Brown, coexists effectively with the villagers, the next, Mr. The colonial administration imprisons men when they follow local tradition.

Upon return to Umuofia, Okonkwo discovers that the white man’s religion has become political, too. Nwoye abandons his family to join the church this fracture in the structure of the social system indicates a greater fracture that the white men’s arrival catalyzes. The unfamiliar church wins over the village’s outcasts eventually, a preacher visits Mbanta and converts Nwoye. While Okonkwo and his family are in Mbanta, white missionaries arrive in Umuofia. Though he continues to hold high expectations for himself and build new wealth and influence, his distance from the tribe means that he expects to work to earn honor upon his return. Transplanted to Mbanta, the village of his mother, Okonkwo mourns the loss of the future for which he worked so hard. Okonkwo accidentally shoots the son of an elder during ritual gunfire at the elder’s funeral, and in response to his crime, he and his family must leave the village for seven years. Rituals, drum summons, and Oracle appearances always happen at night, in the darkness the mysterious darkness holds a powerful sway over Okonkwo, his family, and his kinsmen, and their community beliefs help them maintain stability and unity in times of conflict. Even when Okonkwo, his friend Obierika, and Nwoye question the will of the gods or ancestors, their adherence to the family structure remains firm. Okonkwo faces punishment if he treats his wives or peers too harshly. Though Okonkwo, his wives, and his friends respect the authority of their gods and ancestors, they find following these commands difficult. But when Umuofia’s Oracle, Agbala, demands Ikemefuna’s death, Okonkwo releases him and participates in his murder.Īgbala also demands Okonkwo’s daughter, Ezinma, and Okonkwo tries to protect his favorite biological child. Okonkwo is satisfied by Ikemefuna’s influence over his oldest son, Nwoye, with whom he is constantly disappointed with Ikemefuna around, Nwoye acts more like a man and less like his grandfather, Unoka. Though his adjustment is not immediate, he quickly becomes Okonkwo’s favorite. The product of an exchange intended to avoid war between two villages, Umuofia and Mbiano, Ikemefuna ends up in Okonkwo’s household. Okonkwo’s first troubles come with Ikemefuna’s arrival. Quickly, he is on track to earn titles within the community, markers of power and influence. He wins glorious wrestling victories, leads his village to war, and builds a thriving farm. As a young man, Okonkwo seeks to “ his hands” of his father’s legacy through intense hard labor (8). As a child, Okonkwo notices his father’s “feminine” and dishonorable behaviors: Unoka is lazy, pleasure-seeking, and debt-ridden.

Achebe’s plot centers on Okonkwo, a passionate man focused on reaching the apex of masculine virtue in his home village, Umuofia.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe