Essay 1- Things Fall Apart

Moonisah Ali
Mrs. Bosch
English 10 Honors
11 August 2007


Things Fall Apart
Pride is a feeling of self-respect and satisfaction one takes in with their personal achievements or other’s achievements. Human beings take much pride in the person they have realized they have become by the effects of their past, the people they convene, the rivalries they encounter, and traditions they believe in. Pride in a person takes effect once they are pleased with their surroundings and how they over came what ever fear that has challenged them. Whether it is the history of one’s family or their heritage, people try their hardest to follow tradition and still become the epitome of what they consider to be worthy. People often find themselves worthy by following tradition or honoring their heritage. By following a heritage, one is following a tradition that has been passed on from generations and they must some how maintain that tradition. People often have unstable role models to guide them through the journey of life, but once they comprehend what they think is correct they often stray away from the terrible values and develop their own so they can expand in their own way.

In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Achebe depicts his pride in family, heritage, memory, language and lives through his main character Okonkwo. Living in Nigeria, Okonkwo’s life is based on a constant domination of fear and anger. He feared turning into what he loathed -- his father. Achebe shows that in Okonkwo’s memory of his father, he [Okonkwo] had remembered him as an unsuccessful man, according to what his heritage’s expectations were. Achebe also showed how the Igbo community had communicated with each other through language and proverbs. He [Achebe] illustrates the importance of family and heritage and how they construct each and every human being into who they become in life. Chinua Achebe exemplifies his pride in family, heritage, memory, language through his characters and their behaviors.

Achebe had written Things Fall Apart to show the importance of language in the African culture. Achebe tosses many Igbo words around to show that they are much too intricate for direct translation into English. In the novel, Mr. Brown’s translator's translation is laughed at by the Igbo people because his conversion of the language is a bit different from their [Igbo’s] own. The language itself is very unique and cannot be translated by the smartest men. The Igbo people laughing showed their interpretation of the translator to be unintelligent. The Igbo language had many songs, “Eze elin, elina! Sala Eze ilikwa ya Ikwaba akwa oligboli ebe danda nechi eze ebe uzuz nete egwu Sala” (60). Some songs were sang for protection and some for celebration. Achebe used a lot more than just songs in Igbo language, he used proverbs and folktales as well. Language was a way for everyone to communicate with one another and demonstrate that they understood one another. To the Igbo people language was a way to know who their people were and it was a sense of acceptance towards one another. By translating the songs, folktales and proverbs he had masterfully incarcerated the beauty in the language and the pride he took in using it [language] in the book.

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe shows his pride in memory by showing how Okonkwo remembers his father’s unproductive life so vividly that he knows he does not want to turn out that way, ‘He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to eat. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money. . .” (5). This is how Unoka, Oknonkwo’s father, was perceived. Okonkwo had wanted no part of being a failure as his father was. Unoka had no remorse in the way he treated others and his family. He would leave his wife and children starving and ask to borrow from others and not pay them back. Unoka was lazy, poor, wasteful and cowardly. With the money he had borrowed he would never help feed his family, he would just waste the money on trivial objects such as potent beverages for himself. “ If any money came his way, and it seldom did, he immediately bought gourds of palm-wine, called about his neighbors and made merry” (4). Unoka was a very reckless man. Okonkwo had many aspirations that distracted him from following the same path as his father, “His life had been ruled by a great passion -- to become one of the lords of the clan” (131). Okonkwo consciously adopted differing traits from his father so he could make his life better in a world that valued masculinity. Achebe made it seem that in remembering the past one could learn from their mistakes and others and create a more meaningful future for themselves.

Heritage has a way of building one’s character. Achebe had shown this by how Okonkwo had developed in the novel. It [heritage] had built Okonkwo into a strong man that had no limits in his success, “His fame rested on solid personal achievements” (3). Through the many traditions Okonkwo’s heritage had to offer, Okonkwo had followed them and shaped himself to be adored by the community. Achebe depicted that by following one’s heritage and traditions one was able to win the praise of others in the community. Without the arts of heritage and traditions people would have a lack of a society. Okonkwo’s heritage seemed to have, what the Igbo people considered, moral values. Okonkwo’s heritage was a way of communicating with others and being proud of what had formed him and continued to form him to the person he was going to be. Achebe took much appreciation in heritage by showing how Okonkwo was forced out of his fatherland and into his motherland and was given a lesson on appreciating where one originates from. Uchenda, Okonkwo’s father-in-law, questioned Okonkwo about his presence at is motherland, when Okonkwo did not answer, Uchenda told him about how, “Your mother is there to protect you” (134). Achebe wanted to show how family relations and heritage connected towards one another. One was to be well equipped in knowing their background and where they originated from, which was their mother and father.

Family seemed to be very important to Achebe. Okonkwo had committed accidental manslaughter and was sent to live with is mother’s family. The time Okonkwo had gotten there he seemed a bit estranged from his mother‘s family, but Uchenda made sure he felt like home and understood that, “. . .there is no one from whom it is well” (135). Uchenda tried explaining to Okonkwo that he should not weep for himself and think that he is the only one that has gone through a horrible ordeal. He wanted him to know that everyone has their own pain they must go through everyday. Uchenda wanted Okonkwo to be open with his emotions and not feel as if he has suffered greatly because there are many that have suffered more. Uchenda wanted Okonkwo that he should not refuse to be comforted by his mother’s kinsmen when he was in a dismal state. Uchenda and the rest of the family had received Okonkwo affectionately by trying their best to show him they were there for him and his family and that Okonkwo did not need to prove himself in being strong to his mother’s kin because they excepted him either way. The importance of family showed in many ways, “Okonkwo and his family worked very hard to plant a new farm” (131). This exemplified how after Okonkwo’s exile his family was there for him to help build a new life.

Achebe had a way of showing the importance of life in Things Fall Apart, towards the ending of the novel the protagonist, Okonkwo had killed himself. The cause of this unfortunate event was because Okonkwo had felt abandoned by his fellow men. Okonkwo feared that without revolting there would be no way to stop the white men taking over, so his anger towards his leader for not want to go to war had gotten the best of Okonkwo and he acted upon the anger. Okonkwo had a plan to over throw the white men and their leaders. Okonkwo, expecting his fellow men to join him in revolt, ends up killing his own leader with a machete. Okonkwo had been infuriated that his leader’s wishes were not to fight back with the white men. Okonkwo felt that, “Worthy men were no more” (200). He felt that without fighting back and winning men had given up. That men were no longer strong and were weak to have given into the white man’s persuasion. Achebe had valued life very much, and by ending Okonkwo’s he showed how much more important life was. Also, how people make hasty decisions and do not understand how by making one incorrect decision they can affect others. By Okonkwo killing himself he had drawn an even bigger wedge within the white men and the Igbo people. Although the Iboe people had still respected him for his achievements and courage. “That man was one of the greatest men in Umofia. You drove him to kill himself. And now he will be buried like a dog” (208). The Igbo people put the blame on the white men for the cause of Okonkwo’s death. The Igbo people had strongly valued a life of one of their people, especially with the amount of accomplishments one had.

Chinua Achebe had strong feelings about the importance of family, heritage, language, memory and lives. His pride in each subject had shown throughout his novel and characters. Achebe’s way of depicting his pride was very admirable. The Igbo language was a way of communication, the heritage showed how one was shape into a person, memory was a way for a person to learn from prior mistakes and having a family showed how much of a support system they could be in helping one find their way back to a steady life. Also through tradition Achebe showed how a person would grow and learn from the ancestors and their ways. Achebe’ had his protagonist, Okonkwo, go through life by being dominated by his own fear and rage. Okonwko killed himself in the ending and the Igbo people were very devastated, which showed how important Okonkwo and his life was.