summary of things fall apart

ENJOYMENT FOUR

A SUMMARRY OF THINGS FALL APART BY CHINUA ACHEBE

AS SUBMITTED BY ETTEH IMA-ABASI

MATNO 09BE08955

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE COURSE MAC 224

LECTURERA DR EKEANYANWU

                        MISS ADA SONIA

Things fall apart is he story of a man, Okonkwo, his love for his tradition, his zealousness to succeed, his misfortunes caused by a wicked chi and ultimately his regret for his clan which led to his suicidal act.

Driven by the fear of becoming a social scorn like his father, Okonkwo had started fending for himself as a young boy, he started out with nothing from his father to use in farming so he had to practice share- cropping as the people used to refer to the system of borrowing yams to plant and then pay back with a third part of the harvest, he soon had large barns even though he had t o cater for his family of three wives and eight  children together with his mother and sister due to his father’s laziness. He also soon gained prowess as the fiercest warrior the clan had ever seen but all these could not be enough to wipe away the stench that Okonkwo’s father had left behind and that resulted in his uncontrollable anger at any man or woman who sought to remind him of his father by being lazy.

In the first part of the book Okonkwo had managed to amass wealth and fame for himself through hard work and much proving of his manliness. Though he made a lot of mistakes but he was still one of the most respected men of his clan at least until he made the mistake of all mistakes. He has always treated his family with a strong hand and all his wives and children feared him terribly, he almost killed his second wife for daring to challenge him, he beat up his wife on a day meant for peace, he had killed Ikemefuna for fear of being called a woman, but killing Ikemefuna was required of him by the Oracle and not killing a son of the clan – late Ezeudu’s son.

The punishment was seven years in exile which he spent in his motherland, Mbanta. During these years Okonkwo tried his best to seem pleased with the situation he found himself, but soon he could not hold it any longer and in defiance gave his son which he had in Mbanta a name which meant “ born in a wilderness”. He worked hard and was very prosperous and his chi seemed to be sober for causing him so much pain because it had mercy on him.

During these seven years Okonkwo had yearned for his homeland, unaware of the change that had occurred in his homeland and he planned for his return but on getting back after seven years, his people had abandoned the gods of their ancestors and payed no attention to the fact that a warrior had come back to his home, not many payed attention to his virgin daughters whom he had kept from marrying any Mbanta man. The white men whom he detested much had established their presence in Umuofia and the people payed more attention to the new religion, government and the shops, but soon Okonkwo gained a level of importance at least among his clan people who still respected their fathers and soon matters arose in Umuofia that made his peculiar anger visible again

 It got to the point when the sons of Umuofia and its neighbouring villages had to burn down the church and the house of one of them Enoch and this caused the chief commissioner to put the elders in prison and out of anger, Okonkwo killed a messenger of the colonial government and hung himself in resignation of the issues surrounding him.