essay 1

Aisling D. Bradley

English 10H

Mrs. Bosch

August 2008

Things Fall Apart

Everyone has things that they are proud of. However most do not have the means to share their

feelings with the world. The author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, illustrated his pride in

family, heritage, memory, language, and humanity by following the life of Okonkwo, a man who

took pride in all these things and tried to live his life accordingly.

Achebe’s pride in family is affirmed in many ways throughout Okonkwo’s life. His pride in family is showed early on when Unoka is introduced into the novel. Unoka, Okonkwo’s father is a low

life debtor with out a title, of whom Okonkwo is deeply ashamed. Unoka owed many people

money in his life and died without repaying most of it. Unoka when on his deathbed was taken to

the evil forest to die, having all the honor of a proper burial stripped from him and bringing

shame to his whole family. When he died Okonkwo was left with nothing, the shame from his

father’s shadow gave him the drive to make a life for himself and give his sons something to look

up to and try to become. Another instance where the pride Okonkwo had for his family was

apparent was when his son disgraced his family’s name by joining the Christians. He basically

just told his son either stop or get out. His son still wanted to be Christian so Okonkwo just

kicked him out held his head high through the shame of his eldest son. Okonkwo is most

definitely a proud man and these times in his life stung his pride but never the less he

persevered. In order for Okonkwo to take pride in his family he had to be proud of where he

came from.

Achebe used Okonkwo’s story more to portray his pride in heritage in many ways, the leading

example being Okonkwo’s respect for his culture’s rituals and methods. Okonkwo paid homage

regularly to his ancestors and gods. He also knew where he came from and used that to make

him who he was in life. He followed all of his village’s customs, even when sometimes he did not

fully agree. He followed the customs even when it meant bringing shame to his family by

bringing his father to the Evil Forest to die because he had no title, and therefore did not

deserve a proper burial. Okonkwo stuck with his heritage in order to honor the memory of his

ancestors.

Okonkwo achieved many things in his lifetime. His first great achievement was throwing

Amalize the Cat when he was a young man and becoming known as the greatest wrestler in all

the surrounding villages. Throughout Okonkwo’s life he achieved many things he could

remember and take pride in what he had done. “Age was respected among his people, but

achievement was revered.” (P.g.8) Okonkwo achieved great things in life. He had three wives,

many healthy children, and had taken on three titles. He was also a fierce warrior who had killed

many in battle, and was revered among his people for all his feats. Okonkwo took pride in the

memory of all he had and in knowing that he would be remembered as a great man when he

died.

Another subject of Achebe’s pride was that in language. Based on the way he wrote Things Fall

Apart you can tell that the he uses words is sort of an art form. He takes pride in the way he

writes just as most authors do. Another example of his pride in language is the way he writes the

villagers to speak. “Among Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are

like the palm oil with which words are eaten.” (p.g.7) Although Okonkwo himself was not a man

of many words many of his people were. A person in his village took pride in the fact that they

were good speakers because it was an achievement that was regarded very highly in their

village. The characters circumlocutory way of speaking was indeed not an easy feat. Achebe

strove to prove that people like Joseph Conrad were wrong, and that Africa was not a country

full of uneducated savages by emphasizing the way this culture used circumlocutory yet formal

speech.

The most important topic of Chinua Achebe’s pride shown through Okonkwo was his pride in

humanity. Achebe showed through Okonkwo’s life the way the world worked for these people.

By showing some of there customs he showed how much these people valued life and the life of

others. One of these customs was that if someone committed suicide that he could not be buried

regularly, because he was tainted. This shows how life was of the utmost importance to them

and that for one to take there own life was one of the greatest crimes to commit. Achebe mainly

wrote this novel to get rid of the stereo typical view people had of Africans, in doing so he

preserved humanity by not stereotyping the white settlers. He provided different kinds of

people like Mr. Brown and Reverend Smith. His pride in humanity showed in many instances of

the story. For instance when Okonkwo gets terribly worried about his daughter Enzima after

she had been taken by Cheilo, and so as not to seem womanly he had acted like he didn’t care

but when he could no longer take it he walked back and forth all night looking for his wife and

daughter. Another time humanity shines through in this story is when Okonkwo’s uncle

Uchendu let Okonkwo into his home when he was exiled, even though Okonkwo had never

visited or sought a relationship with his uncle before, out of the kindness of his heart. Achebe’s

pride in humanity is probably a part of the reason why he wrote this book. He wanted to show

the world that the Africans were good people, but not try to make them look like better people

than everyone else by not stereotyping the antagonists of the story.

Chinua Achebe was a proud man. He took pride in honorable things like family, heritage,

memory, language, and humanity. He used the story of Okonkwo and his family to illustrate the

many values in life that he took pride in. Okonkwo preserved through shame and tough times to

keep his family in good standing, and stuck by his customs and heritage even when new ideas

threatened to take the place of old ones. He kept so strong by the pride he got from the memory

of his achievements. Achebe used language of the natives such as Okonkwo to show that the

people of these villages were imaginative and smart. His pride in humanity shone through at

many instances in the book, such as Okonkwo’s fear for his daughter’s well being. These are

important things to be proud of and Achebe used Okonkwo’s story very well to illustrate his

pride.