Things Fall Apart Book Abstract

 CHINUA ACHEBE`S THINGS FALL APART

 Thing Fall Apart is a novel that sets to highlight the beauty of the African culture before the coming of the colonial powers and the chaos caused by the arrival of the imperialists.

With this book, Achebe demonstrates the rise and fall of one man, Okwonkwo, who represents the Igbo society. The author also shows how this rise and fall of Okwonkwo is contemporaneous with the rise and fall of Umuofia.  

The book is divided into three sections. The first section demonstrates how Okwonkwo rises to fame. Okwonkwo`s fame is made to gain momentum and to reach high magnitudes as Achebe starts it from seemingly baseless ground by depicting Okwonkwo`s father Unoka as the lazy, worthless and poor man. The implication here is that if Okwonkwo manages to rise from such humble beginnings, it is apparent that he is a great man. This element of greatness tallies with the greatness of the African heritage. Okwonkwo is made to receive honour from the entire village of Umuofia because he defeated Amalinze the cat, the craftiest man of the nine villages and because he helped his village to win many battles. This first part also shows that Okwonkwo became a rich man. That is he owned a big compound full of plantains and yams. He also married three wives and in Africa, the number of wives a man married was determined by how much such a man could produce and whether that man would manage to pay the bride-price. So, if Okwonkwo married three wives that was a great achievement.

The second part of the book, Things Fall Apart, deals with Okwonkwo`s exile from Umuofia. His exile is depicted as a consequence of his disobedience to listen to the gods. It is stated in the book that the oracle told him not to kill his son Ekemefuna with his own hand but Okwonkwo, attempting to show the people of Umuofia that his not a coward, killed Ekemefuna. So, he had to leave Umuofia to Mbata his mother`s home as a form of punishment. When Okwonkwo was away, white settlers arrived in Umuofia. Achebe skillfully takes Okwonkwo away so that the society of Umuofia could not be blamed on Okwonkwo or at least on a single individual.

The third and the last part of the novel is centred on Okwonkwo`s return to Umuofia. When Okwonkwo returned to Umuofia, the Whites had already taken control of the whole area. He becomes one of the nine Egwes or elders but his attempts to re-unite Umuofia fail. He is taken to prison together with other Egwes and when he returns from prison he commits suicide.

What is actually falling apart in this novel is the African culture. Achebe shows readers that the Igbo culture is ugly when it is dismantled. He is showing the impact of colonialism on Africa. By showing the destroying feature of European dominion, it can be deduced that Achebe threatens Africans and makes them forever submissive to the whites. While the above assumption could be a fallacy, it should be maintained that everything is good and beautiful when it is in its original state. So, African culture, according to Achebe, was good before Europeans invaded Africa.