The Novel Things Fall Apart was written by Chinua Achebe, an author from Nigeria who was born in the year 1930. The book was published in the year 1958, and it was the first Novel to receive global critical acclaim. The arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century is well documented in this book gives a detailed account of how events unfolded during the pre-colonial in the southeastern part of Nigeria. Things Fall Apart was the debut novel by Achebe that was coincidentally the first book that William Heinemann who was working with African Writers series published.
In this Novel Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe, the first reading reveals that the Igbo cultures and traditions are the main things that fell apart. Similar disclosures have been shown on the various passages of the novel since the novel was addressing the white racism during the post-colonial era (Suhair, 2018). The racism that Achebe was addressing was embedded in the European literature presenting the African nation as socially retrograde and primitive.
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Also the protagonist of this Novel, Okonkwo falls apart. Okonkwo's mortal sin parts him, and he becomes a different being when you compare him to the period before the death Ikemefona (Suhair, 2018). The center could not hold anymore because the pursuit of passion lacked any required orderliness. Also, the core values that had been set were no longer necessary since the population had started deviating from the main focus. In the book, the various forces designated to restore order and sanity fails to do so something that makes the center not to hold back.
Okonkwo is the only individual in the book ‘Things Fall Apart' that falls apart. He becomes a doomed and plagued man after involving himself with a heinous act, and he got shunned by the whole society. He kept following his own life rules something that made him to also lose his connection with his son as well as the wealth and stature.
There are two significant causes of things falling apart in the book by Chinua Achebe is Okonkwo and the culture clash between the Igbo community. Okonkwo kills her wife and in turn, gets disowned by the society something that leads to him committing suicide. The culture clash also comes into place when the white racism was at the center stage demeaning the culture of the native individuals.
There are various actions that Okonkwo does which can get explained as some of the causes of things falling apart for him in this novel. The belief of one should not become a woman while he is a man from his inability to balance the two sides that is masculinity and femininity is one flaw that causes things to fall apart (Thethwayo, 2009). To him, there are no great qualities that can come out of both the combination of masculine and feminine. Also to him, it was a sign of weakness for a man to show his love feelings openly. Additionally, Okonkwo treats less successful men harshly and despises them.
The clash in both cultures that is the white man's tradition of doing things and that of the Nigerian people contributed significantly to the things falling apart. One of the cultural clashes comes about when the white man looks down upon the religion of the people from Umuofia and to them it was some joke (Suhair, 2018). The white man wanted the people of Umuofia to follow their religion and ways of worshiping meaning that they had to abandon their cultural methods of worshiping their gods.
On the other hand, the white man's religion was not either going down well with the people of Umuofia. Being a reputable man in society and his culture, Okonkwo murders to prevent his manhood (Chauhan, 2015). The defiance he had for the traditional ways and culture of the land makes him also to commit suicide. The clash in the two cultures sparked a lot of negative energy to the extent of lives getting lost.
In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, some of the factors that contributed to things falling apart are inevitable, and some are evitable. The disunity among the people of the Igbo community contributed to things falling apart something that could have been avoided. The inevitable aspects of that contributed to Things Falling Apart that can also get termed as an external is the arrival of the white man (Suhair, 2018). The various influences that the Europeans had and the different cultural aspects that they introduced to the African Community were some of the inevitable things. Also, the fact that the white man wanted to have control over the people something that they were not used to also contributed to things falling apart.
The author of the book Thing Fall Apart is trying to make the readers have sympathy on the protagonist of the story Okonkwo by giving the clear picture of what it meant for someone to live within the African society (Eko, 2013). In the book, Okonkwo represents the civilization of the African perspective as well as a respected man among his culture; all his actions were to protect the laws of the land in as much as they might have gone overboard a factor that led to his ultimate demise.
In conclusion, the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe explains how the cultural society survived before the invasion of the white man as well as the different struggles that they underwent to at last get in terms and adopt the new ways.
References
Chauhan, Sejal. (2015) Cultural Conflict in the Things Fall Apart. Education. Retrieved on 18 th March 2019 from https://www.slideshare.net/sejalchauhan/cultural-conflict-in-a-things-fall-apart
Eko, Sigan. (2013) Things Fall Apart: The Relevance of Chinua Achebe. The Kalahari Review. Retrieved on 18 th March 2019 from https://kalaharireview.com/things-fall-apart-the-relevance-of-chinua-achebe-412a31b646bc
Suhair Fuaad Hajo (2018) What Actually ‘Falls Apart’ in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart? : Research Gate. Retrieved on 18 th March 2019 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327232119_What_Actually_'Falls_Apart'_in_Chinua_Achebe's_Things_Fall_Apart
Thethwayo, N. (2009) Okonkwo's Downfall in: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. In WriteWork.com. Retrieved 18 th March 2019 from http://www.writework.com/essay/okonkwo-s-downfall-things-fall-apart-chinua-achebe
