Things Fall Apart CHINUA ACHEBE  

Plot Overview

 OKONKWO IS A WEALTHY AND RESPECTED WARRIOR of the Umuofia clan, a lower

Nigerian tribe that is part of a consortium of nine connected villages. He is

haunted by the actions of Unoka, his cowardly and spendthrift father, who

died in disrepute, leaving many village debts unsettled. In response, Okonkwo

becomes a clansman, warrior, farmer, and family provider extraordinaire. He

has a twelve-year-old son named Nwoye whom he finds lazy; Okonkwo

worries that Nwoye will end up a failure like Unoka. 

 

In a settlement with a neighboring tribe, Umuofia wins a virgin and a fifteen-

year-old boy. Okonkwo takes charge of the boy, Ikemefuna, and finds an ideal

son in him. Nwoye likewise forms a strong attachment to the newcomer.

Despite his fondness for Ikemefuna and despite the fact that the boy begins to

call him “father,” Okonkwo does not let himself show any affection for him. During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo accuses his youngest wife, Ojiugo, of

negligence. He severely beats her, breaking the peace of the sacred week.

He makes some sacrifices to show his repentance, but he has shocked his

community irreparably. 

Ikemefuna stays with Okonkwo's family for three years. Nwoye looks up to

him as an older brother and, much to Okonkwo's pleasure, develops a more

masculine attitude. One day, the locusts come to Umuofia—they will come

every year for seven years before disappearing for another generation. The

village excitedly collects them because they are good to eat when cooked. Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a respected village elder, informs Okonkwo in private that

the Oracle has said that Ikemefuna must be killed. He tells Okonkwo that

because Ikemefuna calls him “father,” Okonkwo should not take part in the

boy's death. Okonkwo lies to Ikemefuna, telling him that they must return him

to his home village. Nwoye bursts into tears. As he walks with the men of Umuofia, Ikemefuna thinks about seeing his

mother. After several hours of walking, some of Okonkwo's clansmen attack

the boy with machetes. Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for help. But Okonkwo,

who doesn't wish to look weak in front of his fellow tribesmen, cuts the boy

down despite the Oracle's admonishment. When Okonkwo returns home,

Nwoye deduces that his friend is dead. 

 

Okonkwo sinks into a depression, able neither to sleep nor eat. He visits his

friend Obierika and begins to feel revived a bit. Okonkwo's daughter Ezinma

falls ill, but she recovers after Okonkwo gathers leaves for her medicine. The death of Ogbuefi Ezeudu is announced to the surrounding villages by

means of the ekwe, a musical instrument. Okonkwo feels guilty because the

last time Ezeudu visited him was to warn him against taking part in

Ikemefuna's death. At Ogbuefi Ezeudu's large and elaborate funeral, the men

beat drums and fire their guns. Tragedy compounds upon itself when

Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills Ogbuefi Ezeudu's sixteen-year-old son. Because killing a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess, Okonkwo

must take his family into exile for seven years in order to atone. He gathers

his most valuable belongings and takes his family to his mother's natal village,

Mbanta. The men from Ogbuefi Ezeudu's quarter burn Okonkwo's buildings

and kill his animals to cleanse the village of his sin. Okonkwo's kinsmen, especially his uncle, Uchendu, receive him warmly. They

help him build a new compound of huts and lend him yam seeds to start a

farm. Although he is bitterly disappointed at his misfortune, Okonkwo

reconciles himself to life in his motherland. During the second year of Okonkwo's exile, Obierika brings several bags of

cowries (shells used as currency) that he has made by selling Okonkwo's

yams. Obierika plans to continue to do so until Okonkwo returns to the village.

Obierika also brings the bad news that Abame, another village, has been

destroyed by the white man. Soon afterward, six missionaries travel to Mbanta. Through an interpreter

named Mr. Kiaga, the missionaries' leader, Mr. Brown, speaks to the villagers.

He tells them that their gods are false and that worshipping more than one

God is idolatrous. But the villagers do not understand how the Holy Trinity can

be accepted as one God. Although his aim is to convert the residents of

Umuofia to Christianity, Mr. Brown does not allow his followers to antagonize

the clan. Mr. Brown grows ill and is soon replaced by Reverend James Smith, an

intolerant and strict man. The more zealous converts are relieved to be free of

Mr. Brown's policy of restraint. One such convert, Enoch, dares to unmask an

egwugwu during the annual ceremony to honor the earth deity, an act

equivalent to killing an ancestral spirit. The next day, the egwugwu burn

Enoch's compound and Reverend Smith's church to the ground. The District Commissioner is upset by the burning of the church and requests

that the leaders of Umuofia meet with him. Once they are gathered, however,

the leaders are handcuffed and thrown in jail, where they suffer insults and

physical abuse. After the prisoners are released, the clansmen hold a meeting, during which

five court messengers approach and order the clansmen to desist. Expecting

his fellow clan members to join him in uprising, Okonkwo kills their leader with

his machete. When the crowd allows the other messengers to escape,

Okonkwo realizes that his clan is not willing to go to war. When the District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo's compound, he finds

that Okonkwo has hanged himself. Obierika and his friends lead the

commissioner to the body. Obierika explains that suicide is a grave sin; thus,

according to custom, none of Okonkwo's clansmen may touch his body. The

commissioner, who is writing a book about Africa, believes that the story of

Okonkwo's rebellion and death will make for an interesting paragraph or two.

He has already chosen the book's title: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes

of the Lower Niger.  

Things Fall Apart CHINUA ACHEBE  

Context

 ALBERT CHINUALUMOGU ACHEBE WAS BORN ON November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, a

large village in Nigeria. Although he was the child of a Protestant missionary

and received his early education in English, his upbringing was multicultural,

as the inhabitants of Ogidi still lived according to many aspects of traditional

Igbo (formerly written as Ibo) culture. Achebe attended the Government

College in Umuahia from 1944 to 1947. He graduated from University

College, Ibadan, in 1953. While he was in college, Achebe studied history and

theology. He also developed his interest in indigenous Nigerian cultures, and

he rejected his Christian name, Albert, for his indigenous one, Chinua. 

 

In the 1950s, Achebe was one of the founders of a Nigerian literary

movement that drew upon the traditional oral culture of its indigenous

peoples. In 1959, he published Things Fall Apart as a response to novels,

such as Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, that treat Africa as a primordial

and cultureless foil for Europe. Tired of reading white men's accounts of how

primitive, socially backward, and, most important, language-less native

Africans were, Achebe sought to convey a fuller understanding of one African

culture and, in so doing, give voice to an underrepresented and exploited

colonial subject. Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s and portrays the clash between Nigeria's

white colonial government and the traditional culture of the indigenous Igbo

people. Achebe's novel shatters the stereotypical European portraits of native

Africans. He is careful to portray the complex, advanced social institutions and

artistic traditions of Igbo culture prior to its contact with Europeans. Yet he is

just as careful not to stereotype the Europeans; he offers varying depictions of

the white man, such as the mostly benevolent Mr. Brown, the zealous

Reverend Smith, and the ruthlessly calculating District Commissioner. Achebe's education in English and exposure to European customs have

allowed him to capture both the European and the African perspectives on

colonial expansion, religion, race, and culture. His decision to write Things

Fall Apart in English is an important one. Achebe wanted this novel to

respond to earlier colonial accounts of Africa; his choice of language was thus

political. Unlike some later African authors who chose to revitalize native

languages as a form of resistance to colonial culture, Achebe wanted to

achieve cultural revitalization within and through English. Nevertheless, he

manages to capture the rhythm of the Igbo language and he integrates Igbo

vocabulary into the narrative. Achebe has become renowned throughout the world as a father of modern

African literature, essayist, and professor of English literature at Bard College

in New York. But Achebe's achievements are most concretely reflected by his

prominence in Nigeria's academic culture and in its literary and political

institutions. He worked for the Nigerian Broadcasting Company for over a

decade and later became an English professor at the University of Nigeria. He

has also been quite influential in the publication of new Nigerian writers. In

1967, he co-founded a publishing company with a Nigerian poet named

Christopher Okigbo and in 1971, he began editing Okike, a respected journal

of Nigerian writing. In 1984, he founded Uwa ndi Igbo, a bilingual magazine

containing a great deal of information about Igbo culture. He has been active

in Nigerian politics since the 1960s, and many of his novels address the post-

colonial social and political problems that Nigeria still faces.

Things Fall Apart CHINUA ACHEBE  

Chapters One–Three

 Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer;Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. —W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming”

(See Important Quotations Explained)

Summary: Chapter One 

Among the Igbo . . . proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.

(See Important Quotations Explained)

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower

Nigerian tribe that is part of a consortium of nine connected villages, including

Okonkwo's village, Iguedo. In his youth, he brought honor to his village by

beating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Until his match with

Okonkwo, the Cat had been undefeated for seven years. Okonkwo is

completely unlike his now deceased father, Unoka, who feared the sight of

blood and was always borrowing and losing money, which meant that his wife

and children often went hungry. Unoka was, however, a skilled flute player

and had a gift for, and love of, language. 

Summary: Chapter Two 

One night, the town crier rings the ogene, or gong, and requests that all of the

clansmen gather in the market in the morning. At the gathering, Ogbuefi

Ezeugo, a noted orator, announces that someone from the village of Mbaino

murdered the wife of an Umuofia tribesman while she was in their market. The

crowd expresses anger and indignation, and Okonkwo travels to Mbaino to

deliver the message that they must hand over to Umuofia a virgin and a

young man. Should Mbaino refuse to do so, the two villages must go to war,

and Umuofia has a fierce reputation for its skill in war and magic. Okonkwo is

chosen to represent his clan because he is its fiercest warrior. Earlier in the

chapter, as he remembers his past victories, we learn about the five human

heads that he has taken in battle. On important occasions, he drinks palm-

wine from the first head that he captured. Not surprisingly, Mbaino agrees to

Umuofia's terms. The elders give the virgin to Ogbuefi Udo as his wife but are

not sure what to do with the fifteen-year-old boy, Ikemefuna. The elders

decide to turn him over to Okonkwo for safekeeping and instruction.

Okonkwo, in turn, instructs his first wife to care for Ikemefuna. 

In addition to being a skilled warrior, Okonkwo is quite wealthy. He supports

three wives and eight children, and each wife has her own hut. Okonkwo also

has a barn full of yams, a shrine for his ancestors, and his own hut, called an

obi.  

Okonkwo fears weakness, a trait that he associates with his father and with

women. When Okonkwo was a child, another boy called Unoka agbala, which

is used to refer to women as well as to men who have not taken a title.

Because he dreads weakness, Okonkwo is extremely demanding of his

family. He finds his twelve-year-old son, Nwoye, to be lazy, so he beats and

nags the boy constantly. 

Summary: Chapter Three 

Okonkwo built his fortune alone as a sharecropper because Unoka was never

able to have a successful harvest. When he visited the Oracle, Unoka was

told that he failed because of his laziness. Ill-fated, Unoka died of a shameful

illness: “the swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess.” Those

suffering from swelling stomachs and limbs are left in the Evil Forest to die so

that they do not offend the earth by being buried. Unoka never held any of the

community's four prestigious titles (because they must be paid for), and he left

numerous debts unpaid. 

As a result, Okonkwo cannot count on Unoka's help in building his own wealth

and in constructing his obi. What's more, he has to work hard to make up for

his father's negative strikes against him. Okonkwo succeeds in exceeding all

the other clansmen as a warrior, a farmer, and a family provider. He begins by

asking a wealthy clansman, Nwakibie, to give him 400 seed-yams to start a

farm. Because Nwakibie admired Okonkwo's hard-working nature, he gave

him eight hundred. One of Unoka's friends gave him another four hundred, but

because of horrible droughts and relentless downpours, Okonkwo could keep

only one third of the harvest. Some farmers who were lazier than Okonkwo

put off planting their yams and thus avoided the grave losses suffered by

Okonkwo and the other industrious farmers. That year's devastating harvest

left a profound mark on Okonkwo, and for the rest of his life he considers his

survival during that difficult period proof of his fortitude and inner mettle.

Although his father tried to offer some words of comfort, Okonkwo felt only

disgust for someone who would turn to words at a time when either actions or

silence were called for. 

Analysis: Chapters One–Three 

We are introduced immediately to the complex laws and customs of

Okonkwo's clan and its commitment to harmonious relations. For example,

the practice of sharing palm-wine and kola nuts is repeated throughout the

book to emphasize the peacefulness of the Igbo. When Unoka's resentful

neighbor visits him to collect a debt, the neighbor does not immediately

address the debt. Instead, he and Unoka share a kola nut and pray to their

ancestral spirits; afterward, they converse about community affairs at great

length. The customs regulating social relations emphasize their common

interests and culture, diffusing possible tension. The neighbor further eases

the situation by introducing the subject of debt through a series of Igbo

proverbs, thus making use of a shared oral tradition, as Okonkwo does when

he asks Nwakibie for some seed-yams. Through his emphasis on the

harmony and complexity of the Igbo, Achebe contradicts the stereotypical,

European representations of Africans as savages. 

Another important way in which Achebe challenges such stereotypical

representations is through his use of language. As Achebe writes in his essay

on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness, colonialist Europe tended to

perceive Africa as a foil or negation of Western culture and values, imagining

Africa to be a primordial land of silence. But the people of Umuofia speak a

complex language full of proverbs and literary and rhetorical devices.

Achebe's translation of the Igbo language into English retains the cadences,

rhythms, and speech patterns of the language without making them sound, as

Conrad did, “primitive.” 

Okonkwo is the protagonist of Things Fall Apart, and, in addition to situating

him within his society, the first few chapters of the novel offer us an

understanding of his nature. He is driven by his hatred of his father, Unoka,

and his fear of becoming like him. To avoid picking up Unoka's traits,

Okonkwo acts violently without thinking, often provoking avoidable fights. He

has a bad temper and rules his household with fear. Okonkwo associates

Unoka with weakness, and with weakness he associates femininity. Because

his behavior is so markedly different from his father's, he believes that it

constitutes masculinity. However, it strains his relationship with Nwoye and

leads him to sin in Chapter Four by breaking the Week of Peace. His rash

behavior also causes tension within the community because he expresses

disdain for less successful men. Ikemefuna later demonstrates that

masculinity need not preclude kindness, gentleness, and affection, and

Nwoye responds far more positively to Ikemefuna's nurturing influence than to

Okonkwo's heavy-handedness. 

Despite its focus on kinship, the Igbo social structure offers a greater chance

for mobility than that of the colonizers who eventually arrive in Umuofia.

Though ancestors are revered, a man's worth is determined by his own

actions. In contrast to much of continental European society during the

nineteenth century, which was marked by wealth-based class divisions, Igbo

culture values individual displays of prowess, as evidenced by their wrestling

competitions. Okonkwo is thus able, by means of his own efforts, to attain a

position of wealth and prestige, even though his father died, penniless and

titleless, of a shameful illness.

Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1

Summary:

We are introduced to Okonkwo, a great man among the Igbo tribe, well known in the nine villages and beyond. In his youth, he became famous when he defeated Amilinze the Cat, a great wrester. He is a formidable man, stern and intimidating in appearance; when angry, he stammers. The stammer makes him angrier, and he uses his fists. He has a hot temper. He has no patience for unsuccessful men; his father had been such a man. His father, a man by the name of Unoka, was a lazy do-nothing, who has died deep in debt. The narrator digresses to tell us about Unoka. Unoka was a great flute player in his youth, but he became a failure as an adult. He was constantly borrowing from his friends and neighbors, and his children and wife did not have enough to eat.

One day, a neighbor of Unoka, a man named Okoye, came to discuss the money Unoka owed him. The rituals of hospitality are described: the guest brings kola, a kind of food eaten during visits, and the men often speak in proverbs. Okoye was about take the third-highest title in the land, and he needed to collect resources. Unoka laughed him off, telling him that he had many other debts he needed to pay first.

Unoka dies deep in debt. But Okonkwo, though young, is already a great man. He has two barns full of yams, and he has fought bravely in two inter-tribal wars. He has taken two titles already. He has three wives. The narrator tells us that his high standing was the reason he was trusted to watch over the doomed boy who was sacrificed to Umuofia to avoid war. The doomed boy was named Ikemefuna.

Analysis

Things Fall Apart is part tragedy and part documentary. It is the story of Okonkwo and his tragic death after the coming of the white man; it is also a piece of fiction that documents the world that the white man destroyed. Structure is important to tragedy, and by Aristotle's rules of tragedy all that is inessential to the central action should be removed. However, the tragedy of Okonkwo's death is seen as part of a greater tragedy: the defeat and forced transformation of a great people. Achebe's novel is both tragedy and memory. The narrative tends to digress; to understand the gravity of Okonkwo's tragedy, the reader must see him within the context of his world.

Achebe gives us detailed descriptions of Igbo traditions, customs, and beliefs. Memory is an important theme; here, this study guide uses memory as a broad term covering all documentary-style descriptions of Igbo life. By the end of the novel, the reader realizes that the account he has just read is the story of a culture that has been irrevocably transformed. Another part of Achebe's project is to give a balanced and sensitive portrait of Igbo culture, as African tribal cultures were long dismissed by white scholars as barbaric and evil.

Digression is one of Achebe's most important tools. He takes any opportunity he can to tell us about a past incident which is only indirectly connected to his central story. These digressions allow him to flesh out his portrait of tribal life.

Ambition and greatness are two closely connected themes. Okonkwo is determined to be the opposite of his father. He has already taken two titles (honorary titles that give a man status in the tribe) and he is quite rich. Success and honor are very important to Okonkwo. He has worked his whole life to win the respect of his people. His work ethic and his ambition also give rise to his faults: he is a harsh man, quick to anger and without humility.

Chapter 2

Summary:

One night as Okonkwo prepares for bed, he hears the town crier, beating on his hollow instrument and calling all the men of Umuofia to a meeting early tomorrow morning. The night is dark and moonless, and the narrator explains that darkness was frightening even for the bravest of the Igbo. The forest is a sinister place at night. Okonkwo suspects that a war might be brewing: he's a distinguished warrior, and war gives him a chance to win greater esteem.

The next morning, the ten thousand men of Umuofia gather in the marketplace. Ogbuefi Ezuogo, a powerful orator, gives the traditional opening: he faces four different directions, raising a clenched fist, and cries "Umuofia kwenu," to which the men all cry "Yaa!" He greets them this way a fifth time, and then he tells them that men from the neighboring village of Mbaino have killed a girl from Umuofia. The men discuss the situation, and decide to follow the normal course of action: the will issue an ultimatum, demanding a boy and a virgin as compensation. The neighboring villages fear Umuofia, because its warriors and medicine-men are powerful. It's most powerful war medicine (magic) is agadi-nwayi, a magic enforced by the spirit of an old woman with one leg. The narrator tells us that in fairness to Umuofia, it should be said that the village never went to war without first trying a peaceful settlement, and even then it only went if the war was approved by the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. And the Oracle often forbade war.

Okonkwo is chosen as emissary. He goes and is treated with respect, and he returns with the young boy and the virgin girl. The girl goes to the man whose wife was murdered. As for the boy, the village is in no hurry to decide his fate. His name is Ikemefuna. He goes to live with Okonkwo and his family.

The narrator describes Okonkwo and his family, as well as their living situation. Okonkwo has a separate hut, or obi, at the heart of their family compound. Each wife has her own hut. All is enclosed by a large red wall. Yams are the main crop for the Igbo, and the compound includes a barn for yam-storage. There is also a shrine, or "medicine house." Okonkwo is quick to anger. He rules his family like a tyrant. He fears failure, and hates the memory of his idle father; his oldest son Nwoye, shows signs of being like Okonkwo's father, and so Okonkwo is very hard on him. Ikemefuna is brought home with Okonkwo and given to Nwoye's mother. The boy is homesick and does not understand why he has been taken from his family.

Analysis:

Achebe gives us a concise portrait of the social organization of the Igbo, on several levels. We see that the town is not ruled by a chief, but by a general assembly of all the men. In effect, the Igbo have a primitive democracy. We learn that yams are a staple, and a large store of yams indicates prosperity. We also learn that Umuofia prizes justice, and does not wage wars of conquest. There is also a high level of social mobility. Note that while Unoka was a failure, Okonkwo has risen to become a great man among his people.

Okonkwo fears failure. The theme of ambition has its converse, and it is Okonkwo's fear of failure that makes him a harsh man. He is strong, but he fails to see that his wives and children are not as physically strong as he. Yet he drives them to work as hard as he does. All of his wives and children fear him. Okonkwo tries to help his son, Nwoye, by being doubly harsh on him. But this approach is turning Nwoye into a sad and resentful youth.

Chapter 3

Summary:

When Okonkwo was young, his father Unoka went to Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. He asked why he always had a miserable harvest, despite his prayers and offerings to the gods. The Oracle told him that the fault lay not in the gods, but in his laziness. Unoka died of swelling that the Igbo believe is an abomination to the earth goddess. Like others who died badly, he was left in the Evil Forest. Okonkwo lives in fear of the kind of failure and sad end that met his father.

Okonkwo did not inherit a barn full of seed yams. He had to start out as a sharecropper for a rich man named Nwakibie. Nwakibie was generous, but the first year Okonkwo planted was the worst planting year in Umuofia's living memory. Okonkwo, with superhuman determination, survived. His father was in his last days then. He gave Okonkwo encouraging praise, but it only tried Okonkwo's patience.

Analysis:

Okonkwo has overcome incredible diversity. His father's pathetic end and death tainted him with shame, and left him without inheritance. His rise to social power and wealth has been a triumph of stubbornness and will. Sharecropping is a difficult way to begin; moreover, the first year Okonkwo planted was a terrible harvest year. But Okonkwo was young and strong, and he was able to survive. The experience has been essential to the formation of his character. Central to Okonkwo's beliefs is not only a work ethic but a faith in the ability of the will to overcome adversity. He is confident that he can master his environment; he rules as a man, and he is fiercely proud of his people. Understanding these beliefs is key to understanding the tragedy that strikes Okonkwo later, after the coming of the white man.

Chapter 4

Summary:

Okonkwo shows few emotions openly, none of them tender ones. He once insulted a man at a town meeting, implying that the man was a woman. The man had no titles. Okonkwo was reprimanded, and a village elder said that the fortunate

should show humility; yet Okonkwo has never been fortunate. Everything he has he has earned himself.

Ikemefuna is terribly homesick, but in time he finds a place among Okonkwo's family. Nwoye, two years younger, is inseparable from him; even Okonkwo grows fond of the boy, although he doesn't show it openly. Ikemefuna is a clever boy; he knows how to make flutes and traps for rodents. He begins to call Okonkwo "father."

During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo's youngest wife, Ojiugo, goes out to plait her hair and neglects to cook afternoon meal for him. When she returns, Okonkwo beats her savagely. This act is an abomination to the Igbo. No one is allowed even to speak unkindly to another during the Week of Peace; Okonkwo's transgression threatens the harvest of the whole clan. Ezeani, priest of the earth goddess, arrives before dusk. He scorns Okonkwo's traditional offer of kola nut and demands a stiff fine of goods and money from Okonkwo. Okonkwo pays it, inwardly repentant, but he is too proud to admit openly to his neighbors that he is in error. His neighbors begin to say he has grown to proud.

It is soon time to plant; as they prepare the seed yams, Okonkwo is very harsh to Nwoye and Ikemefuna. Yam is a man's crop, and Okonkwo is very demanding. Yams, too, are a difficult crop to raise, sensitive and labor-intensive. The rainy season comes, during which children huddle by fires indoors, resting. With planting season over, the Igbo enjoy a resting period before the work of the harvest.

Ikemefuna and Nwoye have become very close; Nwoye loves the older boy, who is now like a brother to him. Ikemefuna has an endless supply of folktales, and hearing them makes Nwoye see the world in a new light.

Analysis:

Maculinity is one of Okonkwo's obsessions. He sees any tender emotion as feminine and therefore weak. His culture is as patriarchal as any other, but in his need to be strong Okonkwo carries the preoccupation with manliness to an extreme. He has not learned restraint. His beating of Ojiugo is the first concrete incident in the book during which we watch Okonkwo lose control. Although he begins the beating having forgotten that it is the Week of Peace, when reminded he does not stop. He is not a man to do anything half-way, even if he knows there are consequences. Later, this hubris destroys him. His neighbors notice his pride. Even when Okonkwo feels penitent, he takes great pains to hide it. This drive and fierce pride have made him a great man, but they are also the source of all of his faults.

In his sincere desire to see his son Nwoye become great, he has made the boy extremely unhappy. Okonkwo is not exactly a typical Igbo male: though Achebe sets up Okonkwo's fall as parallel to the fall of his people, he also shows us that Okonkwo is an extraordinary man among the Igbo, in ways both good and bad. In other men of the village, we see restraint and humility. We see in Ikemefuna a role model that Nwoye has lacked. Fearful of his brutal father, Nwoye now has a kind older brother to look up to. We also see that Nwoye is a thoughtful boy: his responses to Ikemefuna's folktales are imaginative and beautiful.

Chapter 5

Summary:

The Feast of the New Yam approaches. It marks the beginning of harvest season. All old yams are disposed of, and new and tasty yams are eaten for the feasts. The New Yam marks the start of a new year, and the beginning of a season of plenty.

Okonkwo, like all rich men, always invites a huge number of guests for the feast. But he himself is rather impatient with holidays, and would prefer to be working on his farm. Preparation for the festival makes him testy. Three days before the festival, he becomes furious when he sees that a few leaves have been cut from the banana tree (banana leaves are used to wrap food in many tropical countries). When his second wife admits to the act, he beats her brutally. He then decides to go hunting. Though a great man, Okonkwo is not a great hunter. The wife who was just beaten makes a snide comment about guns that never shoot, and he tries to shoot her. He misses. Despite these disturbances, the festival is celebrated happily.

The second day of the new year is the day for wrestling. Ekwefi, Okonkwo's second wife, loves the wrestling matches. It was watching Okonkwo defeat the Cat that she fell in love with him. She married another man, but a few years after that she ran away from him and came to live with Okonkwo. In those days, she was the great beauty of the village. That was thirty years ago. Ekwefi has only had one child, her daughter Ezinma. Ezinma is a charming, pretty, and clever young girl, one of her father's favorites, though he rarely shows it. We see her helping the other wives, doing chores for her mother, and bringing Okonkwo his food.

Analysis:

Chapter 5 fleshes out the portrait of Okonkwo's family life. His three wives live together peacefully, and seem to have great affection for one another. Ezinma is well-beloved, not only by Ekwefi and Okonkwo, but by the other wives as well. The children live together as brothers and sisters. Ikemefuna has been fully absorbed into the family.

But Okonkwo rules with fear. His anger over the banana tree is completely unfounded; he uses it as an excuse to beat someone. He is madly self-absorbed, and does not see fit to learn constraint for the sake of his family.

Igbo society is patriarchal, but this chapter focuses on female characters. Ekwefi is far from timid: fresh from a beating, she makes fun of her husband. We also meet her daughter Ezinma, one of book's most likable characters. Okonkwo's treatment of her humanizes him, balancing his harsh treatment of Nwoye. One of the reasons for his gentleness with Ezinma is her gender: as a girl, the expectations on her are different. Okonkwo often wishes that she were a boy, but the wish seems benign next to his merciless treatment of Nwoye. We see that Okonkwo is at least capable of tenderness. Because he does not have the same terrible expectations of a girl as he does of his son, he can treat her with at least a little gentleness.

Summary and Analysis of Chapters 6-10

Chapter 6

Summary:

A huge crowd gathers to watch the wrestling matches. Ekwefi finds herself next to Chielo, a widow with two children. Chielo is quite an ordinary woman in ordinary life. But she occupies a position of great power in the village: she is also the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. She is considered a different person when the spirit of the goddess enters her. Chielo is very fond of Ezinma. She often gives the girl sweets. The two women talk, and we infer that Ekwefi has had many children, and that many of them have died. Ezinma is now ten years old. Ekwefi prays that she stays; her children's deaths have been cause of great sadness for her.

The matches are exciting, and the great wrestlers all of have their fans. As the main event of the evening, Ikezue and Okafo, the two greatest wrestlers of Umuofia, square off in a fierce bout. Okafo wins, and is carried home on the shoulder's of his enthusiastic supporters, while the young women sing songs of praise.

Analysis

We learn the greatest cause of Ekwefi's sadness, which was only hinted at in the last chapter. From her conversation with Chielo, we learn that she has had children other than Ezinma, but that they have died. In Chielo, we see an example of a powerful woman among the Igbo. Her orders supersede even those of the council of men; no great decision is made without her. Yet the two women discuss Okonkwo's recent attack against Ekwefi. Even as we see examples of women in power, we are reminded that Igbo women are vulnerable to their husbands' rages.

The wrestling matches are more of Achebe's documentation of Igbo life. From the large amount of exposition and commentary, it is clear that Things Fall Apart is not a book meant for Igbo readers. In fact, Achebe seems to assume that the reader has little or no knowledge of Igbo culture. We see the joy of festival time, and the excitement of the Igbo New Year. Achebe wants us to appreciate the beauty and strength of the Igbo people; sympathy and respect for the Igbo makes the end of the novel all the more painful.

Chapter 7

Summary:

Three years pass, and Ikemefuna matures into an adolescent in Okonkwo's household. Ikemefuna and Nwoye are as inseparable as ever, and because Ikemefuna treats Nwoye with respect, Nwoye is developing into a more confident and hard-working young man. Okonkwo is pleased by the change, and he knows it is due to Ikemefuna. He often eats with the two boys. (Typically, the man of the house eats separately in his central hut, or obi, while the women and children eat in their respective parts of the compound.) Nwoye seems to be pleasing his father more and more. To make him happy, he grumbles about women and pretends to scorn his mother's folktales (although in truth he still loves them). Instead, he listens to Okonkwo's stories of war and violence.

The locusts come. They are not a threat to Umuofia's staple crops, as they come after harvest, during the cold harmattan season. First, a small swarm of scouts comes, and then a larger group arrives. Their coming fills the Igbo with joy, because the locusts come only once every seven years, and they are delicious to eat.

Okonkwo is enjoying locust when Ogbuefi Ezeudu enters. He is a great village elder, and he has come to inform Okonkwo that the time has come for Ikemefuna's death. They tell Okonkwo not to bear a hand in the child's execution. The next day, a large group of elders comes to Okonkwo to discuss it more fully with him. Later that day, Okonkwo tells Ikemefuna that he is to be sent home. Nwoye hears, and begins to cry; his father beats him heavily.

A group of men brings Ikemefuna deep into the forest. The boy thinks about how strange it will be to see his family again; he is excited to see them, but also said to be leaving his new family. They walk for hours. The other men attack Ikemefuna with hatchets. He runs to Okonkwo, calling him father, begging for help. Afraid of being thought weak, and full of a terrible fear, Okonkwo uses his matchet to strike the boy down.

When Okonkwo returns later that night, Nwoye knows that Ikemefuna has been killed. A terrible sadness comes to him. He does not cry, but something in him has been broken. The last time he felt this way was during the last harvest season. He had been in the forest with his family, bringing back yams from the harvest. They heard an infant crying. The women fell silent and walked faster. Nwoye had heard that twins, considered evil by the Igbo, were left to die in the forest. He had never come across any. A great sickness and sorrow came over him. He has that feeling again now.

Analysis:

Ikemefuna is depicted as a perfect son and brother. He succeeds where Okonkwo cannot: he helps Nwoye to be more self-assured and confident. The exaggerated shows of masculinity Nwoye begins to make are contrived and for the pleasure of his father, but Nwoye is becoming more comfortable and confident. Ikemefuna's, with his gentleness and his love of folktales, has provided Nwoye with the positive male role model that he needed. Ikemefuna is also something of a Christ figure. He dies as a sacrifice for the good of the many; it is no coincidence that Nwoye later converts to Christianity. Nwoye is disturbed by some of the practices of his own people. They fill him with a vague fear and sorrow, and he will later seek solace in a foreign religion.

The arrival of the locusts might initially worry the reader who knows that locusts are often disastrous for a community of farmers. These locusts pose no threat to the Igbo. However, they foreshadow a more dangerous swarm that will arrive later. Like the white man, they send scouts first and then arrive with overwhelming numbers and force.

We see again Okonkwo's terrible fear of failure, which includes a fear of being thought weak. Despite sorrow and terror, he goes with the men when they kill Ikemefuna. He himself delivers the killing blow, even as the boy calls him "Father" and asks for his help. He was advised by the elders to stay home; to kill kin is considered a terrible offense to the Igbo. But Okonkwo is determined to prove himself unshakeable. In the proving, he does damage to himself and creates a rift between him and Nwoye that will never be healed.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Okonkwo does not touch food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. He drinks, and though he calls Nwoye into his obi to be with him, the boy is scared of

him and steals away when Okonkwo is dozing. He is weak and listless. On the third day, he asks his second wife, Ekwefi, to prepare some food for him. Ezinma brings out, encouraging him to eat. As she takes care of him, Okonkwo thinks repeatedly that she should have been born a boy. Okonkwo is ashamed that he has been affected by Ikemefuna's death.

He goes to speak with his good friend, Obeirika. Obeirika invites Okonkwo to be with him later while he negotiates the bride price for his daughter. Okonkwo criticizes Obeirika for not coming to kill Ikemefuna. Obeirika responds in turn that Okonkwo should not have gone; the act that Okonkwo committed is the kind of deed the gods punish.

Okonkwo is present for the negotiation of the bride price. There is polite negotiation, as the two families strive to reach a settlement that will be honorable for both groups. Many men from both families are present. Okonkwo enjoys himself. The talk turns to different customs, and they discuss rumors of the traditions in distant lands. Obeirika speaks of a particularly ridiculous story he heard: far away, the story goes, tribes have been visited by men with white skin.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's fear of effeminacy and weakness drives him to actions and emotions that do not always come naturally to him. He is disturbed by the death of Ikemefuna, but he is even more disturbed that he is disturbed. Any emotion approaching tenderness or softness must be suppressed.

Obeirika, Okonkwo's good friend, shows that Okonkwo's attitudes, though influenced by culture, are not exactly typical for an Igbo man. Okonkwo, along the model of the tragic hero, is an extreme example of his people. He carries their traits to excess. Obeirika, on the other hand, is a rich man and a man of sensitivity. He was not present at the Ikemefuna's death, nor does he approve of Okonkwo's participation in the act.

There is much digression in this chapter, as we witness the Igbo customs or courtship. The negotiations are civil and even joyous, as the men drink great quantities of palm wine. At the close of the chapter, we are given an ominous foreshadowing of what is to come. The men all dismiss the stories of approaching white men as patently ridiculous. Their reaction to the rumor shows how unready the Africans were for the coming of the European colonial powers. Everything we have learned about the Igbo shows that their concept of war and conquest is quite different from that of the European invaders: war is fought over questions of honor rather than a desire for material gain. And European military technology is beyond anything the Igbo have. The stories of white men seem so fantastic, so far outside of anything the Igbo have experienced, that they are immediately dismissed as myth.

Chapter 9

Summary:

Okonkwo sleeps well for the first time in three nights. He is woken in the morning by Ekwefi banging on the door: Ezinma is dying.

Ekwefi has had ten children. Nine have died. The medicine man has said that she has given birth to an ogbanje, a wicked child who, after dying, returns to its mother's womb to be reborn and die again. Ezinma has always been a sickly child,

prone to swing between periods of great vivacity and darker times when she seems near death. A year ago, Okagbue, the medicine man, found Ezinma's iyi-uwa, her supposed link to the world of the ogbanje. So the girl should not die again.

But Ekwefi, fearful that she might lose the child that is the center of her life, is terrified. Okonkwo believes it is iba sickness, and he gathers herbs and begins to prepare a medicine for Ezinma. The girl is held over a concoction of herbs and hot water, and forced to breathe in the steam.

Analysis:

Igbo beliefs constitute one of the forces that holds their society together. Remember the title: we are reading about the disintegration of an old way of life and the end of autonomy for a great people. High infant mortality is one of the unfortunate truths of Igbo life. Their religion attempts to find meaning in this tragedy.

And although nothing supernatural happens in the novel, there are certain things in the Igbo religion that Achebe depicts as uncanny. When Okagbue searches for Ezinma's iyi-uwa, the girl seems to go into a strange, trance-like state: she cooperates with the medicine man as if the iyi-uwa is real, and indeed, he does find a strange object in the location that she indicates. Achebe does not depict the superstitions of the Igbo as being necessarily true, but he does show that their religious beliefs often contain uncanny insights. Later, the Oracle will predict with uncanny accuracy the methods of the white man.

Chapter 10

Summary:

Umuofia has a great clan gathering. Nine men in the cult of the egwugwu impersonate the nine founders of the villages of Umuofia. During the ceremony, the men are considered to be the spirits of the clan. The transformation is spiritual and complete, in the same way that Catholics believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ.

The ceremony is for the administration of justice. Families with disputes come forward to have their cases tried publicly. The first case involves a woman who has left her husband. He wants her to return, along with her two children. The woman's family claims that her husband was abusive. Evil Forest, the egwugwu who listens to the case, decides that the husband must bear gifts to his in-laws and beg his wife's forgiveness. She will return, but he should not beat her again.

Analysis:

The ceremony of the egwugwu is clearly one dominated by men. Only men are in the cult of the egwugwu, and so only men are involved in the administration of justice. But for the first case of the ceremony, Achebe chooses a case involving a woman's well-being. Here and elsewhere, he tries to show that a woman's place in Igbo society, though vulnerable, is not unappreciated. Mgbafo, the abused bride, is protected by her brothers. Her case is viewed favorably by the judge. Although Achebe shows us that the Igbo society is deeply patriarchal, he also strives to show that Igbo woman, in at least a limited capacity, are respected and protected. There is an interest in justice and fairness. And to keep perspective on the issue,

the reader should remember that women in 19th century England and America did not enjoy any more freedom than their counterparts in Nigeria.

Summary and Analysis of Chapters 11-15

Chapter 11

Summary:

Ezinma and Ekwefi are spending a peaceful night telling folktales to each other. They are interrupted by Agbala, the Oracle, who has come for Ezinma. She takes Ezinma onto her back and carries her away, strictly forbidding the girl's parents from following. Ekwefi hesitates only a moment, and then secretly follows anyway.

The Oracle takes a long walk, going all the way around the nine villages. Despite the fact that she carries the child on her back, she moves at an astonishing speed; Ekwefi can barely keep up. The Oracle finally returns to her sacred cave. She disappears inside. Terrified, Ekwefi waits outside the cave: she resolves to enter if she hears her daughter crying. To save her child, she will fight the gods if necessary. Ekwefi is startled by Okonkwo, who has also followed the Oracle. The two of them wait for the priestess of Agbala to emerge again. Standing in the dark with him, she remembers when she first came to him. She was young, and she had been married off to another man. Two years into the marriage, she went to Okonkwo. Without speaking, he carried her to his bed and began to undress her.

Analysis

The priestess of Agbala is a mysterious and frightening figure. Remember that in normal life she is Chielo, a widow who is slight and getting on in years. Yet even with a large child on her back, as the Oracle she moves at an astonishing rate.

Ekwefi's love for Ezinma is touching. She is determined to protect her child. The relationship between them is special, almost a bond between equals. Unlike Okonkwo, who constantly wishes that Ezinma had been born a boy, Ekwefi seems grateful for the female companionship her daughter provides. Igbo society may be patriarchal, but Achebe is determined to show the relationships between women as central to Igbo life. The wives of Okonkwo, for example, do not seem to compete with one another. Rather, they support and comfort each other; in this chapter, Okonkwo's first wife tries to reassure Ekwefi when the priestess takes Ezinma away.

And the relationship between Chielo and Ekwefi also seems important here. The Oracle's interest in Ezinma turns out to be benevolent. Remember that Chielo is a friend of Ekwefi, and the old widow is also particularly fond of Ezinma. Given Ezinma's health troubles, we can infer that the priestess is seeking some kind of spiritual protection for the child. And indeed, in later chapters we learn that Ezinma ceases to be a sickly child after this strange night with the Oracle.

Ezinma is loved by her father, also. Okonkwo follows the priestess, too, as determined as Ekwefi to protect the child if need be. But on his appearance outside the cave, we are reminded of Okonkwo's character and limitations: he is carrying a matchet, as if a mortal weapon could protect him against gods and spirits. Okonkwo approach to problems never varies. He has one set of reactions: willpower and the strength of his muscles are his only weapons. Later, this single-minded approach will cost him his life.

Chapter 12

Summary:

The next day is the uri of Obeirika's daughter. It is a woman's celebration, centering on the bride-to-be and her mother. Okonkwo's first and third wive's prepare their gifts. Ekwefi, exhausted by the ordeal of waiting for Ezinma and the Oracle, waits for Ezinma to wake and asks the other wives to explain her tardiness. No one besides Ekwefi knows that Okonkwo also followed the Oracle. He waited a suitable "manly" interval first before going straight to the cave. Finding no one there, he left, but he returned when worry seized him once again. All in all, he returned to the cave four times before he met Ekwefi there.

Obierika's compound is full of activity, as many people in the village are helping to prepare for the great feast. While the women are preparing food, they notice a cow has gotten loose in a neighbor's crops. The women all hurry to push the cow back home; its owner immediately pays the heavy fine for letting a cow loose in a neighbor's fields. The cow's release was an accident.

The feast is lively, full of gift-giving, dance, and song. The new in-laws exchange gifts and praise with Obierika's family, and before living the village they pay respects to the housed of high-ranking men. Among these men is Okonkwo. He gives them a gift of two cocks.

Analysis:

Okonkwo considers any show of feeling to be a weakness. He did not follow the Oracle immediately, but instead waited for a suitable "manly" interval. But his feelings for Ezinma are strong: despite his desire to appear manly and detached, he returns to the cave four times, gravely worried for his favorite daughter.

The festival illustrates the bonds of Umuofia's community. The gift-giving is generous, on both sides. Even the interruptive incident of the loose cow is resolved quickly and peaceful. Achebe emphasizes the strength of the social fabric of Umuofia. The social organization and customs of the tribe are not the barbaric practices of a primitive people, but rather a rich system of tradition and wisdom that preserves peace and harmony between the people of Umuofia. Potential sources of conflict (loose cows, runaway brides) are resolved rationally and fairly. The Igbo delight in festivals and generous gift-giving. Holidays like the uri involve the whole community.

Chapter 13

Summary:

The village crier announces the death of Ezeudu, one of the great elders of the clan. It was Ezeudu who first told Okonkwo that Ikemefuna most die. It was also Ezeudu who advised Okonkwo to take no part in it.

The funeral is a great event. The egwugwu cult is out in full force, as men embodying the gods and spirits of the clan come out to participate in the funerary rites. During the ceremony, Okonkwo's gun explodes suddenly. A piece of iron pierces the heart of one of Ezeudu's sons. Even though the death is accidental, the act is an abomination to the Igbo. Okonkwo is to be exiled for seven years. That night, Okonkwo packs up his most valuable belongings. His yams are

transported to Obierika's barn. Before dawn, Okonkwo and his whole family set out for Mbanta, the home of Okonkwo's mother.

As day brokes, men come and destroy Okonkwo's home. They kill his animals and set fire to the buildings. They bear no malice to Okonkwo, but the laws of the Igbo must be obeyed. Obierika is sorry for his friend's misfortune. He is a thoughtful man, and he tries to think out why his friend should suffer. He also thinks of the twins his wife bore long ago, and how he had to abandon them to certain death. He arrives at no answers.

Analysis:

Achebe has shown the great social mobility of the Igbo. A man's worth is not at all determined by the wealth of his father: with hard work and determination, a man can rise to greatness. Okonkwo is proof of that. Consequently, one of his central belief's is faith in the fairness of the world. A man gets what he deserves.

But the beginning of Okonkwo's tragedy is a complete accident. It is a moment of blind chance that drives Okonkwo from his homeland. The greatest loss is more than material: Okonkwo's faith in the power of hard work is shaken. His will and strong arm are unable to prevent this disaster. As a middle-aged man, Okonkwo is being forced to start over again.

Although the event is an accident, it should also be remembered that Ezeudu was the man who warned Okonkwo not to take hand in Ikemefuna's death. The disaster, a seeming accident, seems to confirm the fears of Obierika, who warned Okonkwo that the earth goddess did not smile on Okonkwo's participation in Ikemefuna's murder. However, the incident here is as literary as it is mystical; the calamity taking place at Ezeudu's funeral is a kind of poetic justice more than it is an example of divine retribution. It is one of many incidents in the novel where tribal ceremonies and rites resonate with the novel's central action.

Chapter 14

Summary:

Okonkwo and his family are received by Uchendu, his mother's younger brother and the oldest living member of their family. The last time Okonkwo saw Uchendu was at the burial of Okonkwo's mother; Okonkwo was only a young boy. Uchendu is kind and generous. The kinsman of Okonkwo's mother donate some land and a modest quantity of seed yams.

But starting over is hard. Okonkwo and his wives are no longer young, and beginning all over again without the strength of youth is no easy thing. Okonkwo works hard, but it no longer gives him pleasure. He has always dreamed of being one of the lords of Umuofia, and now it seems that this setback may have shattered that dream for good. He works without joy and spends his days moping. Uchendu notices that Okonkwo has given himself over to despair.

Uchendu's youngest son is taking a new wife, and the family performs a ceremony marking her arrival. All of the daughters of the family return for this day, and remain for a few days afterward.

On the second day, Uchendu calls everyone together. He addresses Okonkwo, telling him that he must not give in to despair. A common name given to children is Nneka, "Mother is Supreme." Although their society is patriarchal, Uchendu

points out that when a child is beaten by its father, it returns to its mother for comfort. In the same way, Okonkwo, exiled by his fatherland, has taken refuge in his motherland. He cannot allow himself to be bowed down by despair. Uchendu sternly reprimands him, telling him that many men have suffered more than he. He must take heart and resolve to keep on living, or his children and wives will die in exile.

Analysis:

Here as elsewhere, Achebe's digression into the rituals and celebrations of the Igbo in some way echo what is going on in the central story of the novel. In addition to fleshing out Achebe's portrait of Igbo life, the parallels here between ceremony and central action are strong. The ceremony welcoming the new bride is dominated by the women: it is the husband's sisters who subject the new bride to scrutiny, with the eldest sister taking on a protective role for her brother. Not coincidentally, Uchendu's lecture centers on the important role of a mother and maternal blood lines. Okonkwo, so proud of manhood and obsessed with masculinity, is being asked to accept a mother's comfort. He is also asked by Uchendu to be a source of tenderness and comfort to his wives; Okonkwo has always associated such behavior with weakness. Uchendu is reminding his nephew that strength is not synonymous with force and violence. He is also reminding Okonkwo that strength is not a uniquely male domain.

Chapter 15

Summary:

In the second year of Okonkwo's exile, Obierika comes to visit him. He brings two bags full of cowries; they are money he has made off of the yams Okonkwo left with him. Obierika comes with two young men as his attendants, and he and Okonkwo great each other joyfully. They eat kola with Uchendu, and Obierika shares a bit of disturbing news.

Abame, a neighboring village cluster like Umuofia, has been destroyed. Not long ago, a white man arrived in Abame on an "iron horse" (a bicycle). The people of the town did not know what to make of him. The Oracle warned them that the man was like a scout locust, a harbringer sent to explore the terrain. The other white men would follow, and when they came they were going to bring death and destruction with them. Some men killed the white man and tied up his iron horse. Not long afterward, three white men arrived with a large number of African attendants. They saw the bicycle and left. Several weeks later, three white men and a group of African subordinates came into the Abame marketplace armed with powerful guns. They shot everyone in sight. The only survivors were those who were lucky enough not to be in the market that day, and these refugees have scattered. The village of Abame is now completely empty.

Uchendu grits his teeth in anger and fear. The men of Abame were fools, he says, for killing the white man out of fear. They inadvertently brought destruction on themselves. Okonkwo says that they were fools not to prepare for an attack.

The talk turns to more pleasant conversation. Okonkwo thanks Obierika for his justness and generosity. Obierika brushes off his friend's thanks, kindly refusing to be praised for what is natural between friends.

Analysis:

This ominous chapter foreshadows the future that threatens Umuofia. The whites send a few men to explore the terrain, and on the slightest provocation retaliate with terrible force. Although the people of Abame were wrong to murder the white man (and notice that Uchendu stresses this point), the retaliation of the white man is excessive. For the ignorant and fearful murder of one man, the whites respond with a brutal massacre that destroys a whole village. Although we are not given the exact number of deaths, Abame probably had a considerable population: remember that Umuofia has some ten thousand adult males. The effects of European colonialism are finally beginning to penetrate into Nigeria. Although Obierika mentions old legends of white men who took slaves from distant parts of Africa, these stories have always been dismissed as myth.

The other ominous bit of foreshadowing comes with the two very different reactions of Uchendu and Okonkwo. Uchendu, depicted always as a wise and thoughtful man, says that the mistake was to kill the stranger. Okonkwo, characteristically, says that the mistake was failing to prepare for war. Okonkwo will later try to defy the white man, with tragic results.

Fear is one of the primary sources of tragedy in the novel. We are constantly shown how Okonkwo's fear of failure and effeminacy drives him to ill-considered acts. The village of Abame is destroyed because of fear. The men hear the prediction of the Oracle and panic. They kill the Scout,

Once again, we see the uncanny insights of the Igbo oracles. The oracle of Abame correctly predicted that the white man was the harbinger of destruction. She even accurately described the scout-and-conquer methods of the white man; remember that the Igbo have a very different concept of war. On the theme of tribal belief, Achebe is not out to prove that Igbo religion is "true." But he does show that the oracles often have uncanny insights. The use of the oracles in the novel also contributes to the theme of fate, which is always an important part of tragedy. One could argue that the Abame oracle's prophecy was self-fulfilling, which is another common aspect of tragedy: the more one tries to elude a foretold fate, the faster one reaches it. However, the Oracle's prophecy would have come true regardless of the townspeople's actions. European imperialists brought death and destruction on all of their subjects, innocent and guilty alike. In the same way, the tragedy that befalls Okonkwo is in part his own making, but also comes from predetermined forces.

Summary and Analysis of Chapters 16-20

Chapter 16

Summary:

Obierika comes to visit Okonkwo again two years later. Circumstances are less happy. White missionaries have come to Umuofia; they have built a church and even won converts. Obierika visits Okonkwo because in Umuofia he saw Nwoye among the Christians. When he asked Nwoye what he was doing, Nwoye responded that he had embraced the new faith. And when he asked Nwoye about Okonkwo, Nwoye responded that Okonkwo was no longer his father. Greatly disturbed, Obierika visits Okonkwo, but Okonkwo does not want to talk about Nwoye. Obierika hears the truth from Nwoye's mother.

When the missionaries first arrived in Mbanta, all of the villagers came to see them. Their leader was a white man who spoke through interpreters. He informed

the people that their gods were false and only the Christian god was real. Okonkwo, after hearing the convoluted theology of the Trinity, decided that the man was clearly mad. He left and went back to work. The Christians then broke into song. Hearing the words of the song, Nwoye felt something stirring in him. In the poetry of the new religion, he found some kind of answer, some kind of comfort to soothe away the scars of Ikemefuna's death and the sound of twin children in the forest. He left the market greatly puzzled.

Analysis

Disintegration of Igbo society is central to Things Fall Apart; the idea of collapse, on both an individual and social level, is one of the novel's central images. This image also gives the book its title. The Christians arrive and bring division to the Igbo. One of their first victims is Okonkwo's family. The new faith divides father from son, and the Christians seek to attack the very heart of Igbo belief; such an attack also attacks the core of Igbo culture, as the tribe's religious beliefs are absolutely integral to all other aspects of life. Not coincidentally, the first converts are people who stand to profit from a change in the social order. They are people who have no title in the tribe, and thus have nothing to lose.

Chapter 17

Summary:

The missionaries soon asked the village leaders to give them a space for them to build a church. The village leaders decided to give them a plot in the town's Evil Forest. Every Igbo village has an evil forest, where the undesirable dead and the powerful fetishes of medicine men are buried. The Evil Forest is believed to be full of malevolent and unpredictable magical energies. Everyone expects the Christians to die in a matter of days. When they remain alive, the people of Mbanto have to concede that the white priests command powerful magic. The Church begins to win a tiny number of converts.

Mr. Kiaga, an African convert, takes charge of the new church in Mbanto; the white priest goes to Umuofia. Initially, Nwoye does not dare to go into the church, but he listens to the men preaching the gospel in the market. He begins to learn the simple stories from the Bible. The one month mark passes, by the end of which the gods should most certainly take their revenge. The Christians remain alive. They also win their first female convert, a woman named Nneka. She is pregnant; the previous four times she has given birth, she has had twins. Following Igbo custom, the twins were abandoned to a death by exposure. She flees her family and takes refuge with the new church.

Okonkwo's cousin, Amikwu, is in the market when he sees Nwoye among the Christians. He goes and tells Okonkwo immediately. When Nwoye comes home, Okonkwo attacks him viciously. The women scream outside, afraid to enter. Finally, Uchendu sternly commands Okonkwo to stop. He does, and Nwoye leaves without a word. Nwoye tells Mr. Kiaga that he wants go to Umuofia, to attend the missionary school where he will learn to read and write.

Okonkwo is furious and bitter that his son has joined the Christians. He wonders what he did to deserve such a son.

Analysis:

In Christianity, Nwoye finds comfort for things that have long disturbed him. But the religion also provides him with a way to rebel against his father. And the social effects of Christianity will be as bad as the Igbo fear. The new religion undermines the hierarchies of the culture; Achebe also points out that the religion provides hope to those who have suffered under Igbo law. Although the men without title embracing the religion says little in favor of it (especially since Igbo society has a high degree of social mobility), Nneka's defection to the new faith is telling. She has born four pairs of twins, and has been forced to throw all of them away. Pregnant again, she is desperate to save her children. Not coincidentally, she bears the name that Uchendu mentioned earlier: "Mother Is Supreme."

But just as Igbo faith is integral to Igbo society, the new religion also comes with social and political attachments. Once land has been granted for the building of the church, the whites become difficult to dislodge. They bring their laws and their guns soon afterward, and Igbo men and women are forced to live under the colonial yoke.

Okonkwo is not a man who learns. He cannot understand that his own harshness has driven Nwoye away. The boy is terrified of him, and he has suffered greatly because of his sensitivity. We see an array of different male role models. Uchendu provides a sage counterpoint to Okonkwo's violent masculinity. Mr. Kiaga and the men of the church provide another alternative; to escape his father, Nwoye goes with them.

Chapter 18

Summary:

The church grows despite some difficulties. The Christians rescue twins from the forest, and Mr. Kiaga leads the fledgling community with strength and unshakeable conviction. Trouble rises between the church in Mbanta and the clan when three converts go into the village and say that all of the Igbo gods are false. They announce their intention to burn all the shrines. Furious, the clanspeople beat the three men severely.

Disturbing stories are also making their way to Mbanto. Rumor says that where the white man's religion goes, the white man's government follows. Churches arrive first, and soon after the targeted village is forced to bow under white authority.

Controversy rises in the young church over the question of admitting the osu, a caste of outcasts who are set aside in dedication to the gods. They are not allowed to use razors, and their dead are buried in the evil forest. Mr. Kiaga demands that the outcasts be accepted. The osu shave their heads, at Mr. Kiaga's encouragement, and they soon become the most faithful followers of the new faith. More trouble arises when one of these osu converts kills a python, which is a sacred animal and the emanation of the god of water.

The people of Mbanto meet to decide what to do about this new religion. Okonkwo councils war against the Christians, but cooler heads prevail. Fearing that the gods will be angry with Mbanto if the clan does nothing, the clan decides to ostracize the converts. They are no longer allowed to enjoy the privileges of clan membership. Initially, that includes not drawing water from the spring; the first day, the Christians are threatened by violence. But then Okoli, the man who killed the python, falls ill mysteriously and dies. His death proves the gods are watching; after that, the clan relaxes its stance towards the Christians.

Analysis:

Achebe's portrait of the Christians is as fair and balanced as his portrait of the Igbo; remember that his own parents were Christian missionaries. Although Christian intolerance leads to problems in the beginnings of the new community, Mr. Kiaga's wise and steady leadership is quite admirable.

We also see that the Christians fill a void in clan life; they do great good by rescuing the twins and providing comfort to outcasts. But it is also true that the Christians are the first wave of imperialism. The arrival of the missionaries is the precursor to subjugation.

Okonkwo, characteristically, calls for war. Remember that he despises the Christians because of the conversion of his son. He is disgusted when Mbanto chooses the softer penalty of ostracizing them. He believes that Umuofia would have chosen a different course. His hotheadedness and determination to fight the new faith with his fists is typical of him; we are reminded that when faced with a problem, Okonkwo only knows one way to fight back.

Chapter 19

Summary:

The seven years of exile are coming to an end. Okonkwo sends money to Obierika to build two huts where Okonkwo and his family will live until Okonkwo can build the rest of the compound. Okonkwo has prospered in Mbanto, but he knows he would have prospered more in Umuofia. These seven years have been an embittering experience.

Before Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he hosts a magnificent feast for his mother's clan. The quality and quantity of the food rivals that of a wedding feast; Okonkwo outdoes himself to show his gratitude to his mother's clan. One of the elders gives a speech thanking and praising Okonkwo. But the speech ends on an ominous note: the elder fears for the future of their people. The new religion has come, and some people of the clan have betrayed their tribe's beliefs. He worries that the Igbo way of life is threatened.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's feast is in keeping with his greatness. He needs to be as generous to his mother's clan as they have been to him. He also is celebrating finally being allowed to return to his homeland. The chapter ends on an ominous note, foreshadowing the threats to the Igbo. The elder's speech, placed at the end of the chapter, which is also the end of Part Two, hints that Okonkwo's return to Umuofia may be far more difficult than he had hoped.

Chapter 20

Summary:

Okonkwo hopes to return to Umuofia with great fanfare. He has two beautiful daughters, and he has asked them, through Ezinma, to wait until the return to Umuofia to take a husband. Ezinma has become one of the great beauties of their people. She has also become a healthy, lively young woman, and none of the children understands Okonkwo's moods better than she.

The church has won a powerful foothold in Umuofia. Even several men of title have joined the new religion. The white man has also built a court house, where a district commissioner imposes white law. The DC is served by a gang of kotma, African court messengers who come from far away. They are greatly hated because they are arrogant and brutal. There is a prison as well, and even men of title are being put there. The white man says that Igbo laws are foolish, and they impose their own law on the Igbo.

Okonkwo is horrified. He and Obierika discuss what has happened. He wonders why the men of Umuofia do not rally and fight; they are a proud and strong people. But Obierika fears that if they do, the same fate will befall them as befell Abame. Resistance is now difficult, because fighting the white man would also mean going against the converts. Obierika puts it succinctly: "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart" (126-7). They discuss the hanging of Aneto. In a land dispute, Aneto struch his neighbor Oduche; he did not mean to kill him, but he did. In accordance with Igbo custom, Aneto prepared to flee. But he was seized, with all his family, and thrown into prison. He was taken to Umuru, where the whites have a major center of government, and hanged.

Analysis:

Note that since her night with the Oracle, Ezinma has grown into a healthy, beautiful child. Her sickliness has ended.

Okonkwo had hoped to return to his fatherland with joy and celebration, but he finds Umuofia sadly changed. The Igbo are no longer free to dispense justice. For the crime of manslaughter, Igbo custom demands the relatively humane punishment of exile. The white man, in contrast, demands execution. White laws are not superior or more humane than the laws of Umuofia, yet the whites insist that Igbo laws are inferior. In building their courthouse, they rob Umuofia of its self-determination.

The religion and the new government are wreaking havoc on the harmony of Igbo life. Social instability and the threat of violence have arrived in full force, and armed resistance is impossible. The old religion is threatened; with humiliation, the Igbo are forced to bow down to white authority.

Summary and Analysis of Chapters 21-25

Chapter 21

Summary:

The white man brings his destructive religion and the yoke of his laws, but he also brings a trade center. The people of Umuofia begin to profit from selling local products, and so not all of the people of Umuofia oppose the whites as much as Okonkwo.

In Umuofia, the Christians are led by a kindly white man named Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown restrains the zeal of some of the fanatical converts. A convert named Enoch is particularly violent, always stirring up trouble; Brown strives to moderate Enoch's excesses. Mr. Brown is a wise and patient man; he befriends many of the

local great men, and earns their affection. He spends a good deal of time with Akunna; they speak through an interpreter on the subject of religion. Neither man converts the other, but Mr. Brown learns much about the local religion and concludes that missionary work should be subtle and indirect: direct confrontation will not work. He also tries hard to get people to send their children to the Christian school. At first, people only send their lazy children. But more and more people begin to go as they realize that the ability to read and write opens up great social mobility. The DC is surrounded by Africans from Umaru; these literate subordinates earn high wages and how power in Umuofia. Mr. Brown's school begins to produce results.

Soon after Okonkwo's return, Mr. Brown pays him a visit. He has sent Nwoye, now called Isaac, to the teacher's college at Umaru; Mr. Brown hopes Okonkwo will be pleased by the news. Okonkwo chases Mr. Brown away from his house, threatening the man with violence. The first rainy season after Okonkwo returns home, Mr. Brown leaves Umuofia due to failing health from overwork.

Okonkwo's return has not been as grand an event as he had hoped. The people are troubled by the new religion and new government; they are occupied completely with these changes. Okonkwo suffers, not only for personal reasons, but because he fears the clan is dying.

Analysis

Mr. Brown's approach to conversion helps the early church in Umuofia get along relatively peacefully with the clan. Still, he is part of the forces that are destroying clan life. British imperialism also brings benefits, which help to mask the long-term damage being done to the Igbo people. Money from the trade center, the promise of position and wages from the DC, the possibility of an education from Mr. Brown's church: these are all substantial benefits. But the clan also is losing its independence. Even the education at the church comes with the risk of indoctrination. Okonkwo's grief is based on the loss of his people's strength. He sees that they are being irrevocably changed, in many ways for the worse, by the arrival of the white man.

Chapter 22

Summary:

Mr. Brown's replacement is the Reverend James Smith, and he is not the tolerant and wise man that Mr. Brown was. Mr. Smith is fanatic and uncompromising, seeing the world entirely in terms of black and white. Under him, fanatics like Enoch flourish.

The festival of the earth goddess comes, when the egwugwu roam around the villages. It falls on a Sunday, and so the main passages are blocked by the ceremonies, especially for women, who have to maintain their distance from the masked spirits. On this occasion, the Christian women who have gone to Church cannot return home. Some of the Christian men beg the egwugwu to retire briefly, so that the women will be allowed to go home. The egwugwu agree. As they are retiring, Enoch boasts arrogantly that they would not dare to touch a Christian. One of the egwugwu strikes Enoch with a cane; Enoch unmasks him. To unmask an egwugwu is considered a terrible sin. The Igbo believe it kills the egwugwu.

That night, the Mother of Spirits roams the villages, weeping for the death of her son. The spectacle is terrifying. Mr. Smith hears it, and for the first time feels fear. The egwugwu approach the church. They will not harm the people, but they could no longer allow the church to work its evil among the Igbo. They destroy the building.

Analysis:

Under Mr. Smith, reason and compromise become impossible. Enoch's act is offensive in all senses. He is trying to start a holy war; when Mr. Smith hides him in the parsonage, Enoch is disappointed. He wants blood. His inflammatory comment comes right after the egwugwu have made a generous concession. Though the clan tries to compromise with the new religion and new government, it proves impossible. The white man has no respect for Igbo ways, and the new religion is intolerant and hypocritical, preaching peace out of one side of its mouth while serving an imperialistic government. It appeals to troublemakers like Enoch, who uses the new religion to goad people towards war.

And the people of Umuofia are afraid. When the Mother of Spirits roams the villages, weeping for her son's death, it seems that she is weeping for the death of the clan. The people of Umuofia are being destroyed. Yet again, the response of the clan is something of a compromise. In spite of the grave offense that has been committed, they kill no one. They simply decide to remove the source of the problem. They will destroy the building.

Chapter 23

Summary:

Okonkwo is pleased by the destruction of the church. At the clan meeting, he had urged the destruction of the church, the killing of the white man, and the exile of all the Christians. Though the clan decided only to destroy the church, Okonkwo is pleased that something was done.

Mindful of what happened in Abame, the men walk around armed. However, soon afterward the District Commissioner returns from his tour. He invites the leaders of Umuofia to come meet with him. Six men are invited, among them Okonkwo. The meeting is a trap; the six men are taking prisoner, and the DC demands the stiff fine of two hundred bags of cowries.

Ezinma, recently married, cuts short her stay with her husband to return home. She goes to see Obierika to demand what the men plan to do. Obierika is off at a secret meeting, and Ezinma is satisfied that someone is doing something.

In prison, Okonkwo and his colleagues are humiliated and beaten by the kotma, the African messengers of the court. Days pass. A clan meeting is called, and the clan decides to pay the fine of 250 bags of cowries. The fine was increased by the kotma, who will pocket the surplus.

Analysis:

The theme of justice is one of the preoccupations of the novel. Throughout the book, we have seen Igbo justice in action. Igbo laws and traditions preserve order. Justice is impossible under the new system. The DC is completely ignorant of local

ways, and he has no intention of learning about them; the different ideas of justice ensure conflict.

The corruption of the system is also clear. The DC does not even speak the local language, giving the kotma ample room for trickery.

Okonkwo is humiliated and "choked with hate" for the white man. The DC arrogantly speaks of the need for "good government" and "justice" under the reign of the queen. He is speaking to the Igbo like subjects of the Empire; little by little, that is what they have become.

Chapter 24

Summary:

The men are released, and they go home in silence. Okonkwo seethes with hatred. His back bears the ugly stripes of the whip. A clan meeting is planned for the morning. Okonkwo hopes that war is coming. He takes out his ceremonial war garb, and remembers the most glorious war of his youth: Umuofia killed 12 men, while the other clan only killed two.

At the meeting, Okonkwo is ready to speak. He is worried that Egonwanne, a pacifist and powerful orator, will sway the people to peace. He resolves to fight, even if he must fight alone. The first man to speak is Okika, one of the six who was imprisoned. He begins a powerful speech on the necessity of action. They must fight, even against the Christian converts. They must resist before it is too late.

Five court messengers come up the path. Okonkwo rushes to block their way. He stands before them, brimming with hatred. The court messenger tells them that the white man has commanded this meeting to stop.

Okonkwo strikes the men down with his matchet. The other four men flee. Okonkwo knows from the reaction of the clan that they will not choose war. They muttered in confusion instead of seizing the other four messengers. In disgust, Okonkwo walks away.

Analysis:

Okonkwo aches for revenge. He has lost his son, the glory of a proper homecoming, and his dignity at the hands of the white man. His people have lost their independence. They are no longer free to administer justice. The white man refuses to treat their leaders with dignity, and lectures them on good government while his own revels in hypocrisy and violence.

At the same time, Okonkwo has no inkling of real warfare as conceived of by the white man. His glorious memories of Umuofia's great war are revealing: 14 men were killed. Igbo wars are fought on a relatively tiny scale. They are not wars of conquest. Okonkwo has no way of knowing that for whites, thousands can die even in a tiny war. His rage, though justified, does not provide him with any real way of resisting the white man.

The final indignity comes at the clan meeting. The white man is no longer satisfied in taking away justice: now, he wishes to destroy Umuofia's primitive democracy. The British want to deny the people their right to assembly and group decision-making. This change would mean death for the last shreds of Umuofia's self-

determination. Okonkwo reacts the only way he knows how. He strikes the man down. But from his people's reaction, he knows that they are not behind him.

Chapter 25

Summary:

The District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo's compound. He leads a small band of soldiers and court messengers. They find Obierika and several other men gathered inside. The DC fiercely asks Okonkwo to step forward. Obierika responds that he is not there. The DC demands that they produce Okonkwo, or they will be thrown into jail. Obierika and the other men mutter amongst themselves, and Obierika says he will take the DC to where Okonkwo is. Perhaps the DC's men can help them. He leads them to a tree behind Okonkwo's compound. Okonkwo has hanged himself.

No one in the clan can touch the body. Suicide is a crime against the earth goddess, and so the body must be handled by outsiders. Obierika says bitterly to the DC that Okonkwo was one of the greatest men of Umuofia. Because of the white man, he has been driven to suicide and will be buried like an animal.

The DC is quite curious about Igbo customs. Okonkwo's death may make a lively paragraph in the book he plans to write about the British victory over the savages of Africa. He has already chosen a title: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's suicide, in retrospect, seems nearly inevitable. Determined to fight the white man, alone if necessary, the betrayal by his people is more than he can bear. He realizes that he will resist alone, even after the outrage of the white man ordering a stop to the clan meeting. Okonkwo understands that his people have been broken. Instead of a war, he will have only the white man's noose; he will not even be tried under his own people's laws. He chooses suicide instead.

Long years of difficulty and disappointment have contributed to this moment. The accidental death and then exile darkened Okonkwo's view of life. The betrayal of his son was a very heavy blow. Now, the betrayal of his people, and their inevitable subjugation, pushes Okonkwo into despair. Okonkwo's central beliefs have been undermined. He believed that a man was the master of his own fate; his exile and the loss of his son challenged that belief. He also had great faith in his clan, but now his clan will be a subservient people. He cannot bear this disgrace. Parallel to Okonkwo's tragedy is the tragedy of his people's subjugation. As a final bit of bitter irony, Okonkwo's suicide violates the very traditions that are being menaced by the white man.

The DC's intrusion at the end of the novel is a commentary on a certain kind of narrative. In European conceptions of Africa, the DC's attitude is typical. Okonkwo's death, a great tragedy, is worth only one paragraph of entertaining reading. The DC also reflects on the need to cut out any unnecessary detail. The book the DC imagines is in many ways the opposite of Things Fall Apart, with its focus on a great African man, its many beautiful digressions, and its loving and sympathetic portrait of Igbo culture. The novel is in some ways a response to earlier depictions of "savage" Africa. Now that we have reached the end, the digressions pay off. In the course of following Okonkwo's tragedy, we have learned a great deal about Igbo life. Now we know that the culture depicted in the

novel is a culture that in many ways no longer exists. Imperialism changed many aspects of life in Africa, and usually not for the better. The destruction of tribal social institutions and traditions led to great social and cultural voids, the negative results of which are still being felt in Africa today.

ClassicNote on Things Fall Apart

Biography of Chinua Achebe About Things Fall Apart Character List Major Themes Short Summary Full Summary and Analysis Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1-5 Summary and Analysis of Chapters 6-10 Summary and Analysis of Chapters 11-15 Summary and Analysis of Chapters 16-20 Summary and Analysis of Chapters 21-25 Related Links on Things Fall Apart Author of ClassicNote and Sources Purchase Things Fall Apart and Other Works Test Yourself! Quiz 1 Test Yourself! Quiz 2 Essays on Things Fall Apart Message Board on Things Fall Apart