Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart – Achibe Chenua (I think – I can’t remember for sure who the author is)

Things Fall Apart tells the story of a man in an evolving African community. By his hard work farming yams, strength as a wrester, and bravery as a warrior, Okonkwo earns status, titles, and prestige in the village of his father. He sits on the council that oversees all disagreements and arguments in the village, and has three wives with multiple children. However, Okonkwo is quick to anger, and strong in his opinions and judgments. After Okonkwo accidentally kills a boy during a funeral ceremony, he is banished to the village of his mother for seven years to erase his wrong-doings from the village. Okonkwo serves his “sentence” in a new community, all the while thinking about how to make a triumphant return to the village of his father so he can regain his position. While living in the village of his mother, though, things begin to fall apart, and do so completely when Okonkwo returns to the village of his father. The traditional spirits and gods of the tribe run into Jesus, and while the first missionary to the community is patient, calm, and tolerant, his replacement takes a heavy hand toward villagers who reject the new belief system. As tradition meets colonization, Okonkwo internalizes his anger at the village’s inability and unwillingness to fight for their way of life. He ultimately hangs himself from shame about himself, his position, and his village.

As with pretty much everything in my life, I couldn’t help comparing this book to my Peace Corps experience. I looked at it as a PCV, and understood why you have to make small talk with people before you come to the real reason for wanting to talk to them. I understood the ceremonies, the food, and how some things will never make sense to someone outside the community. And I compared myself to the two missionaries at the end of the book, and found many similarities between my work and the approach of the first missionary. I think my personal context helped me understand the book more because I felt that there were many things that weren’t fully explained. Spirit children came up in the book, but they weren’t called that in the book, and the only way I knew what they were talking about was from reading about spirit children in The Famished Road.  There was also an entire midnight chase across all the villages in the community that culminated in nothing but a night of lost sleep, and I was unsure of what to make of that. It was a great book though. It is a quick read, a nice glimpse into village life, and a strong commentary on colonialism.