Monday 17 March 2014

Critical Analysis of "Things fall Apart'' !


 The events of Things Fall Apart take place in the late 1800s and early 1900s, just before and during the early days of the British Empire's expansion in Nigeria. The novel depicts details about life in an African culture much different from Western culture. In this chapter, Achebe reveals the following aspects of Igbo culture:
The beginning  describes Okonkwo's principal accomplishments that establish his important position in Igbo society. These details alone provide insight into Okonkwo's character and motivation. Driving himself toward tribal success and recognition, he is trying to bury the unending shame that he feels regarding the faults and failures of his late father, Unoka. Essentially, Okonkwo exhibits qualities of manhood in Igbo society.
Familiar with Western literature and its traditional forms, Achebe structures Things Fall Apart in the tradition of a Greek tragedy, with the story centered around Okonkwo, the tragic hero. Aristotle defined the tragic hero as a character who is superior and noble, one who demonstrates great courage and perseverance but is undone because of a tragic personal flaw in his character.
Achebe sets up Okonkwo as a man much respected for his considerable achievements and noble virtues — key qualities of a tragic hero. Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his obsession with manliness; his fear of looking weak like his father drives him to commit irrational acts of violence that undermine his nobleness. In the chapters ahead, the reader should note the qualities and actions that begin to reveal the tragic flaw in Okonkwo's otherwise admirable actions, words, ideas, and relationships with others.
At the Achebe foreshadows the presence of Ikemefuna in Okonkwo's household and also the teenage boy's ultimate fate by referring to him as a "doomed" and "ill-fated lad."
One of the most significant social markers of Igbo society is introduced in this chapter — its unique system of honorific titles. Throughout the book, titles are reference points by which members of Igbo society frequently compare themselves with one another (especially Okonkwo). These titles are not conferred by higher authorities, but they are acquired by the individual who can afford to pay for them. As a man accumulates wealth, he may gain additional recognition and prestige by "taking a title." He may also purchase titles for male members of his family (this aspect is revealed later). In the process of taking a title, the man pays significant initiation fees to the men who already hold the title.
A Umuofian man can take as many as four titles, each apparently more expensive than its predecessor. A man with sufficient money to pay the fee begins with the first level — the most common title — but many men cannot go beyond the first title. Each title taken may be shown by physical signs, such as an anklet or marks on the feet or face, so others can determine who qualifies for certain titles.
The initiation fees are so large that some writers have referred to the system as a means for "redistributing wealth." Some Native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest observe their own version of redistributing wealth through a potlatch ceremony at which the guests receive gifts from the person gaining the honor as a show of wealth for others to exceed.
The reader begins to see beliefs and practices of the Igbo tradition that are particularly significant in the story — for example, the wide division between masculine and feminine actions and responsibilities. Respect and success are based on only manly activities and accomplishments; taking care of children and hens, on the other hand, are womanly activities.
In Okonkwo's determination to be a perfect example of manhood, he begins to reveal the consequences of his fear of weakness — his tragic flaw. Okonkwo hates not only idleness but also gentleness; he demands that his family works as long as he does (without regarding their lesser physical stamina), and he nags and beats his oldest son, Nwoye.
Achebe continues weaving traditional elements of Igbo society into Chapter 2. The marketplace gathering illustrates the Igbo society's reverence for what is "manly" — for example, the male villagers' loyalty to each other when they refer to the woman murdered by another village as "a daughter of Umuofia." This scene also illustrates the ceremonial nature of town meetings, as the speaker shouts the customary greeting to the crowd while turning in four different directions. In addition, the reader learns that Umuofian religious traditions include the worship of wooden objects representing not only one's personal god but also the ancestral spirits to whom one prays and makes sacrifices.
Achebe continues to use the art of traditional storytelling and references to legends and sayings of the time to illustrate what people believe and respect. For example:
  • Okonkwo remembers from childhood when his father was called a woman.
  • The proverb, "When the moon is shining, the cripple becomes hungry for a walk," represents a belief in the protective quality of moonlight in contrast with the fear of the darkness.
  • The legend of the old woman with one leg explains, in part, why the other clans fear Umuofia.
Achebe's use of storytelling further illustrates how Okonkwo's resentment of his father grew, as well as how his own determination to succeed was tested — the two sides of his characterization as tragic hero.
The separation between the man's world and the woman's world in Umuofian culture is again emphasized in this chapter — first, in the roles of the women in the ritual wine-drinking and, later, in the classification of crops. Coco-yams, beans, and cassava are considered women's crops; in contrast, the yam is identified as the "king of crops" — a man's crop. An especially significant concept introduced in this chapter is the belief in personal chi. At its simplest level, chi parallels the Western concept of soul, although chi is a more complex idea. The Igbo believe that an individual's fate and abilities for the coming life are assigned to the chi, and each individual is given a chi by the Creator (Chukwu) at the moment of conception. Before each reincarnation, the individual bargains for improved circumstances in the next life. The chi thus becomes one's personal god that guides one to fulfill the expected destiny. On the one hand, the individual is ruled by his chi, but on the other hand, only the individual can make the most of the fate planned through the chi.
Notice that Achebe's first name, Chinua, begins with chi. Achebe explained the usage of chi in the following excerpt:
When we talk about chi, we're talking about the individual spirit, and so you find the word in all kinds of combinations. Chinwe, which is my wife's name, means chi owns me; mine is Chinua, which is a shortened form of an expression that means may a chi fight for me. My son is named Chidi, which means chi is there. So it's [in] almost [all my family members' names] in one form or the other. Our youngest girl asked me why she didn't have chi in her name. She thought it was some kind of discrimination, so she took the name Chioma, which means good chi.
To secure his manliness, Okonkwo believes that he should beat members of his family (Nwoye, Ikemefuna, Ojiugo, and his wives) and that he should ridicule men who remind him of his father — even for slight annoyances. Although he may inwardly experience emotions of affection and regret, he cannot show these emotions to others, so he isolates himself through extreme actions.
Two more examples of traditional wisdom are used when talking about Okonkwo:
"Those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble." This proverb means that a man whose success is a result of luck must not forget that he has faults. Okonkwo, however, had "cracked them himself," because he overcame poverty not through luck, but through hard work and determination.
"When a man says yes, his chi says yes also." This Igbo proberb implies that a man's actions affect his destiny as determined by his chi. Okonkwo's chi is considered "good," but he "[says] yes very strongly, so his chi [agrees]." In other words, Okonkwo's actions to overcome adversity seem justified, but because he is guided by his chi, his denial of kindness, gentleness, and affection for less successful men will prove self-destructive. (The chi itself is somewhat ambiguous.
Okonkwo does not even enjoy the leisurely ceremonial feast as others do. His impatience with the festivities is so great that he erupts. He falsely accuses one of his wives, beats her, and then makes an apparent attempt to shoot her. Further evidence of his violent nature is revealed when he moves his feet in response to the drums of the wrestling dance and trembles "with the desire to conquer and subdue . . . like the desire for a woman." Okonkwo's need to express anger through violence is clearly a fatal flaw in his character. His stubborn and often irrational behavior is beginning to set him apart from the rest of the village.
In contrast, Okonkwo exhibits feelings of love and affection — his first encounter with Ekwefi and his fondness for Ezinma, his daughter. However, Okonkwo considers such emotions signs of weakness that betray his manliness, so he hides his feelings and acts harshly to conceal them.
The amount of detail included about the Feast of the New Yam, just before the annual harvest, underscores how closely the life of the community relates to the production of its food. The description of household preparations for the festival reveals two significant issues about Igbo culture:
  • The roles of women and daughters to keep the household running smoothly and to prepare for special occasions even though they can hold positions of leadership in the village.
  • The insignificant impact a wife beating and a near shooting have on family life, as if violence is an acceptable part of day-to-day life in the household.
For the first time in the story, Achebe mentions guns. Because of an outgrowth of Igbo trade with the rest of the world, Western technology actually arrived in the village before the Westerners did. Umuofia was not a completely isolated community.

With the killing of Ikemefuna, Achebe creates a devastating scene that evokes compassion for the young man and foreshadows the fall of Okonkwo, again in the tradition of the tragic hero. Along the way, the author sets up several scenes that juxtapose with the death scene:
  • The opening scene of the chapter shows the increasing affection and admiration Okonkwo feels for Ikemefuna, as well as for Nwoye.
  • On the journey with Ikemefuna and the other men of Umuofia, they hear the "peaceful dance from a distant clan."
In Chapter 2, the author comments that the fate of Ikemefuna is a "sad story" that is "still told in Umuofia unto this day." This observation suggests that the decision to kill Ikemefuna was not a customary one. Before dying, Ikemefuna thinks of Okonkwo as his "real father" and of what he wants to tell his mother, especially about Okonkwo. These elements combined suggest that the murder of Ikemefuna is senseless, even if the killing is in accordance with the Oracle and village decisions.
The murder scene is a turning point in the novel. Okonkwo participates in the ceremony for sacrificing the boy after being strongly discouraged, and he delivers the death blow because he is "afraid of being thought weak." At a deep, emotional level, Okonkwo kills a boy who "could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father" — someone whom Okonkwo truly loves as a son. Okonkwo has not only outwardly disregarded his people and their traditions, but he has also disregarded his inner feelings of love and protectiveness. This deep abyss between Okonkwo's divided selves accounts for the beginning of his decline.
For the first time in the novel, Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, emerges as a major character who, in contrast to his father, questions the long-standing customs of the clan. Achebe begins to show the boy's conflicting emotions; he is torn between being a fiercely masculine and physically strong person to please his father and allowing himself to cherish values and feelings that Okonkwo considers feminine and weak.
In the scenes, the reader can begin to see Okonkwo's growing separation from his family members as well as from his from peers in the village. Okonkwo asks Nwoye to sit with him in his hut, seeking affirmation that he has done nothing wrong by killing Ikemefuna. But his son pulls away from him.
Even Okonkwo's friend, Obierika, disapproves of his role in the killing of Ikemefuna. Obierika is presented as a moderate, balanced man and thus serves as a contrast to Okonkwo. Obierika periodically questions tribal law and believes that some changes can improve their society. Okonkwo tends to cling to tradition regardless of the cost, as the killing of Ikemefuna illustrates. Essentially, Obierika is a man of thought and questioning, while Okonkwo is a man of action without questioning.
However, both men seem to agree that manliness does not allow a man and his wife to be inseparable and outwardly loving to each other. (A village woman who has died before her husband's death can be publicly announced, but a wife's death soon after her husband's may be a sign that she is guilty of killing him.) The couple is known to be almost inseparable in their day-to-day life — a sign of weakness in the husband, according to Okonkwo and Obierika. The village must wait until she is buried before they can officially announce the death of the man who was once a great warrior.
An example of the economic customs of the village is the marriage negotiations for Obierika's daughter. The opening ceremonies — the costume and jewelry of the bride, the use of the sticks, and the drinking of the palm-wine — illustrate the complexity of Umuofian ritual. These African customs are reminiscent of marriage customs in other cultures in which the bride's parents pay a dowry or pay the cost of the wedding (although in Igbo custom, the groom himself pays the bride-price). Such customs refute commonly held notions about primitive and uncivilized African society.
The first shadow of "the white man" appears in community conversation, revealing their lack of contact with white men and their aversion to them (similar to their aversion to lepers).

Just when Okonkwo's guilt over killing Ikemefuna seems to lessen, his rarely displayed devotion to his family is again tested. When Ekwefi informs him of his daughter's illness, he rushes out in the middle of the night to hunt for medicine in the woods. By nature, Okonkwo is not a cold and heartless man; he simply cannot escape the haunting images of his despised father's womanly qualities.
Ekwefi's dedication to her daughter Ezinma exemplifies the important role children play in a woman's life in Umuofian society. Ekwefi says that children are a "woman's crowning glory," and before Ezinma was born, her own life was consumed with the desire to have a healthy child. But nine times, she lost children in infancy. A woman's status in Igbo society is related to how many children she bears and how many of them are male.
But although women's child-bearing abilities are an important aspect of their status, Okonkwo and Ekwefi's deep concern and fondness for Ezinma shows that, despite the divide between manly and womanly qualities, woman play an essential role in Igbo society. Women are responsible for preparing most of the celebratory activities, which strengthen relations within the village and with other communities. Women also create the decorations for the huts as well as elaborate body art.
Another important aspect of women in Igbo society is represented by Chielo, who is significant because, as a woman, she speaks on behalf of the God Agbala. Chielo refers to Ezinma as her "daughter," which may indicate that she will replace Chielo's position as priestess.
 Ekwefi was hopeful that Ezinma had "come to stay." This observation foreshadowed that Ezinma was no longer an ogbanje because the medicine man dug up her iyi-uwa.
The author provides a close-up view of the community judicial system with its similarities to Western traditions. In the trial of Uzowulu versus his wife's family, both sides present their cases to the ruling members of society, the egwugwu. The nine egwugwu represent the nine villages of Umuofia, and each village has one egwugwu as its spokesperson. Okonkwo has obviously risen to a lofty position of village leadership if he has indeed been selected as the egwugwu representative for his village.
The egwugwu has similarities to a jury led by a foreman or judge. For example, after retiring to the jury room for deliberation with the other eight egwugwu, the foreman/judge returns a verdict that must be carried out. The public is allowed to watch the proceedings within the boundaries of their social groups — that is, the elders, other men, and women.
The subject of the dispute, domestic violence, is a familiar one today, but the way in which the community views Uzowulu beating his wife is not. The verdict illustrates the widespread disregard for women's rights by Umuofian men. After hearing the case, the egwugwu order Mgbafo to go back to Uzowulu if he begs her; they remind Uzowulu that fighting with a woman is not manly. The embarrassment of begging his wife is the only punishment Uzowulu receives. This case illustrates that, in Umuofian culture, a woman is the property of her husband, but unwarranted and excessive violence against her is, in theory, inappropriate. Note that one man among the spectators asks why such a "trifle [as wife beating] should come before the egwugwu."
In the literary tradition of the tragic hero, Okonkwo's undoing continues with his accidental killing of Ezeudu's son. Early in the chapter, Achebe foreshadows the event with Okonkwo's memory of Ezeudu's warning about not killing Ikemefuna. The author builds dramatic tension by describing an increasingly frenzied scene of dancing, leaping, shouting, drumming, and the firing of guns, as well as the frightening appearance of the egwugwu. The action climaxes with an explosion of gunfire and then comes to a stop with the phrase "All was silent." Achebe emphasizes the gravity of Okonkwo's crime by saying that in Umuofia "nothing like this had ever happened.
Obierika quietly questions clan traditions — this time, the tradition demanding that Okonkwo be banished for seven years because of an accidental killing. He also questions the tribal abandonment of twins, remembering his own innocent children left to die in the forest.
The chapter includes several intimations of impending doom for the clan and its traditions. Achebe ends the chapter dramatically with the proverb, "If one finger brought oil, it soiled the others," suggesting that Okonkwo's crime may lead to the ultimate downfall of Umuofia itself.
Achebe presents a paradox about the manly and womanly aspects of Okonkwo's circumstances. Okonkwo begins his exile deeply discouraged and unmotivated. While striving for even greater manliness, he committed a female murder — that is, he accidentally killed a boy during the funeral ceremony. Making things worse (in his mind), he has been exiled to the woman's side of his family. He thus feels that this transition is an extraordinary challenge to his manliness. His uncle reminds him, though, in the presence of his own large family, that Okonkwo should use the nurturing (womanly) quality of his motherland, accept his situation (which is, in fact, far less devastating than it could be), and recover. Okonkwo needs to maintain a positive, responsible leadership (including male and female qualities) of his own family in preparation for their eventual return to Umuofia. The womanly aspect of his mother's village is not to be ignored while Okonkwo waits for the right to return to his own manly village.
Before this, Okonkwo acknowledged the vital role of chi in his life. In this chapter, he seems to realize that his chi "was not made for great things" — a reluctant admission that he may not achieve everything he wants because his fate is predetermined. His acceptance of this possible limitation, however, does not last.
With the description of the isa-ifi ceremony, this chapter completes the reader's view of the complex Igbo marriage rituals.
Obierika tells a story of how the first white man ever seen in Abame is initially a matter of curiosity, especially his skin color and perhaps his bicycle. When the villagers consult their Oracle, however, it predicts that white men will be instruments of disaster for the clan. Only then do the villagers take violent action against this individual white man, an action criticized as premature by Uchendu. Although Okonkwo agrees that the men of Abame were foolish for killing the white man, his response, "They should have armed themselves with their guns and their machetes even when they went to the market," illustrates that Okonkwo defies the Umuofian custom not resort to violence without first trying to negotiate a peaceful settlement and seeking the acceptance of war by its Oracle. The Oracle never accepted a war with the white men, but it warned the villagers that the white men would spread destruction like "locusts." Ironically, the white men represent the coming of the locusts from Revelation in the Bible; the village will be destroyed, and among the villagers who aren't harmed, nothing good will come to them.
Of course, the retaliation by a large group of white men later — wiping out the entire village — is out of proportion to the initial crime. But this excessive action is Achebe's way of beginning the novel's characterization of extremist whites and their oppressive, often uninformed and insensitive attitude toward the natives. From this point on, the two groups are depicted as adversaries, and future conflict seems inevitable.
The Abame disaster is based on an actual event in 1905, in the community of Ahiara. More information about the incident and its consequences appears in the earlier section "A Brief History of Nigeria."
Obierika is able to understand Nwoye's blunt statement only after he talks to Nwoye's mother. Her story may be sympathetically narrated because she is protective of Nwoye.
The Christian missionaries seem to win over many people of Mbanta rather quickly. The earliest converts are people with low status in the clan. The missionaries' promises fill a void in the lives of such converts. The Christian hymn, for example, touches the "silent and dusty chords in the heart of an Ibo man." (The old-style spelling of Ibo is used in the text; the modern spelling is Igbo.) Also note that the white man is not personalized yet — he remains a stereotype of a white missionary, though somewhat more patient in his responses than one may expect.
Considering the fate of the Abame village after the arrival of the white men, Mbanta's welcome of the missionaries isn't surprising. The presence of only one white person among the missionaries may have eased the villager's fears of the missionaries. The villagers are understandably skeptical about the Christian message but still curious to learn more about the strange religion and white skin with which they are unfamiliar. In addition, the missionaries' use of rhythmic, evangelistic hymns is a good seductive strategy for expanding their message through a sympathetic medium. They also promise new experiences, such as riding a bicycle, once they move into the community.
Unsurprisingly, Nwoye is highly receptive to the new, more humane-appearing doctrine, because he is a sensitive young man with deep concerns about certain customs of his people (see Chapter 7).
Achebe provides a humorous illustration of the difficulties of dialects, even within the Igbo language. The missionary's translator is an Igbo, but he speaks a dialect that pronounces some words and expressions differently from Umuofian Igbo: The word "myself" comes out as "my buttocks," resulting in some humorous translations of the white man's message.
The missionaries are beginning to influence not only the community's religious views and practices but also its deeper social customs and traditions; for example, they welcome the first female convert, a woman who is scorned by the community because of her four sets of twins. To her, as well as to other early converts shunned by the clan for one reason or another, the missionaries provide support and acceptance. The missionaries will not throw away newborn twins, and the community will eventually see that they are as normal as other children.
The missionaries apparently expect the new Christians in the community to accept a new weekly calendar: "Come [to church] every seventh day." Suddenly, the narrative refers to "Sunday" instead of the Igbo days of the week. Did the missionaries know about the Igbo four-day week? Did they preach the seven-day creation story? Consider the impact on a community when outsiders impose a new arrangement of days and weeks.
Okonkwo's views toward the Christians and his desire for a violent solution begin to separate him from the rest of his new Mbanta clan — which he thinks is a womanly clan. He feels that simply excluding the Christians from several public places is a weak solution.
Hoping not to come into conflict with one another, the church and the village are delicately maintaining an equilibrium by avoiding each other. When they do encounter each other, violence sometimes erupts, as when the three converts make fun of the old gods. In addition, as more new converts strengthen the church, they in turn weaken the clan, causing increased tension among the non-Christians as well as between the Christians and the non-Christians. When the church violates something sacred in the clan tradition, the precarious balance between church and clan is upset — a balance that is increasingly more difficult to maintain. Yet, even this crisis is resolved without violence.
Okonkwo's final days in Mbanta are characterized by his usual striving to impress, never doing anything by halves. He expresses his thanks to his motherland's relatives with an extravagant celebration. Okonkwo's rigid, impulsive behavior hasn't changed during his seven years in Mbanta, and he is eager to return to Umuofia to make up for lost time. He reveres Umuofia because of its strong and masculine community, unlike Mbanta, which he labels a womanly clan.
Achebe ends the chapter and Part Two with a foreshadowing of what is to follow: An elder member of the clan tells the young people, "I fear for you; I fear for the clan."
Okonkwo's concern about his status when he returns to Umuofia suggests that status and mobility within Umuofian society is largely self-determined: All males except outcasts have opportunities to move upward in the clan through hard work, wise use of resources, and gaining titles. Prominent status is essential to Okonkwo in his drive for manliness. Out of the community for seven years, Okonkwo lost his status among the village elders and the other egwugwu, and he has fallen behind in obtaining titles in the clan. He can compensate by making a show of his larger compound, more barns, and more wives and by starting to initiate his sons (besides Nwoye) into gaining titles — something few men can afford to do. He seems to be suppressing his sorrow over the loss of Nwoye and his disappointment about the loss of community position by reaffirming his beliefs in traditional Igbo ways and taking traditional steps toward recognition.
In light of his near obsession with status and titles, Okonkwo must find it particularly hard to understand how some of the leaders of the community can give up their titles when they became Christians.
In Part Two of the book, the major change introduced by the white man was the Christian church, which not only divided the community, but divided families. In the first chapter of Part Three, the white man's government assumes a central role, not only with its court and its "court messengers" but also with its prison and its executions. These changes are reported by Achebe in an ironic tone, as if the establishment of a government by the white colonialists was the Igbos' first experience with government, as if the Igbo did not have a justice system prior to the arrival of the whites. This tone is especially ironic because, earlier, Achebe takes great pains to illustrate not only the varieties of justice meted out by the Oracle (Okonkwo's banishment) and by the general citizenry (reprimands about violating the Week of Peace and about women not helping in the recovery of a stray cow), but he also illustrates the processes followed and the types of justice meted out by the formal court (Chapter 10). Remember that one of Achebe's goals in writing this novel was to demonstrate that the Igbo had developed a sophisticated society, religion, and justice system long before the Europeans arrived.
Achebe describes a colonial government that subdues the Igbo people without requiring the missionaries to learn their language or try to understand the Igbo traditions and ways. (The first church representative, Mr. Brown, is the exception in being accommodating to Igbo language and customs.)
By recruiting other African natives — the kotmas, or court messengers — to be their agents in the day-to-day enforcement of their authority, the missionaries bring into their use people with skin color and language characteristics much like the local natives — people who seem to be friends of the local natives (though their dialect was apparently different). Ultimately, the court messengers abused their positions by beating prisoners and taking bribes. Achebe is implying that corruption among the Igbo people isn't exclusive to Umuofia; the court messengers are more interested in what they can get out of the situation rather than what they can do to spread Christianity or even to help the Umuofians.
When Okonkwo tells Obierika that his fellow Umuofians should rise up against the British, Obierika wisely understands that it is too late. Many Umuofians have already "joined the ranks of the stranger." Obierika says that the white man "has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart" — the first specific acknowledgment of the book's title, Things Fall Apart.
a third institution is established by the British in Umuofia — trade with the outside world. The Europeans buy palm-oil and palm kernels from the Igbo at a high price, and many Umuofians profit from the trade. These Umuofians welcome the new trading opportunities, though these activities are effectively undermining the clan and its self-sufficiency. Through narrative that gradually introduces these key, outside influences — religion, government, and commerce — Achebe shows how the British convinced so many Umuofians to welcome them in spite of their disruption of daily life and customs.
Indeed, the British seem to provide advantages lacking in Umuofian culture. The established members of the village welcome new opportunities for wealth. At the other end of the social scale, the disenfranchised members of Igbo society find acceptance in Christianity that they didn't experience in the so-called old ways. Mr. Brown builds a school and a much-needed small hospital in Umuofia; both institutions produce immediate and impressive results.
So the Umuofians now have more. Are they better off because of these additions to their lives? The British thought so and expected them to agree.
Throughout the book Achebe gives his characters names with hidden meanings; for example, Okonkwo's name implies male pride and stubbornness. When Achebe adds British characters, he gives two of them common and unremarkable British names, Brown and Smith. His third British character, the District Commissioner, is known only by his title. The choice of names, and lack thereof, is in itself a commentary by Achebe on the incoming faceless strangers.
Achebe portrays Mr. Smith as a stereotype of the inflexible Christian missionary in Africa. He is a fire-and-brimstone type of preacher, who likens Igbo religion to the pagan prophets of Baal of the Old Testament and brands traditional Igbo beliefs as the work of the devil. Achebe suggests that the issue between Mr. Smith and the local people may be more than one of religion: "[Mr. Smith] saw things as black and white. And black was evil."
Achebe implies that strict adherence to scripture and dogma produces religious fanaticism. Enoch's unmasking of an egwugwu is portrayed as a result of unbridled fanaticism. In traditional Igbo religion, the ancestral spirit communicates through the mask in which it speaks. The Igbo believe that during this time, the human underneath the mask is not present; the mask is transformed into the spirit. Thus, unmasking the egwugwu kills the ancestral spirit. Enoch's action exposes the non-divine nature of an egwugwu, just a man beneath a mask, another sign of "things falling apart." Ironically, the outcome of Enoch's fanaticism must surely cause some clan members to question their long-held, sacred beliefs regarding the egwugwu.
the oppressive yet naive approach that the British took to ensure colonial justice. Although the District Commissioner says that he wants to hear both sides of the clan leaders' story, he doesn't trust the leaders and imprisons them while he collects a fine from the village. The Commissioner informs them that the British "have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy." He may sincerely believe this statement, and he may also believe that the British control the court messengers when he assigns them as guards and as fine collectors. The court messengers (orkotma), however, not only abuse the prisoners, but they collect a fine considerably larger than what the Commissioner asks for so they can keep a sizable portion for themselves.
The District Commissioner's statements and personal actions are ironic in light of what is actually taking place: The British have decided that they know what is best for the Igbo and will go to violent and repressive lengths to bring their decision about. They justify their actions in the name of their great sovereign, Queen Victoria, "the most powerful ruler in the world."
A recurring theme underlying the occupation by the British is that the Africans are divided among themselves — an illustration of "divide and conquer." To help enforce their policies, the British employ other Africans to help them carry out their occupation and rule. The white colonialists apparently assume that their black subordinates would gain the confidence of the black natives. The British may not be aware that their court messengers, apparently Igbo, believe in customs, language, and values different from the Umuofians, and they already possess traditional antagonisms toward the Umuofian Igbo. Clearly, they do not understand Umuofian culture when they joke about so many Umuofians holding titles. They abuse their power by physically abusing their prisoners and asking the clan for an extra fifty bags of cowries for themselves. Because the court messengers are also the translators between the British and the Igbo, their opportunity for corruption is great. The British who are aware of the brutality and corruption of their court messengers probably take refuge in the rationalization that the end — the ultimate civilizing of the natives — justifies the means.
After Okonkwo is freed from prison, he remembers better times, when Umuofia was more warrior-like and fierce — "when men were men." As in his younger days, he is eager to prepare for war (not unlike Enoch the convert in the preceding chapter). He is worried that the peacemakers among them may have a voice, but he assures himself that he will continue the resistance, even if he has to do it alone. He will be manly in his actions even to the end.
Umuofian culture has traditionally discriminated against women and other outcasts — and currently against Christian converts. This discrimination has marginalized many people, including even important "sons" of Umuofia. The speaker points out that not "all the sons of Umuofia" are with them at the vital clan gathering; he admits that they may have to kill their own clansmen if they go to war. Yet the speaker feels that they must do battle in order to rid themselves of this evil.
When Okonkwo kills the court messenger, his fellow clansmen almost back away from him in fear; in fact, his violent action is questioned. When he realizes that no one supports him, Okonkwo finally knows that he can't save his village and its traditions no matter how fiercely he tries. His beloved and honored Umuofia is on the verge of surrender, and Okonkwo himself feels utterly defeated. Everything has fallen apart for him. His action in the final chapter will not be a surprise.
The book's final confrontation between the District Commissioner and the Umuofians is almost anticlimactic. It serves to demonstrate once more the deep cultural gulf between the Europeans and the Igbos. This difference is dramatized not solely by the events but also by the language of the chapter. For example, notice the sudden appearance of several literate words relating to the Commissioner throughout the scene: infuriating, superfluous, instantaneously, resolute. He imagines himself to be a "student of primitive customs," listening to the explanation of the "primitive belief" about handling the body of a suicide. His warning about the natives playing "monkey tricks" may reflect his views that they are, in fact, animalistic — perhaps like primates in the wild.
Primitive is, of course, his British point of view. The Commissioner, like other colonialists, cannot imagine that he understands very little about the Igbo, especially that they are not primitive — except perhaps from a European technological perspective. In the meantime, the novel has revealed to its readers the complex system of justice, government, society, economy, religion, and even medicine in Umuofia before the British arrived.
Finally, the Commissioner seems unconcerned about the ironic fact that the colonialists' methods of pacification are often achieved through suppression and violence — themselves essentially primitive means for achieving nationalistic objectives.


1 comment:

  1. Hi
    your assignmant topic is good and you described all the point very well. Images is also good.

    ReplyDelete