What made things fall apart in Things Fall Apart?

Answer 1

There are many things that fall apart in Things Fall Apart, so they should be taken one at a time.

Ikemefuna's life:

- Murder of Umuofian Ogbuefi Udo's wife by a Mbanta man in the Mbanta market: Although Ikemefuna was not responsible, he became part of the peace offering toward Umuofia, and was displaced from his home.

- Declaration of death by the Oracle of Agbala: Even though Ikemefuna had adapted miraculously to his new home, as soon as the Oracle decreed Ikemefuna must die, his life ended.

Okonkwo's ambition:

- Okonkwo's fear: Okonkwo's fear of being like his father, an agbala, caused him many problems including a fierce manliness, a lack of temper, emotion, and reasonability.

- Okonkwo's lack of temper: Okonkwo's beating of his wife during the festival of Ani, causes him much disrepute among his neighbours.

- Okonkwo's lack of emotion: Okonkwo's apparent lack of remorse for disturbing the festival of Ani, causes him more disrepute among his neighbours who take him to be callous and not humble towards the gods.

-The accident killing Ekeudu's son. This accident causes Okonkwo to be exiled for 7 years.

-The arrival of the colonists.

-The conversion of Nwoye.

-The killing of the messenger.

-Okonkwo's death.

Okonkwo's family unity:

- Okonkwo's need for manliness. It also causes him to beat his children excessively in a vain attempt to get them to work harder. It distances himself from Nwoye. His fear of being perceived weak causes him to kill Ikemefuna.

- The death of Ikemefuna.

- Okonkwo's lack of emotion: This causes Nwoye to distance himself from his father and the tribe.

- Nwoye's conversion to Christianity.

Ibo culture:

-Christianity: The church disproved many of the Ibo superstitions, and implicitly encouraged the Ibo to break traditions.

-Settlers: The settlers killed the village of Abame, and attempted to convert the rest, while imposing their power upon the lands.

-The Ibo tribe: Their lack of a central structure made them easy to separate and convert or conquer. They could not offer a consolidated defense against the invaders and their customs. Their own culture was occasionally repressive, and caused rifts between the people and the society.

-Their own culture: Their own culture prevented them from stopping their brothers who had joined the white man's ranks.

-Soldiers: The soldiers prevented the Ibo from forcefully removing the white men.

-The converts: The converts would bring white reinforcements in event of any revolution.

Answer 2

The arrival of European colonizers led by the British disrupted the traditional Igbo society in "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. The imposition of Western culture, religion, and governance challenged the existing social structures and beliefs of the Igbo people, ultimately leading to the downfall of the protagonist, Okonkwo, and his community. Additionally, internal conflicts and misunderstandings among the villagers contributed to the tragedy and collapse of their way of life.

Answer 3

The Christians beliefs and values offend Okonkwo. Firstly, they say that the gods of Okonkwo and his father's have no power. Their stories about a man who had a mother but no father leads Okonkwo to believe that they are insane. The Christians cause others to abandon their beliefs in the old gods and take up Christianity. Osu are welcomed into the Christian church; Okonkwo is very class conscious and sees this to mean that the Christian church congregates are also of lower class.

Nwoye, Okonkwo's eldest son, joins the Christians. Okoli, a Christian, is rumoured to have killed a sacred python. Several of the converts become more bold and openly denounce the old gods in public. Enoch goes so far as to kill an ancestral spirit by ripping the mask from an egwugwu.

Christianity is a facet of the oppression of the colonial invaders.