘Things Fall Apart’:

Okonkwo

He is the protagonist of the novel. He has three wives and ten (total) children and becomes a leader of his clan.

His father, Unoka, is weak and lazy, and Okonkwo hates him for his weaknesses: he enacts traditional masculinity.

Okonkwo works hard to make his way in a culture that traditionally values manliness.

Ekwefi

This is Okonkwo’s second wife. Although she falls in love with Okonkwo after seeing him in a wrestling match, she marries another man because Okonkwo is too poor to pay her bride price at the time.

Two years later, she runs away to Okonkwo’s compound one night and later marries him.

She receives severe beatings from Okonkwo just like his other wives; but unlike them, she is known to talk back to Okonkwo.

Unoka

Unoka is Okonkwo’s father, who defied typical Igbo masculinity by neglecting to grow yams, take care of his wives and children, and pay his debts before he dies.

He drinks a lot and is often found in the company of other drunks who entertain people at the bars through their songs

Nwoye

Nwoye is Okonkwo’s son, about whom Okonkwo worries, fearing that he will become like Unoka.

Similar to Unoka, Nwoye does not subscribe to the traditional Igbo view of masculinity being equated to violence; rather, he prefers the stories of his mother.

Nwoye connects to Ikemefuna, who presents an alternative to Okonkwo’s rigid masculinity.

He is one of the early converts to Christianity and takes on the Christian name Isaac, an act that Okonkwo views as a final betrayal.

Ikemefuna

Ikemefuna is a boy from the Mbaino tribe. His father murders the wife of an Umuofia man, and in the resulting settlement of the matter, Ikemefuma is put into the care of Okonkwo.

By the decision of Umuofia authorities, Ikemefuna is ultimately killed, an act which Okonkwo does not prevent, and even participates in, lest he seems feminine and weak.

Ikemefuna becomes very close to Nwoye, and Okonkwo’s decision to participate in Ikemefuna’s death takes a toll on Okonkwo’s relationship with Nwoye.

Ezinma

Ezinma is Okonkwo’s favorite daughter and the only child of his wife Ekwefi. Ezinma, the Crystal Beauty, is very much the antithesis of a normal woman within the culture and Okonkwo routinely remarks that she would’ve made a much better boy than a girl, even wishing that she had been born as one.

Ezinma often contradicts and challenges her father, which wins his adoration, affection, and respect.

She is very similar to her father, and this is made apparent when she matures into a beautiful young woman who refuses to marry during her family’s exile, instead choosing to help her father regain his place of respect within society.

Obierika

is Okonkwo’s best friend from Umuofia. Unlike Okonkwo, Obierika thinks before he acts and is, therefore, less violent and arrogant than Okonkwo.

He is considered the voice of reason in the book and questions certain parts of their culture, such as the necessity to exile Okonkwo after he unintentionally kills a boy.

Obierika’s own son, Maduka, is greatly admired by Okonkwo for his wrestling prowess.

Chielo 

Chielo also called the “Oracle of the Hills and the Caves”, is the priestess of Agbala (a deity).

She has a double life, both a woman of Umofia and a priestess, this brings her independence because she has a symbolic role. Chielo symbolizes Fate throughout the novel.

Ogbuefi Ezeudu

Ogbuefi Ezeudu is one of the elders of Umuofia.

Mr Brown

Brown is an English missionary who comes to Umuofia. He shows kindness and compassion towards the villagers and makes an effort to understand the Igbo beliefs.

Mr. Smith

This is another English missionary sent to Umuofia to replace Mr. Brown after he falls ill.

In stark contrast to his predecessor, he remains strict and zealous towards the Africans.

Themes in Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart has an avalanche of themes and some of them include:

1. The Struggle Between Change and Tradition

As a narrative about a culture on the verge of change, Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect numerous characters. The tension about whether change should be privileged over tradition often involves questions of individual status.

Okonkwo, for instance, resists the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not manly and that he will not be manly if he consents to join or even tolerate them.

To some extent, Okonkwo’s resistance to cultural change is also due to his fear of losing societal status. His sense of self-worth is dependent upon the traditional standards by which society accesses him.

This system of evaluating the self influences many of the clan’s outcasts to embrace Christianity. Long scorned, these outcasts find in the Christian value system a refuge from the Igbo cultural values that place them below everyone else. In their new community, these converts receive a more elevated status.

The villagers in general are caught between resisting and embracing change and they face the dilemma of trying to determine the best way to adapt to the reality of change. Many of the villagers are happy about the new opportunities and techniques that the missionaries bring.

This European influence, however, threatens to extinguish the need for the mastery of traditional methods of farming, harvesting, building, and cooking.

These traditional methods, once important for survival, are now, to varying degrees, dispensable. Throughout the novel, Achebe presents how dependent such traditions are upon storytelling and language and thus how quickly the abandonment of the Igbo language for English could lead to the eradication of these traditions.

2. Varying Interpretations of Masculinity

Okonkwo’s relationship with his late father shapes much of his violent and ambitious demeanor. He wants to rise above his father’s legacy of a spendthrift, indolent behavior, which he views as weak and therefore effeminate.

This association is inherent in the clan’s language—the narrator mentions that the word for a man who has not taken any of the expensive, prestige-indicating titles is agbala, which also means “woman.” But, for the most part, Okonkwo’s idea of manliness is not the clan’s.

He associates masculinity with aggression and feels that anger is the only emotion that he should display. For this reason, he frequently beats his wives, even threatening to kill them from time to time.

We are told that he does not think about things, and we see him act rashly and impetuously. Yet others who are in no way effeminate do not behave in this way. Obierika, unlike Okonkwo, “was a man who thought about things.”

Whereas Obierika refuses to accompany the men on the trip to kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo not only volunteers to join the party that will execute his surrogate son but also violently stabs him with his machete simply because he is afraid of appearing weak.

Okonkwo’s seven-year exile from his village only reinforces his notion that men are stronger than women. While in exile, he lives among the kinsmen of his motherland but resents the period in its entirety.

The exile is his opportunity to get in touch with his feminine side and to acknowledge his maternal ancestors, but he keeps reminding himself that his maternal kinsmen are not as warlike and fierce as he remembers the villagers of Umuofia to be.

He faults them for their preference of negotiation, compliance, and avoidance over anger and bloodshed. In Okonkwo’s understanding, his uncle Uchendu exemplifies this pacifist (and therefore somewhat effeminate) mode.

3. Language as a Sign of Cultural Difference

Language is an important theme in Things Fall Apart on several levels. In demonstrating the imaginative, often formal language of the Igbo, Achebe emphasizes that Africa is not the silent or incomprehensible continent that books such as Heart of Darkness made it out to be.

Rather, by peppering the novel with Igbo words, Achebe shows that the Igbo language is too complex for direct translation into English.

Similarly, Igbo culture cannot be understood within the framework of European colonialist values. Achebe also points out that Africa has many different languages: the villagers of Umuofia, for example, make fun of Mr. Brown’s translator because his language is slightly different from their own.

On a macroscopic level, it is extremely significant that Achebe chose to write Things Fall Apart in English—he clearly intended it to be read by the West at least as much, if not more, than by his fellow Nigerians.

His goal was to critique and emend the portrait of Africa that was painted by so many writers of the colonial period. Doing so required the use of English, the language of those colonial writers.

Through his inclusion of proverbs, folktales, and songs translated from the Igbo language, Achebe managed to capture and convey the rhythms, structures, cadences, and beauty of the Igbo language.

4. Generational Divide

Things Fall Apart spotlights two significant generational divides. The first divide separates Okonkwo from his father, Unoka. Unlike his son, Unoka is not a warrior, nor has he distinguished himself as a man in any other way.

Instead, Unoka prefers to drink and play music with friends. For a hypermasculine man like Okonkwo, Unoka’s lack of drive is shameful, and Okonkwo dismisses his father as a coward.

Just as Okonkwo is divided from his father, he is also divided from his eldest son, Nwoye. Nwoye has much in common with his grandfather Unoka, especially with regard to his lack of interest in war and his love of the arts.

Nwoye resists his father’s expectation that he become an accomplished warrior. He also feels drawn to his mother’s stories, which Okonkwo sees as an effeminate waste of time.

Eventually, Nwoye escapes his father’s expectations and his wrath by running away and converting to Christianity. Although Okonkwo feels ashamed of both his father and his son, the novel suggests that Okonkwo is perhaps more of an anomaly than either Unoka or Nwoye.

5. Pride

Okonkwo’s greatest weakness is his pride, which is constantly under threat both from within his community and from without. Okonkwo takes pride in his achievements.

This pride is justifiable since he has accomplished a lot. Not only has he proven himself among Umuofia’s fiercest warriors, but he has also climbed Umuofia’s social ladder faster than any of his peers.

Yet Okonkwo’s pride also makes him quick to disdain others who don’t live up to his high standards.

For instance, Nwoye’s apparent lack of masculine qualities leads Okonkwo to worry about his own legacy and be aggressive towards Nwoye.

Okonkwo’s exile in Mbanta also deals a serious blow to his pride. When he returns to Umuofia he wants to restore his pride by defending his home against European influence.

Okonkwo explains his position with an analogy: “If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor, what do I do? Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head.” Okonkwo eventually resorts to violence to defend his pride, and this violence leads to his tragic downfall.

6. Repression

Throughout Things Fall Apart Okonkwo struggles with repressing his emotions. He represses his emotions because, more than anything else, he fears appearing weak and effeminate.

Over and over in the novel Okonkwo’s inner struggle to quash all emotional responses leads him to express himself with excessive cruelty. The narrator comments on this internal tug-of-war frequently.

In Chapter 4, for instance, the narrator explicitly addresses the theme of repression: “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger.

To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” Okonkwo’s belief that anger is the only appropriate emotion for a man to show causes significant problems for him, his family, and ultimately his community.

For example, when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna against the advice of Ogbuefi Ezeudu, he does so because “He was afraid of being thought weak.” But Okonkwo’s brutal killing of his adopted son breaks the heart of his blood son, Nwoye.

This act deepens an already-existing wound between Okonkwo and Nwoye, one that never gets healed. Throughout the novel, emotional repression leads to damaging—and eventually, for Okonkwo, tragic—outbursts of anger and violence.

7. Drum Language

Drums play an important role in Umuofia. Throughout Things Fall Apart the narrator emphasizes drums’ ability to generate excitement and even communicate specific information.

Drums often signal the initiation of a ceremony. For example, a persistent drum beat sets Umuofia’s annual wrestling match in motion, and the sound fills the village until “their sound was no longer a separate thing from the living village.

It was like the pulsation of its heart.” The narrator explains that drums speak in their own “esoteric language,” a language that villagers learn early in life.

In one telling example, the narrator transcribes the drum language phonetically: “Go-di-di-go-go-di-go. Di-go-go-di-go. It was the ekwe talking to the clan.” The narrator waits several sentences before translating the drum’s message: “Somebody was dead.” But more important than the message is the medium. By transcribing the drum language, the narrator elevates it to a status similar to the other languages that appear in the novel: English and Igbo.

7. Ethnographic Distance

The term “ethnographic distance” refers to a method in anthropology where anthropologists distance themselves from the culture they are studying in order to make sense of that culture.

At several points in the novel, the narrator, who otherwise seems fully immersed in Igbo culture, takes a step back in order to explain certain aspects of the Igbo world to the reader. For example, when Okonkwo’s first wife calls out to Ekwefi in chapter five, Ekwefi calls back from inside her hut, “Is that me?”

This response may seem strange to non-Igbo readers, so the narrator explains the cultural logic of Ekwefi’s response: “That was the way people answered calls from outside.

They never answered yes for fear it might be an evil spirit calling.” The Igbo world is full of spirits that may have evil intentions, and answering “Yes” to a call from outside could inadvertently invite one such spirit inside.

Throughout the novel, the narrator uses ethnographic distance to clarify elements of Igbo culture to a non-Igbo reader. The narrator borders two worlds: one African and one European.