Things Fall Apart Study

Guide
Chinua Achebe's college work sharpened his interest in indigenous Nigerian
cultures. He had grown up in Ogidi, a large village in Nigeria. His father taught
at the missionary school, and Achebe witnessed firsthand the complex mix of
benefit and catastrophe that the Christian religion had brought to the Igbo
people. In the 1950s, an exciting new literary movement grew in strength.
Drawing on indigenous Nigerian oral traditions, this movement enriched
European literary forms in hopes of creating a new literature, in English but
unmistakably African. Published in 1958, Things Fall Apart is one of the
masterpieces of 20th century African fiction.

Things Fall Apart is set in the 1890s, during the coming of the white man to
Nigeria. In part, the novel is a response and antidote to a large tradition of
European literature in which Africans are depicted as primitive and mindless
savages. The attitudes present in colonial literature are so ingrained into our
perception of Africa that the District Commissioner, who appears at the end of
the novel, strikes a chord of familiarity with most readers. He is arrogant,
dismissive of African "savages," and totally ignorant of the complexity and
richness of Igbo life. Yet his attitude echoes so much of the depiction of
Africa; this attitude, following Achebe's depiction of the Igbo, seems hollow
and savage.

Digression is one of Achebe's most important tools. Although the novel's

central story is the tragedy of Okonkwo, Achebe takes any opportunity he can
to digress and relate anecdotes and tertiary incidents. The novel is part
documentary, but the liveliness of Achebe's narrative protects the book from
reading like an anthropology text. We are allowed to see the Igbo through their
own eyes, as they celebrate the various rituals and holidays that mark
important moments in the year and in the people's live.

Achebe depicts the Igbo as a people with great social institutions. Their
culture is rich and impressively civilized, with traditions and laws that place
great emphasis on justice and fairness. The people are ruled not by a king or
chief but by a kind of simple democracy, in which all males gather and make
decisions by consensus. Ironically, it is the Europeans, who often boast of
bringing democratic institutions to the rest of the world, who try to suppress
these clan meetings in Umuofia. The Igbo also boast a high degree of social
mobility. Men are not judged by the wealth of their fathers, and Achebe
emphasizes that high rank is attainable for all freeborn Igbo.

He does not shy from depicting the injustices of Igbo society. No more or less
than Victorian England of the same era, the Igbo are deeply patriarchal. They
also have a great fear of twins, who are abandoned immediately after birth to
a death by exposure. Violence is not unknown to them, although warfare on a
European scale is something of which they have no comprehension.
The novel attempts to repair some of the damage done by earlier European
depictions of Africans. But this recuperation must necessarily come in the
form of memory; by the time Achebe was born, the coming of the white man
had already destroyed many aspects of indigenous culture.

Things Fall Apart Summary

The bulk of the novel takes place in Umuofia, a cluster of nine villages on the
lower Niger. Umuofia is a powerful clan, skilled in war and with a great
population, with proud traditions and advanced social institutions.

Okonkwo has risen from nothing to a high position. Through hard work, he has
become a great man among his people. He has taken three wives and his barn
is full of yams, the staple crop. He rules his family with an iron fist.

One day, a neighboring clan commits an offense against Umuofia. To avoid

war, the offending clan gives Umuofia one virgin and one young boy. The girl is
to become the offended party's new wife. The boy, whose name is Ikemefuna,
is to be sacrificed, but not immediately. He lives in Umuofia for three years,
and during that time he lives under Okonkwo's roof. He becomes like a part of
Okonkwo's family. In particular, Nwoye, Okonkwo's oldest son, loves Ikemefuna
like a brother. But eventually the Oracle calls for the boy's death, and a group
of men take Ikemefuna away to kill him in the forest. Okonkwo, fearful of
being perceived as soft-hearted and weak, participates in the boy's death. He
does so despite the advice of the clan elders. Nwoye is spiritually broken by
the event.
Okonkwo is shaken as well, but he continues with his drive to become a lord
of his clan. He is constantly disappointed by Nwoye, but he has great love for
his daughter Ezinma, his child by his second wife Ekwefi. Ekwefi has born ten
children, but only Ezinma has survived. She loves the girl fiercely. Ezinma is
sickly, and sometimes Ekwefi fears that Ezinma, too, will die. Late one night,
the powerful Oracle of Umuofia brings Ezinma with her for a spiritual
encounter with the earth goddess. Terrified, Ekwefi follows the Oracle at a
distance, fearing harm might come to her child. Okonkwo follows, too.

Later, during a funeral for one of the great men of the clan, Okonkwo's gun
explodes, killing a boy. In accordance with Umuofia's law, Okonkwo and his
family must be exiled for seven years.

Okonkwo bears the exile bitterly. Central to his beliefs is faith that a man
masters his own destiny. But the accident and exile are proof that at times
man cannot control his own fate, and Okonkwo is forced to start over again
without the strength and energy of his youth. He flees with his family to
Mbanto, his mother's homeland. There they are received by his mother's
family, who treat them generously. His mother's family is headed by Uchendu,
Okonkwo's uncle, a generous and wise old man.

During Okonkwo's exile, the white man comes to both Umuofia and Mbanto.
The missionaries arrive first, preaching a religion that seems mad to the Igbo
people. They win converts, but generally the converts are men of low rank or
outcasts. However, with time, the new religion gains momentum. Nwoye
becomes a convert. When Okonkwo learns of Nwoye's conversion, he beats
the boy. Nwoye leaves home.
Okonkwo returns to Umuofia to find the clan sadly changed. The church has
won some converts, some of whom are fanatical and disrespectful of clan
custom. Worse, the white man's government has come to Umuofia. The clan is
no longer free to judge its own; a District Commissioner judges cases in
ignorance. He is backed by armed power.

During a religious gathering, a convert unmasks one of the clan spirits. The
offense is grave, and in response the clan decides that the church will no
longer be allowed in Umuofia. They tear the building down. Soon afterward,
the District Commissioner asks the leaders of the clan, Okonkwo among them,
to come see him for a peaceful meeting. The leaders arrive, and are quickly
seized. In prison, they are humiliated and beaten, and they are held until the
clan pays a heavy fine.

After a release of the men, the clan calls a meeting to decide whether they will
fight or try to live peacefully with the whites. Okonkwo wants war. During the
meeting, court messengers come to order the men to break up their gathering.
The clan meetings are the heart of Umuofia's government; all decisions are
reached democratically, and an interference with this institution means the
end of the last vestiges of Umuofia's independence. Enraged, Okonkwo kills
the court messenger. The other court messengers escape, and because the
other people of his clan did not seize them, Okonkwo knows that his people
will not choose war. His act of resistance will not be followed by others.
Embittered and grieving for the destruction of his people's independence, and
fearing the humiliation of dying under white law, Okonkwo returns home and
hangs himself.
 Things Fall Apart Character
List
Okonkwo
Proud, ambitious, and ill-tempered, Okonkwo is the tragic hero of Things Fall
Apart. An ambitious man who has risen from nothing to a man of importance in
his tribe, Okonkwo rules his family with an iron fist. He is deeply dedicated to the
traditions and social hierarchies of his people, and he is determined that his
sons and daughters follow his demanding example. The indignities forced on
him and his people by the British eventually prove to be too much for him. After
an act of defiance which goes unsupported by his people, Okonkwo gives in to
despair. He kills himself, partly so that he will not be executed under the white
man's laws and partly because he is grieving for the death of his people.

Unoka
Okonkwo's father. He died when Okonkwo was very young, and he was a failure.
Shame for Unoka drives Okonkwo to work tirelessly. Unoka died in debt and
humiliation; the memory of him gives Okonkwo a terrible fear of failure.

Ikemefuna
A young boy given to Umuofia by a neighboring village as tribute. Ikemefuna is
sacrificed to prevent a war. He lives in Umuofia for three years, under Okonkwo's
roof; Okonkwo looks at him as a son, and to Nwoye he becomes best friend and
brother. He is killed by the tribe; out of fear that otherwise people will think him
weak, Okonkwo participates in the boy's death.

Nwoye
Okonkwo's son. Nwoye is sensitive and thoughtful, but he is also somewhat lazy
and sulky. Okonkwo is harsh with the boy, fearing that he will become like Unoka.
After the death of Ikemefuna, something breaks in Nwoye. Later, he converts to
Christianity, in part to escape his father. His betrayal embitters and outrages
Okonkwo.

Ogbuefi Ezeudu
One of the oldest men in Umuofia. He warns Okonkwo not to participate in
Ikemefuna's death. Later, at Ezeudu's funeral, Okonkwo's gun explodes and kills a
boy, which leads to Okonkwo's exile.

Nwoye's mother
Never named, Nwoye's mother is Okonkwo's first wife. She is a generous woman,
and she has been fortunate in the number of children she has had.

Ojiugo
Okonkwo's third and youngest wife. Okonkwo beats her savagely during the
Week of Peace, and must pay a heavy fine to the earth goddess.

Ekwefi
Okonkwo's second wife. In her youth, she was one of the great beauties of
Umuofia. She has had ten children, but only one has survived. She is a
formidable and brave woman, devoted to her surviving daughter, Ezinma.
Ezinma
Clever and brave, Ezinma starts as a precocious but sickly child. She is
Okonkwo's favorite daughter, and seems to understand his moods. His attitude
toward her shows the more tender side of his character. She grows into a
beautiful and strong young woman.

Obierika
Okonkwo's great friend, and another prosperous and powerful man in the tribe.
Obierika is also thoughtful. He is less misogynistic than Okonkwo, and he has no
love for unnecessary violence. He is a compassionate and just man.

Chielo/ Priestess of Agbala (Oracle

of the Hills and the Caves)
In normal life, Chielo is a widow and an ordinary woman. But she is also the
Priestess of Agbala, and when the power of prophecy comes to her she is
possessed by the godhead. She is one of the most powerful figures of the clan;
now important decision can be made without her approval.

Okagbue, the Medicine Man

The Medicine Man helps Ekwefi to try and make Ezinma "stay." They fear that
she will die like the earlier children, but the Medicine Man succeeds in finding the
supernatural cause of her sickliness.

Uchendu
Okonkwo's uncle. Elderly and wise, Uchendu is an impressive but gentle
patriarch. Even Okonkwo submits to his authority.
Akwiku
Okonkwo's cousin. He informs Okonkwo that Nwoye is among the Christians.

Mr. Kiaga
A Christian African, Mr. Kiaga heads the congregation in Mbanto. He is a gentle
and wise man, full of unshakeable faith.

Mr. Brown
A white man and missionary. He strives to compromise with the clan; though he
is determined to win converts, he restrains the excessive and violent zeal of
some of the converts. He eventually falls ill due to overwork.

Mr. Smith
Mr. Brown's replacement. Mr. Smith is neither wise nor compromising. Under
him, the fanatics flourish. His foolishness brings the Christians of Umuofia into
direct conflict with the clan.

District Commisioner
The head of British government in Umuofia. He dispenses justice in total
ignorance of local circumstances, and his attitude is arrogant and hypocritical.
 Things Fall Apart Themes
Memory/Documentary
Digression is one of Achebe's main tools. The novel is the story of Okonkwo's
tragedy, but it is also a record of Igbo life before the coming of the white man.
The novel documents what the white man destroyed. The reader learns much
about Igbo customs and traditions; depicting this world is a central part of the
novel.

Social disintegration
Towards the end of the novel, we witness the events by which Igbo society
begins to fall apart. Religion is threatened, Umuofia loses its self-determination,
and the very centers of tribal life are threatened. These events are all the more
painful for the reader because so much time has been spent in sympathetic
description of Igbo life; the reader realizes that he has been learning about a way
of life that no longer exists.

Greatness and ambition

Okonkwo is determined to be a lord of his clan. He rises from humble
beginnings to a position of leadership, and he is a wealthy man. He is driven and
determined, but his greatness comes from the same traits that are the source of
his weaknesses. He is often too harsh with his family, and he is haunted by a
fear of failure.

Fate and free will

There is an Igbo saying that when a man says yes, his chi, or spirit, says yes
also. The belief that he controls his own destiny is of central importance to
Okonkwo. Later, several events occur to undermine this belief, and Okonkwo is
embittered by the experience. As often happens with tragedy, the catastrophe
comes through a complex mix of external forces and the character's choices.

Masculinity
Masculinity is one of Okonkwo's obsessions, and he defines masculinity quite
narrowly. For him, any kind of tenderness is a sign of weakness and effeminacy.
Male power lies in authority and brute force. But throughout the novel, we are
shown men with more sophisticated understanding of masculinity. Okonkwo's
harshness drives Nwoye away from the family and into the arms of the new
religion.

Fear
For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is haunted by fear. He is profoundly
afraid of failure, and he is afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him
to rashness, and in the end contributes to his death.

Tribal belief
Particularly since one of the threats to Igbo life is the coming of the new religion,
tribal belief is a theme of some importance. Igbo religious beliefs explain and
provide meaning to the world; the religion is also inextricable from social and
political institutions. Achebe also shows that Igbo religious authorities, such as
the Oracle, seem to possess uncanny insights. He approaches the matter of
Igbo religion with a sense of wonder.
Justice
Justice is another powerful preoccupation of the novel. For the Igbo, justice and
fairness are matters of great importance. They have complex social institutions
that administer justice in fair and rational ways. But the coming of the British
upsets that balance. Although the British claim that local laws are barbaric, and
use this claim as an excuse to impose their own laws, we soon see that British
law is hypocritical and inhumane. The final events leading up to Okonkwo's
death concern the miscarriage of Justice under the British District
Commissioner.

Things Fall Apart Summary

and Analysis of Chapters 1-5
Chapter 1

Summary:

We are introduced to Okonkwo, a great man among the Igbo tribe, well known
in the nine villages and beyond. In his youth, he became famous when he
defeated Amilinze the Cat, a great wrester. He is a formidable man, stern and
intimidating in appearance; when angry, he stammers. The stammer makes
him angrier, and he uses his fists. He has a hot temper. He has no patience for
unsuccessful men; his father had been such a man. His father, a man by the
name of Unoka, was a lazy do-nothing, who has died deep in debt. The
narrator digresses to tell us about Unoka. Unoka was a great flute player in his
youth, but he became a failure as an adult. He was constantly borrowing from
his friends and neighbors, and his children and wife did not have enough to
eat.

One day, a neighbor of Unoka, a man named Okoye, came to discuss the
money Unoka owed him. The rituals of hospitality are described: the guest
brings kola, a kind of food eaten during visits, and the men often speak in
proverbs. Okoye was about take the third-highest title in the land, and he
needed to collect resources. Unoka laughed him off, telling him that he had
many other debts he needed to pay first.

Unoka dies deep in debt. But Okonkwo, though young, is already a great man.
He has two barns full of yams, and he has fought bravely in two inter-tribal
wars. He has taken two titles already. He has three wives. The narrator tells us
that his high standing was the reason he was trusted to watch over the
doomed boy who was sacrificed to Umuofia to avoid war. The doomed boy
was named Ikemefuna.

Analysis:

Things Fall Apart is part tragedy and part documentary. It is the story of
Okonkwo and his tragic death after the coming of the white man; it is also a
piece of fiction that documents the world that the white man destroyed.
Structure is important to tragedy, and by Aristotle's rules of tragedy all that is
inessential to the central action should be removed. However, the tragedy of
Okonkwo's death is seen as part of a greater tragedy: the defeat and forced
transformation of a great people. Achebe's novel is both tragedy and memory.
The narrative tends to digress; to understand the gravity of Okonkwo's tragedy,
the reader must see him within the context of his world.

Achebe gives us detailed descriptions of Igbo traditions, customs, and beliefs.

Memory is an important theme; here, this study guide uses memory as a
broad term covering all documentary-style descriptions of Igbo life. By the end
of the novel, the reader realizes that the account he has just read is the story
of a culture that has been irrevocably transformed. Another part of Achebe's
project is to give a balanced and sensitive portrait of Igbo culture, as African
tribal cultures were long dismissed by white scholars as barbaric and evil.

Digression is one of Achebe's most important tools. He takes any opportunity

he can to tell us about a past incident which is only indirectly connected to his
central story. These digressions allow him to flesh out his portrait of tribal life.

Ambition and greatness are two closely connected themes. Okonkwo is

determined to be the opposite of his father. He has already taken two titles
(honorary titles that give a man status in the tribe) and he is quite rich.
Success and honor are very important to Okonkwo. He has worked his whole
life to win the respect of his people. His work ethic and his ambition also give
rise to his faults: he is a harsh man, quick to anger and without humility.

Chapter 2

Summary:

One night as Okonkwo prepares for bed, he hears the town crier, beating on
his hollow instrument and calling all the men of Umuofia to a meeting early
tomorrow morning. The night is dark and moonless, and the narrator explains
that darkness was frightening even for the bravest of the Igbo. The forest is a
sinister place at night. Okonkwo suspects that a war might be brewing: he's a
distinguished warrior, and war gives him a chance to win greater esteem.

The next morning, the ten thousand men of Umuofia gather in the
marketplace. Ogbuefi Ezuogo, a powerful orator, gives the traditional opening:
he faces four different directions, raising a clenched fist, and cries "Umuofia
kwenu," to which the men all cry "Yaa!" He greets them this way a fifth time,
and then he tells them that men from the neighboring village of Mbaino have
killed a girl from Umuofia. The men discuss the situation, and decide to follow
the normal course of action: the will issue an ultimatum, demanding a boy and
a virgin as compensation. The neighboring villages fear Umuofia, because its
warriors and medicine-men are powerful. It's most powerful war medicine
(magic) is agadi-nwayi, a magic enforced by the spirit of an old woman with
one leg. The narrator tells us that in fairness to Umuofia, it should be said that
the village never went to war without first trying a peaceful settlement, and
even then it only went if the war was approved by the Oracle of the Hills and
the Caves. And the Oracle often forbade war.

Okonkwo is chosen as emissary. He goes and is treated with respect, and he

returns with the young boy and the virgin girl. The girl goes to the man whose
wife was murdered. As for the boy, the village is in no hurry to decide his fate.
His name is Ikemefuna. He goes to live with Okonkwo and his family.

The narrator describes Okonkwo and his family, as well as their living
situation. Okonkwo has a separate hut, or obi, at the heart of their family
compound. Each wife has her own hut. All is enclosed by a large red wall.
Yams are the main crop for the Igbo, and the compound includes a barn for
yam-storage. There is also a shrine, or "medicine house." Okonkwo is quick to
anger. He rules his family like a tyrant. He fears failure, and hates the memory
of his idle father; his oldest son Nwoye, shows signs of being like Okonkwo's
father, and so Okonkwo is very hard on him. Ikemefuna is brought home with
Okonkwo and given to Nwoye's mother. The boy is homesick and does not
understand why he has been taken from his family.

Analysis:

Achebe gives us a concise portrait of the social organization of the Igbo, on

several levels. We see that the town is not ruled by a chief, but by a general
assembly of all the men. In effect, the Igbo have a primitive democracy. We
learn that yams are a staple, and a large store of yams indicates prosperity.
We also learn that Umuofia prizes justice, and does not wage wars of
conquest. There is also a high level of social mobility. Note that while Unoka
was a failure, Okonkwo has risen to become a great man among his people.

Okonkwo fears failure. The theme of ambition has its converse, and it is
Okonkwo's fear of failure that makes him a harsh man. He is strong, but he
fails to see that his wives and children are not as physically strong as he. Yet
he drives them to work as hard as he does. All of his wives and children fear
him. Okonkwo tries to help his son, Nwoye, by being doubly harsh on him. But
this approach is turning Nwoye into a sad and resentful youth.

Chapter 3

Summary:
When Okonkwo was young, his father Unoka went to Agbala, the Oracle of the
Hills and the Caves. He asked why he always had a miserable harvest, despite
his prayers and offerings to the gods. The Oracle told him that the fault lay not
in the gods, but in his laziness. Unoka died of swelling that the Igbo believe is
an abomination to the earth goddess. Like others who died badly, he was left
in the Evil Forest. Okonkwo lives in fear of the kind of failure and sad end that
met his father.

Okonkwo did not inherit a barn full of seed yams. He had to start out as a
sharecropper for a rich man named Nwakibie. Nwakibie was generous, but the
first year Okonkwo planted was the worst planting year in Umuofia's living
memory. Okonkwo, with superhuman determination, survived. His father was
in his last days then. He gave Okonkwo encouraging praise, but it only tried
Okonkwo's patience.

Analysis:

Okonkwo has overcome incredible diversity. His father's pathetic end and
death tainted him with shame, and left him without inheritance. His rise to
social power and wealth has been a triumph of stubbornness and will.
Sharecropping is a difficult way to begin; moreover, the first year Okonkwo
planted was a terrible harvest year. But Okonkwo was young and strong, and
he was able to survive. The experience has been essential to the formation of
his character. Central to Okonkwo's beliefs is not only a work ethic but a faith
in the ability of the will to overcome adversity. He is confident that he can
master his environment; he rules as a man, and he is fiercely proud of his
people. Understanding these beliefs is key to understanding the tragedy that
strikes Okonkwo later, after the coming of the white man.
Chapter 4

Summary:

Okonkwo shows few emotions openly, none of them tender ones. He once
insulted a man at a town meeting, implying that the man was a woman. The
man had no titles. Okonkwo was reprimanded, and a village elder said that the
fortunate should show humility; yet Okonkwo has never been fortunate.
Everything he has he has earned himself.

Ikemefuna is terribly homesick, but in time he finds a place among Okonkwo's

family. Nwoye, two years younger, is inseparable from him; even Okonkwo
grows fond of the boy, although he doesn't show it openly. Ikemefuna is a
clever boy; he knows how to make flutes and traps for rodents. He begins to
call Okonkwo "father."

During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo's youngest wife, Ojiugo, goes out to plait
her hair and neglects to cook afternoon meal for him. When she returns,
Okonkwo beats her savagely. This act is an abomination to the Igbo. No one is
allowed even to speak unkindly to another during the Week of Peace;
Okonkwo's transgression threatens the harvest of the whole clan. Ezeani,
priest of the earth goddess, arrives before dusk. He scorns Okonkwo's
traditional offer of kola nut and demands a stiff fine of goods and money from
Okonkwo. Okonkwo pays it, inwardly repentant, but he is too proud to admit
openly to his neighbors that he is in error. His neighbors begin to say he has
grown to proud.

It is soon time to plant; as they prepare the seed yams, Okonkwo is very harsh
to Nwoye and Ikemefuna. Yam is a man's crop, and Okonkwo is very
demanding. Yams, too, are a difficult crop to raise, sensitive and
labor-intensive. The rainy season comes, during which children huddle by fires
indoors, resting. With planting season over, the Igbo enjoy a resting period
before the work of the harvest.

Ikemefuna and Nwoye have become very close; Nwoye loves the older boy,
who is now like a brother to him. Ikemefuna has an endless supply of
folktales, and hearing them makes Nwoye see the world in a new light.

Analysis:

Maculinity is one of Okonkwo's obsessions. He sees any tender emotion as

feminine and therefore weak. His culture is as patriarchal as any other, but in
his need to be strong Okonkwo carries the preoccupation with manliness to
an extreme. He has not learned restraint. His beating of Ojiugo is the first
concrete incident in the book during which we watch Okonkwo lose control.
Although he begins the beating having forgotten that it is the Week of Peace,
when reminded he does not stop. He is not a man to do anything half-way,
even if he knows there are consequences. Later, this hubris destroys him. His
neighbors notice his pride. Even when Okonkwo feels penitent, he takes great
pains to hide it. This drive and fierce pride have made him a great man, but
they are also the source of all of his faults.

In his sincere desire to see his son Nwoye become great, he has made the boy
extremely unhappy. Okonkwo is not exactly a typical Igbo male: though
Achebe sets up Okonkwo's fall as parallel to the fall of his people, he also
shows us that Okonkwo is an extraordinary man among the Igbo, in ways both
good and bad. In other men of the village, we see restraint and humility. We
see in Ikemefuna a role model that Nwoye has lacked. Fearful of his brutal
father, Nwoye now has a kind older brother to look up to. We also see that
Nwoye is a thoughtful boy: his responses to Ikemefuna's folktales are
imaginative and beautiful.

Chapter 5

Summary:

The Feast of the New Yam approaches. It marks the beginning of harvest
season. All old yams are disposed of, and new and tasty yams are eaten for
the feasts. The New Yam marks the start of a new year, and the beginning of a
season of plenty.

Okonkwo, like all rich men, always invites a huge number of guests for the
feast. But he himself is rather impatient with holidays, and would prefer to be
working on his farm. Preparation for the festival makes him testy. Three days
before the festival, he becomes furious when he sees that a few leaves have
been cut from the banana tree (banana leaves are used to wrap food in many
tropical countries). When his second wife admits to the act, he beats her
brutally. He then decides to go hunting. Though a great man, Okonkwo is not a
great hunter. The wife who was just beaten makes a snide comment about
guns that never shoot, and he tries to shoot her. He misses. Despite these
disturbances, the festival is celebrated happily.

The second day of the new year is the day for wrestling. Ekwefi, Okonkwo's
second wife, loves the wrestling matches. It was watching Okonkwo defeat
the Cat that she fell in love with him. She married another man, but a few
years after that she ran away from him and came to live with Okonkwo. In
those days, she was the great beauty of the village. That was thirty years ago.
Ekwefi has only had one child, her daughter Ezinma. Ezinma is a charming,
pretty, and clever young girl, one of her father's favorites, though he rarely
shows it. We see her helping the other wives, doing chores for her mother, and
bringing Okonkwo his food.

Analysis:

Chapter 5 fleshes out the portrait of Okonkwo's family life. His three wives live
together peacefully, and seem to have great affection for one another. Ezinma
is well-beloved, not only by Ekwefi and Okonkwo, but by the other wives as
well. The children live together as brothers and sisters. Ikemefuna has been
fully absorbed into the family.

But Okonkwo rules with fear. His anger over the banana tree is completely
unfounded; he uses it as an excuse to beat someone. He is madly
self-absorbed, and does not see fit to learn constraint for the sake of his
family.

Igbo society is patriarchal, but this chapter focuses on female characters.

Ekwefi is far from timid: fresh from a beating, she makes fun of her husband.
We also meet her daughter Ezinma, one of book's most likable characters.
Okonkwo's treatment of her humanizes him, balancing his harsh treatment of
Nwoye. One of the reasons for his gentleness with Ezinma is her gender: as a
girl, the expectations on her are different. Okonkwo often wishes that she
were a boy, but the wish seems benign next to his merciless treatment of
Nwoye. We see that Okonkwo is at least capable of tenderness. Because he
does not have the same terrible expectations of a girl as he does of his son,
he can treat her with at least a little gentleness.

Things Fall Apart Summary

and Analysis of Chapters
6-10
Chapter 6

Summary:

A huge crowd gathers to watch the wrestling matches. Ekwefi finds herself
next to Chielo, a widow with two children. Chielo is quite an ordinary woman in
ordinary life. But she occupies a position of great power in the village: she is
also the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. She is
considered a different person when the spirit of the goddess enters her. Chielo
is very fond of Ezinma. She often gives the girl sweets. The two women talk,
and we infer that Ekwefi has had many children, and that many of them have
died. Ezinma is now ten years old. Ekwefi prays that she stays; her children's
deaths have been cause of great sadness for her.

The matches are exciting, and the great wrestlers all of have their fans. As the
main event of the evening, Ikezue and Okafo, the two greatest wrestlers of
Umuofia, square off in a fierce bout. Okafo wins, and is carried home on the
shoulder's of his enthusiastic supporters, while the young women sing songs
of praise.

Analysis:

We learn the greatest cause of Ekwefi's sadness, which was only hinted at in
the last chapter. From her conversation with Chielo, we learn that she has had
children other than Ezinma, but that they have died. In Chielo, we see an
example of a powerful woman among the Igbo. Her orders supersede even
those of the council of men; no great decision is made without her. Yet the
two women discuss Okonkwo's recent attack against Ekwefi. Even as we see
examples of women in power, we are reminded that Igbo women are
vulnerable to their husbands' rages.

The wrestling matches are more of Achebe's documentation of Igbo life. From
the large amount of exposition and commentary, it is clear that Things Fall
Apart is not a book meant for Igbo readers. In fact, Achebe seems to assume
that the reader has little or no knowledge of Igbo culture. We see the joy of
festival time, and the excitement of the Igbo New Year. Achebe wants us to
appreciate the beauty and strength of the Igbo people; sympathy and respect
for the Igbo makes the end of the novel all the more painful.

Chapter 7

Summary:

Three years pass, and Ikemefuna matures into an adolescent in Okonkwo's

household. Ikemefuna and Nwoye are as inseparable as ever, and because
Ikemefuna treats Nwoye with respect, Nwoye is developing into a more
confident and hard-working young man. Okonkwo is pleased by the change,
and he knows it is due to Ikemefuna. He often eats with the two boys.
(Typically, the man of the house eats separately in his central hut, or obi, while
the women and children eat in their respective parts of the compound.) Nwoye
seems to be pleasing his father more and more. To make him happy, he
grumbles about women and pretends to scorn his mother's folktales (although
in truth he still loves them). Instead, he listens to Okonkwo's stories of war and
violence.

The locusts come. They are not a threat to Umuofia's staple crops, as they
come after harvest, during the cold harmattan season. First, a small swarm of
scouts comes, and then a larger group arrives. Their coming fills the Igbo with
joy, because the locusts come only once every seven years, and they are
delicious to eat.

Okonkwo is enjoying locust when Ogbuefi Ezeudu enters. He is a great village

elder, and he has come to inform Okonkwo that the time has come for
Ikemefuna's death. They tell Okonkwo not to bear a hand in the child's
execution. The next day, a large group of elders comes to Okonkwo to discuss
it more fully with him. Later that day, Okonkwo tells Ikemefuna that he is to be
sent home. Nwoye hears, and begins to cry; his father beats him heavily.

A group of men brings Ikemefuna deep into the forest. The boy thinks about
how strange it will be to see his family again; he is excited to see them, but
also said to be leaving his new family. They walk for hours. The other men
attack Ikemefuna with hatchets. He runs to Okonkwo, calling him father,
begging for help. Afraid of being thought weak, and full of a terrible fear,
Okonkwo uses his matchet to strike the boy down.
When Okonkwo returns later that night, Nwoye knows that Ikemefuna has
been killed. A terrible sadness comes to him. He does not cry, but something
in him has been broken. The last time he felt this way was during the last
harvest season. He had been in the forest with his family, bringing back yams
from the harvest. They heard an infant crying. The women fell silent and
walked faster. Nwoye had heard that twins, considered evil by the Igbo, were
left to die in the forest. He had never come across any. A great sickness and
sorrow came over him. He has that feeling again now.

Analysis:

Ikemefuna is depicted as a perfect son and brother. He succeeds where

Okonkwo cannot: he helps Nwoye to be more self-assured and confident. The
exaggerated shows of masculinity Nwoye begins to make are contrived and
for the pleasure of his father, but Nwoye is becoming more comfortable and
confident. Ikemefuna's, with his gentleness and his love of folktales, has
provided Nwoye with the positive male role model that he needed. Ikemefuna
is also something of a Christ figure. He dies as a sacrifice for the good of the
many; it is no coincidence that Nwoye later converts to Christianity. Nwoye is
disturbed by some of the practices of his own people. They fill him with a
vague fear and sorrow, and he will later seek solace in a foreign religion.

The arrival of the locusts might initially worry the reader who knows that
locusts are often disastrous for a community of farmers. These locusts pose
no threat to the Igbo. However, they foreshadow a more dangerous swarm
that will arrive later. Like the white man, they send scouts first and then arrive
with overwhelming numbers and force.
We see again Okonkwo's terrible fear of failure, which includes a fear of being
thought weak. Despite sorrow and terror, he goes with the men when they kill
Ikemefuna. He himself delivers the killing blow, even as the boy calls him
"Father" and asks for his help. He was advised by the elders to stay home; to
kill kin is considered a terrible offense to the Igbo. But Okonkwo is determined
to prove himself unshakeable. In the proving, he does damage to himself and
creates a rift between him and Nwoye that will never be healed.

Chapter 8

Summary:

Okonkwo does not touch food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna. He
drinks, and though he calls Nwoye into his obi to be with him, the boy is
scared of him and steals away when Okonkwo is dozing. He is weak and
listless. On the third day, he asks his second wife, Ekwefi, to prepare some
food for him. Ezinma brings out, encouraging him to eat. As she takes care of
him, Okonkwo thinks repeatedly that she should have been born a boy.
Okonkwo is ashamed that he has been affected by Ikemefuna's death.

He goes to speak with his good friend, Obeirika. Obeirika invites Okonkwo to
be with him later while he negotiates the bride price for his daughter. Okonkwo
criticizes Obeirika for not coming to kill Ikemefuna. Obeirika responds in turn
that Okonkwo should not have gone; the act that Okonkwo committed is the
kind of deed the gods punish.

Okonkwo is present for the negotiation of the bride price. There is polite
negotiation, as the two families strive to reach a settlement that will be
honorable for both groups. Many men from both families are present.
Okonkwo enjoys himself. The talk turns to different customs, and they discuss
rumors of the traditions in distant lands. Obeirika speaks of a particularly
ridiculous story he heard: far away, the story goes, tribes have been visited by
men with white skin.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's fear of effeminacy and weakness drives him to actions and

emotions that do not always come naturally to him. He is disturbed by the
death of Ikemefuna, but he is even more disturbed that he is disturbed. Any
emotion approaching tenderness or softness must be suppressed.

Obeirika, Okonkwo's good friend, shows that Okonkwo's attitudes, though

influenced by culture, are not exactly typical for an Igbo man. Okonkwo, along
the model of the tragic hero, is an extreme example of his people. He carries
their traits to excess. Obeirika, on the other hand, is a rich man and a man of
sensitivity. He was not present at the Ikemefuna's death, nor does he approve
of Okonkwo's participation in the act.

There is much digression in this chapter, as we witness the Igbo customs or

courtship. The negotiations are civil and even joyous, as the men drink great
quantities of palm wine. At the close of the chapter, we are given an ominous
foreshadowing of what is to come. The men all dismiss the stories of
approaching white men as patently ridiculous. Their reaction to the rumor
shows how unready the Africans were for the coming of the European colonial
powers. Everything we have learned about the Igbo shows that their concept
of war and conquest is quite different from that of the European invaders: war
is fought over questions of honor rather than a desire for material gain. And
European military technology is beyond anything the Igbo have. The stories of
white men seem so fantastic, so far outside of anything the Igbo have
experienced, that they are immediately dismissed as myth.

Chapter 9

Summary:

Okonkwo sleeps well for the first time in three nights. He is woken in the
morning by Ekwefi banging on the door: Ezinma is dying.

Ekwefi has had ten children. Nine have died. The medicine man has said that
she has given birth to an ogbanje, a wicked child who, after dying, returns to
its mother's womb to be reborn and die again. Ezinma has always been a
sickly child, prone to swing between periods of great vivacity and darker times
when she seems near death. A year ago, Okagbue, the medicine man, found
Ezinma's iyi-uwa, her supposed link to the world of the ogbanje. So the girl
should not die again.

But Ekwefi, fearful that she might lose the child that is the center of her life, is
terrified. Okonkwo believes it is iba sickness, and he gathers herbs and begins
to prepare a medicine for Ezinma. The girl is held over a concoction of herbs
and hot water, and forced to breathe in the steam.

Analysis:

Igbo beliefs constitute one of the forces that holds their society together.
Remember the title: we are reading about the disintegration of an old way of
life and the end of autonomy for a great people. High infant mortality is one of
the unfortunate truths of Igbo life. Their religion attempts to find meaning in
this tragedy.

And although nothing supernatural happens in the novel, there are certain
things in the Igbo religion that Achebe depicts as uncanny. When Okagbue
searches for Ezinma's iyi-uwa, the girl seems to go into a strange, trance-like
state: she cooperates with the medicine man as if the iyi-uwa is real, and
indeed, he does find a strange object in the location that she indicates.
Achebe does not depict the superstitions of the Igbo as being necessarily true,
but he does show that their religious beliefs often contain uncanny insights.
Later, the Oracle will predict with uncanny accuracy the methods of the white
man.

Chapter 10

Summary:

Umuofia has a great clan gathering. Nine men in the cult of the egwugwu
impersonate the nine founders of the villages of Umuofia. During the
ceremony, the men are considered to be the spirits of the clan. The
transformation is spiritual and complete, in the same way that Catholics
believe that the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ.

The ceremony is for the administration of justice. Families with disputes come
forward to have their cases tried publicly. The first case involves a woman
who has left her husband. He wants her to return, along with her two children.
The woman's family claims that her husband was abusive. Evil Forest, the
egwugwu who listens to the case, decides that the husband must bear gifts to
his in-laws and beg his wife's forgiveness. She will return, but he should not
beat her again.

Analysis:

The ceremony of the egwugwu is clearly one dominated by men. Only men are
in the cult of the egwugwu, and so only men are involved in the administration
of justice. But for the first case of the ceremony, Achebe chooses a case
involving a woman's well-being. Here and elsewhere, he tries to show that a
woman's place in Igbo society, though vulnerable, is not unappreciated.
Mgbafo, the abused bride, is protected by her brothers. Her case is viewed
favorably by the judge. Although Achebe shows us that the Igbo society is
deeply patriarchal, he also strives to show that Igbo woman, in at least a
limited capacity, are respected and protected. There is an interest in justice
and fairness. And to keep perspective on the issue, the reader should
remember that women in 19th century England and America did not enjoy any
more freedom than their counterparts in Nigeria.

Things Fall Apart Summary

and Analysis of Chapters
11-15
Chapter 11

Summary:
Ezinma and Ekwefi are spending a peaceful night telling folktales to each
other. They are interrupted by Agbala, the Oracle, who has come for Ezinma.
She takes Ezinma onto her back and carries her away, strictly forbidding the
girl's parents from following. Ekwefi hesitates only a moment, and then
secretly follows anyway.

The Oracle takes a long walk, going all the way around the nine villages.
Despite the fact that she carries the child on her back, she moves at an
astonishing speed; Ekwefi can barely keep up. The Oracle finally returns to her
sacred cave. She disappears inside. Terrified, Ekwefi waits outside the cave:
she resolves to enter if she hears her daughter crying. To save her child, she
will fight the gods if necessary. Ekwefi is startled by Okonkwo, who has also
followed the Oracle. The two of them wait for the priestess of Agbala to
emerge again. Standing in the dark with him, she remembers when she first
came to him. She was young, and she had been married off to another man.
Two years into the marriage, she went to Okonkwo. Without speaking, he
carried her to his bed and began to undress her.

Analysis:

The priestess of Agbala is a mysterious and frightening figure. Remember that

in normal life she is Chielo, a widow who is slight and getting on in years. Yet
even with a large child on her back, as the Oracle she moves at an astonishing
rate.

Ekwefi's love for Ezinma is touching. She is determined to protect her child.
The relationship between them is special, almost a bond between equals.
Unlike Okonkwo, who constantly wishes that Ezinma had been born a boy,
Ekwefi seems grateful for the female companionship her daughter provides.
Igbo society may be patriarchal, but Achebe is determined to show the
relationships between women as central to Igbo life. The wives of Okonkwo,
for example, do not seem to compete with one another. Rather, they support
and comfort each other; in this chapter, Okonkwo's first wife tries to reassure
Ekwefi when the priestess takes Ezinma away.

And the relationship between Chielo and Ekwefi also seems important here.
The Oracle's interest in Ezinma turns out to be benevolent. Remember that
Chielo is a friend of Ekwefi, and the old widow is also particularly fond of
Ezinma. Given Ezinma's health troubles, we can infer that the priestess is
seeking some kind of spiritual protection for the child. And indeed, in later
chapters we learn that Ezinma ceases to be a sickly child after this strange
night with the Oracle.

Ezinma is loved by her father, also. Okonkwo follows the priestess, too, as
determined as Ekwefi to protect the child if need be. But on his appearance
outside the cave, we are reminded of Okonkwo's character and limitations: he
is carrying a matchet, as if a mortal weapon could protect him against gods
and spirits. Okonkwo approach to problems never varies. He has one set of
reactions: willpower and the strength of his muscles are his only weapons.
Later, this single-minded approach will cost him his life.

Chapter 12

Summary:

The next day is the uri of Obeirika's daughter. It is a woman's celebration,

centering on the bride-to-be and her mother. Okonkwo's first and third wive's
prepare their gifts. Ekwefi, exhausted by the ordeal of waiting for Ezinma and
the Oracle, waits for Ezinma to wake and asks the other wives to explain her
tardiness. No one besides Ekwefi knows that Okonkwo also followed the
Oracle. He waited a suitable "manly" interval first before going straight to the
cave. Finding no one there, he left, but he returned when worry seized him
once again. All in all, he returned to the cave four times before he met Ekwefi
there.

Obierika's compound is full of activity, as many people in the village are

helping to prepare for the great feast. While the women are preparing food,
they notice a cow has gotten loose in a neighbor's crops. The women all hurry
to push the cow back home; its owner immediately pays the heavy fine for
letting a cow loose in a neighbor's fields. The cow's release was an accident.

The feast is lively, full of gift-giving, dance, and song. The new in-laws
exchange gifts and praise with Obierika's family, and before living the village
they pay respects to the housed of high-ranking men. Among these men is
Okonkwo. He gives them a gift of two cocks.

Analysis:

Okonkwo considers any show of feeling to be a weakness. He did not follow

the Oracle immediately, but instead waited for a suitable "manly" interval. But
his feelings for Ezinma are strong: despite his desire to appear manly and
detached, he returns to the cave four times, gravely worried for his favorite
daughter.

The festival illustrates the bonds of Umuofia's community. The gift-giving is

generous, on both sides. Even the interruptive incident of the loose cow is
resolved quickly and peaceful. Achebe emphasizes the strength of the social
fabric of Umuofia. The social organization and customs of the tribe are not the
barbaric practices of a primitive people, but rather a rich system of tradition
and wisdom that preserves peace and harmony between the people of
Umuofia. Potential sources of conflict (loose cows, runaway brides) are
resolved rationally and fairly. The Igbo delight in festivals and generous
gift-giving. Holidays like the uri involve the whole community.

Chapter 13

Summary:

The village crier announces the death of Ezeudu, one of the great elders of the
clan. It was Ezeudu who first told Okonkwo that Ikemefuna most die. It was
also Ezeudu who advised Okonkwo to take no part in it.

The funeral is a great event. The egwugwu cult is out in full force, as men
embodying the gods and spirits of the clan come out to participate in the
funerary rites. During the ceremony, Okonkwo's gun explodes suddenly. A
piece of iron pierces the heart of one of Ezeudu's sons. Even though the death
is accidental, the act is an abomination to the Igbo. Okonkwo is to be exiled
for seven years. That night, Okonkwo packs up his most valuable belongings.
His yams are transported to Obierika's barn. Before dawn, Okonkwo and his
whole family set out for Mbanta, the home of Okonkwo's mother.

As day brokes, men come and destroy Okonkwo's home. They kill his animals
and set fire to the buildings. They bear no malice to Okonkwo, but the laws of
the Igbo must be obeyed. Obierika is sorry for his friend's misfortune. He is a
thoughtful man, and he tries to think out why his friend should suffer. He also
thinks of the twins his wife bore long ago, and how he had to abandon them to
certain death. He arrives at no answers.

Analysis:

Achebe has shown the great social mobility of the Igbo. A man's worth is not
at all determined by the wealth of his father: with hard work and
determination, a man can rise to greatness. Okonkwo is proof of that.
Consequently, one of his central belief's is faith in the fairness of the world. A
man gets what he deserves.

But the beginning of Okonkwo's tragedy is a complete accident. It is a moment

of blind chance that drives Okonkwo from his homeland. The greatest loss is
more than material: Okonkwo's faith in the power of hard work is shaken. His
will and strong arm are unable to prevent this disaster. As a middle-aged man,
Okonkwo is being forced to start over again.

Although the event is an accident, it should also be remembered that Ezeudu

was the man who warned Okonkwo not to take hand in Ikemefuna's death.
The disaster, a seeming accident, seems to confirm the fears of Obierika, who
warned Okonkwo that the earth goddess did not smile on Okonkwo's
participation in Ikemefuna's murder. However, the incident here is as literary as
it is mystical; the calamity taking place at Ezeudu's funeral is a kind of poetic
justice more than it is an example of divine retribution. It is one of many
incidents in the novel where tribal ceremonies and rites resonate with the
novel's central action.

Chapter 14
Summary:

Okonkwo and his family are received by Uchendu, his mother's younger
brother and the oldest living member of their family. The last time Okonkwo
saw Uchendu was at the burial of Okonkwo's mother; Okonkwo was only a
young boy. Uchendu is kind and generous. The kinsman of Okonkwo's mother
donate some land and a modest quantity of seed yams.

But starting over is hard. Okonkwo and his wives are no longer young, and
beginning all over again without the strength of youth is no easy thing.
Okonkwo works hard, but it no longer gives him pleasure. He has always
dreamed of being one of the lords of Umuofia, and now it seems that this
setback may have shattered that dream for good. He works without joy and
spends his days moping. Uchendu notices that Okonkwo has given himself
over to despair.

Uchendu's youngest son is taking a new wife, and the family performs a
ceremony marking her arrival. All of the daughters of the family return for this
day, and remain for a few days afterward.

On the second day, Uchendu calls everyone together. He addresses Okonkwo,

telling him that he must not give in to despair. A common name given to
children is Nneka, "Mother is Supreme." Although their society is patriarchal,
Uchendu points out that when a child is beaten by its father, it returns to its
mother for comfort. In the same way, Okonkwo, exiled by his fatherland, has
taken refuge in his motherland. He cannot allow himself to be bowed down by
despair. Uchendu sternly reprimands him, telling him that many men have
suffered more than he. He must take heart and resolve to keep on living, or his
children and wives will die in exile.

Analysis:

Here as elsewhere, Achebe's digression into the rituals and celebrations of the
Igbo in some way echo what is going on in the central story of the novel. In
addition to fleshing out Achebe's portrait of Igbo life, the parallels here
between ceremony and central action are strong. The ceremony welcoming
the new bride is dominated by the women: it is the husband's sisters who
subject the new bride to scrutiny, with the eldest sister taking on a protective
role for her brother. Not coincidentally, Uchendu's lecture centers on the
important role of a mother and maternal blood lines. Okonkwo, so proud of
manhood and obsessed with masculinity, is being asked to accept a mother's
comfort. He is also asked by Uchendu to be a source of tenderness and
comfort to his wives; Okonkwo has always associated such behavior with
weakness. Uchendu is reminding his nephew that strength is not synonymous
with force and violence. He is also reminding Okonkwo that strength is not a
uniquely male domain.

Chapter 15

Summary:

In the second year of Okonkwo's exile, Obierika comes to visit him. He brings
two bags full of cowries; they are money he has made off of the yams
Okonkwo left with him. Obierika comes with two young men as his attendants,
and he and Okonkwo great each other joyfully. They eat kola with Uchendu,
and Obierika shares a bit of disturbing news.
Abame, a neighboring village cluster like Umuofia, has been destroyed. Not
long ago, a white man arrived in Abame on an "iron horse" (a bicycle). The
people of the town did not know what to make of him. The Oracle warned
them that the man was like a scout locust, a harbringer sent to explore the
terrain. The other white men would follow, and when they came they were
going to bring death and destruction with them. Some men killed the white
man and tied up his iron horse. Not long afterward, three white men arrived
with a large number of African attendants. They saw the bicycle and left.
Several weeks later, three white men and a group of African subordinates
came into the Abame marketplace armed with powerful guns. They shot
everyone in sight. The only survivors were those who were lucky enough not to
be in the market that day, and these refugees have scattered. The village of
Abame is now completely empty.

Uchendu grits his teeth in anger and fear. The men of Abame were fools, he
says, for killing the white man out of fear. They inadvertently brought
destruction on themselves. Okonkwo says that they were fools not to prepare
for an attack.

The talk turns to more pleasant conversation. Okonkwo thanks Obierika for
his justness and generosity. Obierika brushes off his friend's thanks, kindly
refusing to be praised for what is natural between friends.

Analysis:

This ominous chapter foreshadows the future that threatens Umuofia. The
whites send a few men to explore the terrain, and on the slightest provocation
retaliate with terrible force. Although the people of Abame were wrong to
murder the white man (and notice that Uchendu stresses this point), the
retaliation of the white man is excessive. For the ignorant and fearful murder
of one man, the whites respond with a brutal massacre that destroys a whole
village. Although we are not given the exact number of deaths, Abame
probably had a considerable population: remember that Umuofia has some
ten thousand adult males. The effects of European colonialism are finally
beginning to penetrate into Nigeria. Although Obierika mentions old legends of
white men who took slaves from distant parts of Africa, these stories have
always been dismissed as myth.

The other ominous bit of foreshadowing comes with the two very different
reactions of Uchendu and Okonkwo. Uchendu, depicted always as a wise and
thoughtful man, says that the mistake was to kill the stranger. Okonkwo,
characteristically, says that the mistake was failing to prepare for war.
Okonkwo will later try to defy the white man, with tragic results.

Fear is one of the primary sources of tragedy in the novel. We are constantly
shown how Okonkwo's fear of failure and effeminacy drives him to
ill-considered acts. The village of Abame is destroyed because of fear. The
men hear the prediction of the Oracle and panic. They kill the Scout,

Once again, we see the uncanny insights of the Igbo oracles. The oracle of
Abame correctly predicted that the white man was the harbinger of
destruction. She even accurately described the scout-and-conquer methods of
the white man; remember that the Igbo have a very different concept of war.
On the theme of tribal belief, Achebe is not out to prove that Igbo religion is
"true." But he does show that the oracles often have uncanny insights. The use
of the oracles in the novel also contributes to the theme of fate, which is
always an important part of tragedy. One could argue that the Abame oracle's
prophecy was self-fulfilling, which is another common aspect of tragedy: the
more one tries to elude a foretold fate, the faster one reaches it. However, the
Oracle's prophecy would have come true regardless of the townspeople's
actions. European imperialists brought death and destruction on all of their
subjects, innocent and guilty alike. In the same way, the tragedy that befalls
Okonkwo is in part his own making, but also comes from predetermined
forces.

Things Fall Apart Summary

and Analysis of Chapters
16-20
Chapter 16

Summary:

Obierika comes to visit Okonkwo again two years later. Circumstances are
less happy. White missionaries have come to Umuofia; they have built a
church and even won converts. Obierika visits Okonkwo because in Umuofia
he saw Nwoye among the Christians. When he asked Nwoye what he was
doing, Nwoye responded that he had embraced the new faith. And when he
asked Nwoye about Okonkwo, Nwoye responded that Okonkwo was no longer
his father. Greatly disturbed, Obierika visits Okonkwo, but Okonkwo does not
want to talk about Nwoye. Obierika hears the truth from Nwoye's mother.

When the missionaries first arrived in Mbanta, all of the villagers came to see
them. Their leader was a white man who spoke through interpreters. He
informed the people that their gods were false and only the Christian god was
real. Okonkwo, after hearing the convoluted theology of the Trinity, decided
that the man was clearly mad. He left and went back to work. The Christians
then broke into song. Hearing the words of the song, Nwoye felt something
stirring in him. In the poetry of the new religion, he found some kind of answer,
some kind of comfort to soothe away the scars of Ikemefuna's death and the
sound of twin children in the forest. He left the market greatly puzzled.

Analysis:

Disintegration of Igbo society is central to Things Fall Apart; the idea of

collapse, on both an individual and social level, is one of the novel's central
images. This image also gives the book its title. The Christians arrive and
bring division to the Igbo. One of their first victims is Okonkwo's family. The
new faith divides father from son, and the Christians seek to attack the very
heart of Igbo belief; such an attack also attacks the core of Igbo culture, as
the tribe's religious beliefs are absolutely integral to all other aspects of life.
Not coincidentally, the first converts are people who stand to profit from a
change in the social order. They are people who have no title in the tribe, and
thus have nothing to lose.

Chapter 17

Summary:
The missionaries soon asked the village leaders to give them a space for
them to build a church. The village leaders decided to give them a plot in the
town's Evil Forest. Every Igbo village has an evil forest, where the undesirable
dead and the powerful fetishes of medicine men are buried. The Evil Forest is
believed to be full of malevolent and unpredictable magical energies. Everyone
expects the Christians to die in a matter of days. When they remain alive, the
people of Mbanto have to concede that the white priests command powerful
magic. The Church begins to win a tiny number of converts.

Mr. Kiaga, an African convert, takes charge of the new church in Mbanto; the
white priest goes to Umuofia. Initially, Nwoye does not dare to go into the
church, but he listens to the men preaching the gospel in the market. He
begins to learn the simple stories from the Bible. The one month mark passes,
by the end of which the gods should most certainly take their revenge. The
Christians remain alive. They also win their first female convert, a woman
named Nneka. She is pregnant; the previous four times she has given birth,
she has had twins. Following Igbo custom, the twins were abandoned to a
death by exposure. She flees her family and takes refuge with the new church.

Okonkwo's cousin, Amikwu, is in the market when he sees Nwoye among the
Christians. He goes and tells Okonkwo immediately. When Nwoye comes
home, Okonkwo attacks him viciously. The women scream outside, afraid to
enter. Finally, Uchendu sternly commands Okonkwo to stop. He does, and
Nwoye leaves without a word. Nwoye tells Mr. Kiaga that he wants go to
Umuofia, to attend the missionary school where he will learn to read and write.

Okonkwo is furious and bitter that his son has joined the Christians. He
wonders what he did to deserve such a son.
Analysis:

In Christianity, Nwoye finds comfort for things that have long disturbed him.
But the religion also provides him with a way to rebel against his father. And
the social effects of Christianity will be as bad as the Igbo fear. The new
religion undermines the hierarchies of the culture; Achebe also points out that
the religion provides hope to those who have suffered under Igbo law.
Although the men without title embracing the religion says little in favor of it
(especially since Igbo society has a high degree of social mobility), Nneka's
defection to the new faith is telling. She has born four pairs of twins, and has
been forced to throw all of them away. Pregnant again, she is desperate to
save her children. Not coincidentally, she bears the name that Uchendu
mentioned earlier: "Mother Is Supreme."

But just as Igbo faith is integral to Igbo society, the new religion also comes
with social and political attachments. Once land has been granted for the
building of the church, the whites become difficult to dislodge. They bring their
laws and their guns soon afterward, and Igbo men and women are forced to
live under the colonial yoke.

Okonkwo is not a man who learns. He cannot understand that his own
harshness has driven Nwoye away. The boy is terrified of him, and he has
suffered greatly because of his sensitivity. We see an array of different male
role models. Uchendu provides a sage counterpoint to Okonkwo's violent
masculinity. Mr. Kiaga and the men of the church provide another alternative;
to escape his father, Nwoye goes with them.

Chapter 18
Summary:

The church grows despite some difficulties. The Christians rescue twins from
the forest, and Mr. Kiaga leads the fledgling community with strength and
unshakeable conviction. Trouble rises between the church in Mbanta and the
clan when three converts go into the village and say that all of the Igbo gods
are false. They announce their intention to burn all the shrines. Furious, the
clanspeople beat the three men severely.

Disturbing stories are also making their way to Mbanto. Rumor says that
where the white man's religion goes, the white man's government follows.
Churches arrive first, and soon after the targeted village is forced to bow
under white authority.

Controversy rises in the young church over the question of admitting the osu,
a caste of outcasts who are set aside in dedication to the gods. They are not
allowed to use razors, and their dead are buried in the evil forest. Mr. Kiaga
demands that the outcasts be accepted. The osu shave their heads, at Mr.
Kiaga's encouragement, and they soon become the most faithful followers of
the new faith. More trouble arises when one of these osu converts kills a
python, which is a sacred animal and the emanation of the god of water.

The people of Mbanto meet to decide what to do about this new religion.
Okonkwo councils war against the Christians, but cooler heads prevail.
Fearing that the gods will be angry with Mbanto if the clan does nothing, the
clan decides to ostracize the converts. They are no longer allowed to enjoy the
privileges of clan membership. Initially, that includes not drawing water from
the spring; the first day, the Christians are threatened by violence. But then
Okoli, the man who killed the python, falls ill mysteriously and dies. His death
proves the gods are watching; after that, the clan relaxes its stance towards
the Christians.

Analysis:

Achebe's portrait of the Christians is as fair and balanced as his portrait of the
Igbo; remember that his own parents were Christian missionaries. Although
Christian intolerance leads to problems in the beginnings of the new
community, Mr. Kiaga's wise and steady leadership is quite admirable.

We also see that the Christians fill a void in clan life; they do great good by
rescuing the twins and providing comfort to outcasts. But it is also true that
the Christians are the first wave of imperialism. The arrival of the missionaries
is the precursor to subjugation.

Okonkwo, characteristically, calls for war. Remember that he despises the

Christians because of the conversion of his son. He is disgusted when
Mbanto chooses the softer penalty of ostracizing them. He believes that
Umuofia would have chosen a different course. His hotheadedness and
determination to fight the new faith with his fists is typical of him; we are
reminded that when faced with a problem, Okonkwo only knows one way to
fight back.

Chapter 19

Summary:
The seven years of exile are coming to an end. Okonkwo sends money to
Obierika to build two huts where Okonkwo and his family will live until
Okonkwo can build the rest of the compound. Okonkwo has prospered in
Mbanto, but he knows he would have prospered more in Umuofia. These
seven years have been an embittering experience.

Before Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he hosts a magnificent feast for his

mother's clan. The quality and quantity of the food rivals that of a wedding
feast; Okonkwo outdoes himself to show his gratitude to his mother's clan.
One of the elders gives a speech thanking and praising Okonkwo. But the
speech ends on an ominous note: the elder fears for the future of their people.
The new religion has come, and some people of the clan have betrayed their
tribe's beliefs. He worries that the Igbo way of life is threatened.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's feast is in keeping with his greatness. He needs to be as generous

to his mother's clan as they have been to him. He also is celebrating finally
being allowed to return to his homeland. The chapter ends on an ominous
note, foreshadowing the threats to the Igbo. The elder's speech, placed at the
end of the chapter, which is also the end of Part Two, hints that Okonkwo's
return to Umuofia may be far more difficult than he had hoped.

Chapter 20

Summary:

Okonkwo hopes to return to Umuofia with great fanfare. He has two beautiful
daughters, and he has asked them, through Ezinma, to wait until the return to
Umuofia to take a husband. Ezinma has become one of the great beauties of
their people. She has also become a healthy, lively young woman, and none of
the children understands Okonkwo's moods better than she.

The church has won a powerful foothold in Umuofia. Even several men of title
have joined the new religion. The white man has also built a court house,
where a district commissioner imposes white law. The DC is served by a gang
of kotma, African court messengers who come from far away. They are
greatly hated because they are arrogant and brutal. There is a prison as well,
and even men of title are being put there. The white man says that Igbo laws
are foolish, and they impose their own law on the Igbo.

Okonkwo is horrified. He and Obierika discuss what has happened. He

wonders why the men of Umuofia do not rally and fight; they are a proud and
strong people. But Obierika fears that if they do, the same fate will befall them
as befell Abame. Resistance is now difficult, because fighting the white man
would also mean going against the converts. Obierika puts it succinctly: "The
white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We
were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our
brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the
things that held us together and we have fallen apart" (126-7). They discuss
the hanging of Aneto. In a land dispute, Aneto struch his neighbor Oduche; he
did not mean to kill him, but he did. In accordance with Igbo custom, Aneto
prepared to flee. But he was seized, with all his family, and thrown into prison.
He was taken to Umuru, where the whites have a major center of government,
and hanged.

Analysis:
Note that since her night with the Oracle, Ezinma has grown into a healthy,
beautiful child. Her sickliness has ended.

Okonkwo had hoped to return to his fatherland with joy and celebration, but he
finds Umuofia sadly changed. The Igbo are no longer free to dispense justice.
For the crime of manslaughter, Igbo custom demands the relatively humane
punishment of exile. The white man, in contrast, demands execution. White
laws are not superior or more humane than the laws of Umuofia, yet the
whites insist that Igbo laws are inferior. In building their courthouse, they rob
Umuofia of its self-determination.

The religion and the new government are wreaking havoc on the harmony of
Igbo life. Social instability and the threat of violence have arrived in full force,
and armed resistance is impossible. The old religion is threatened; with
humiliation, the Igbo are forced to bow down to white authority.

Things Fall Apart

Summary and Analysis of
Chapters 21-25
Chapter 21

Summary:

The white man brings his destructive religion and the yoke of his laws, but he
also brings a trade center. The people of Umuofia begin to profit from selling
local products, and so not all of the people of Umuofia oppose the whites as
much as Okonkwo.

In Umuofia, the Christians are led by a kindly white man named Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown restrains the zeal of some of the fanatical converts. A convert
named Enoch is particularly violent, always stirring up trouble; Brown strives
to moderate Enoch's excesses. Mr. Brown is a wise and patient man; he
befriends many of the local great men, and earns their affection. He spends a
good deal of time with Akunna; they speak through an interpreter on the
subject of religion. Neither man converts the other, but Mr. Brown learns much
about the local religion and concludes that missionary work should be subtle
and indirect: direct confrontation will not work. He also tries hard to get people
to send their children to the Christian school. At first, people only send their
lazy children. But more and more people begin to go as they realize that the
ability to read and write opens up great social mobility. The DC is surrounded
by Africans from Umaru; these literate subordinates earn high wages and how
power in Umuofia. Mr. Brown's school begins to produce results.

Soon after Okonkwo's return, Mr. Brown pays him a visit. He has sent Nwoye,
now called Isaac, to the teacher's college at Umaru; Mr. Brown hopes
Okonkwo will be pleased by the news. Okonkwo chases Mr. Brown away from
his house, threatening the man with violence. The first rainy season after
Okonkwo returns home, Mr. Brown leaves Umuofia due to failing health from
overwork.

Okonkwo's return has not been as grand an event as he had hoped. The
people are troubled by the new religion and new government; they are
occupied completely with these changes. Okonkwo suffers, not only for
personal reasons, but because he fears the clan is dying.
Analysis:

Mr. Brown's approach to conversion helps the early church in Umuofia get
along relatively peacefully with the clan. Still, he is part of the forces that are
destroying clan life. British imperialism also brings benefits, which help to
mask the long-term damage being done to the Igbo people. Money from the
trade center, the promise of position and wages from the DC, the possibility of
an education from Mr. Brown's church: these are all substantial benefits. But
the clan also is losing its independence. Even the education at the church
comes with the risk of indoctrination. Okonkwo's grief is based on the loss of
his people's strength. He sees that they are being irrevocably changed, in
many ways for the worse, by the arrival of the white man.

Chapter 22

Summary:

Mr. Brown's replacement is the Reverend James Smith, and he is not the
tolerant and wise man that Mr. Brown was. Mr. Smith is fanatic and
uncompromising, seeing the world entirely in terms of black and white. Under
him, fanatics like Enoch flourish.

The festival of the earth goddess comes, when the egwugwu roam around the
villages. It falls on a Sunday, and so the main passages are blocked by the
ceremonies, especially for women, who have to maintain their distance from
the masked spirits. On this occasion, the Christian women who have gone to
Church cannot return home. Some of the Christian men beg the egwugwu to
retire briefly, so that the women will be allowed to go home. The egwugwu
agree. As they are retiring, Enoch boasts arrogantly that they would not dare
to touch a Christian. One of the egwugwu strikes Enoch with a cane; Enoch
unmasks him. To unmask an egwugwu is considered a terrible sin. The Igbo
believe it kills the egwugwu.

That night, the Mother of Spirits roams the villages, weeping for the death of
her son. The spectacle is terrifying. Mr. Smith hears it, and for the first time
feels fear. The egwugwu approach the church. They will not harm the people,
but they could no longer allow the church to work its evil among the Igbo.
They destroy the building.

Analysis:

Under Mr. Smith, reason and compromise become impossible. Enoch's act is
offensive in all senses. He is trying to start a holy war; when Mr. Smith hides
him in the parsonage, Enoch is disappointed. He wants blood. His
inflammatory comment comes right after the egwugwu have made a generous
concession. Though the clan tries to compromise with the new religion and
new government, it proves impossible. The white man has no respect for Igbo
ways, and the new religion is intolerant and hypocritical, preaching peace out
of one side of its mouth while serving an imperialistic government. It appeals
to troublemakers like Enoch, who uses the new religion to goad people
towards war.

And the people of Umuofia are afraid. When the Mother of Spirits roams the
villages, weeping for her son's death, it seems that she is weeping for the
death of the clan. The people of Umuofia are being destroyed. Yet again, the
response of the clan is something of a compromise. In spite of the grave
offense that has been committed, they kill no one. They simply decide to
remove the source of the problem. They will destroy the building.

Chapter 23
Summary:

Okonkwo is pleased by the destruction of the church. At the clan meeting, he

had urged the destruction of the church, the killing of the white man, and the
exile of all the Christians. Though the clan decided only to destroy the church,
Okonkwo is pleased that something was done.

Mindful of what happened in Abame, the men walk around armed. However,
soon afterward the District Commissioner returns from his tour. He invites the
leaders of Umuofia to come meet with him. Six men are invited, among them
Okonkwo. The meeting is a trap; the six men are taking prisoner, and the DC
demands the stiff fine of two hundred bags of cowries.

Ezinma, recently married, cuts short her stay with her husband to return
home. She goes to see Obierika to demand what the men plan to do. Obierika
is off at a secret meeting, and Ezinma is satisfied that someone is doing
something.

In prison, Okonkwo and his colleagues are humiliated and beaten by the
kotma, the African messengers of the court. Days pass. A clan meeting is
called, and the clan decides to pay the fine of 250 bags of cowries. The fine
was increased by the kotma, who will pocket the surplus.

Analysis:

The theme of justice is one of the preoccupations of the novel. Throughout the
book, we have seen Igbo justice in action. Igbo laws and traditions preserve
order. Justice is impossible under the new system. The DC is completely
ignorant of local ways, and he has no intention of learning about them; the
different ideas of justice ensure conflict.
The corruption of the system is also clear. The DC does not even speak the
local language, giving the kotma ample room for trickery.

Okonkwo is humiliated and "choked with hate" for the white man. The DC
arrogantly speaks of the need for "good government" and "justice" under the
reign of the queen. He is speaking to the Igbo like subjects of the Empire; little
by little, that is what they have become.

Chapter 24

Summary:

The men are released, and they go home in silence. Okonkwo seethes with
hatred. His back bears the ugly stripes of the whip. A clan meeting is planned
for the morning. Okonkwo hopes that war is coming. He takes out his
ceremonial war garb, and remembers the most glorious war of his youth:
Umuofia killed 12 men, while the other clan only killed two.

At the meeting, Okonkwo is ready to speak. He is worried that Egonwanne, a

pacifist and powerful orator, will sway the people to peace. He resolves to
fight, even if he must fight alone. The first man to speak is Okika, one of the
six who was imprisoned. He begins a powerful speech on the necessity of
action. They must fight, even against the Christian converts. They must resist
before it is too late.

Five court messengers come up the path. Okonkwo rushes to block their way.
He stands before them, brimming with hatred. The court messenger tells them
that the white man has commanded this meeting to stop.
Okonkwo strikes the men down with his matchet. The other four men flee.
Okonkwo knows from the reaction of the clan that they will not choose war.
They muttered in confusion instead of seizing the other four messengers. In
disgust, Okonkwo walks away.

Analysis:

Okonkwo aches for revenge. He has lost his son, the glory of a proper
homecoming, and his dignity at the hands of the white man. His people have
lost their independence. They are no longer free to administer justice. The
white man refuses to treat their leaders with dignity, and lectures them on
good government while his own revels in hypocrisy and violence.

At the same time, Okonkwo has no inkling of real warfare as conceived of by

the white man. His glorious memories of Umuofia's great war are revealing: 14
men were killed. Igbo wars are fought on a relatively tiny scale. They are not
wars of conquest. Okonkwo has no way of knowing that for whites, thousands
can die even in a tiny war. His rage, though justified, does not provide him
with any real way of resisting the white man.

The final indignity comes at the clan meeting. The white man is no longer
satisfied in taking away justice: now, he wishes to destroy Umuofia's primitive
democracy. The British want to deny the people their right to assembly and
group decision-making. This change would mean death for the last shreds of
Umuofia's self-determination. Okonkwo reacts the only way he knows how. He
strikes the man down. But from his people's reaction, he knows that they are
not behind him.

Chapter 25
Summary:

The District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo's compound. He leads a small

band of soldiers and court messengers. They find Obierika and several other
men gathered inside. The DC fiercely asks Okonkwo to step forward. Obierika
responds that he is not there. The DC demands that they produce Okonkwo,
or they will be thrown into jail. Obierika and the other men mutter amongst
themselves, and Obierika says he will take the DC to where Okonkwo is.
Perhaps the DC's men can help them. He leads them to a tree behind
Okonkwo's compound. Okonkwo has hanged himself.

No one in the clan can touch the body. Suicide is a crime against the earth
goddess, and so the body must be handled by outsiders. Obierika says bitterly
to the DC that Okonkwo was one of the greatest men of Umuofia. Because of
the white man, he has been driven to suicide and will be buried like an animal.

The DC is quite curious about Igbo customs. Okonkwo's death may make a
lively paragraph in the book he plans to write about the British victory over the
savages of Africa. He has already chosen a title: The Pacification of the
Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

Analysis:

Okonkwo's suicide, in retrospect, seems nearly inevitable. Determined to fight

the white man, alone if necessary, the betrayal by his people is more than he
can bear. He realizes that he will resist alone, even after the outrage of the
white man ordering a stop to the clan meeting. Okonkwo understands that his
people have been broken. Instead of a war, he will have only the white man's
noose; he will not even be tried under his own people's laws. He chooses
suicide instead.
Long years of difficulty and disappointment have contributed to this moment.
The accidental death and then exile darkened Okonkwo's view of life. The
betrayal of his son was a very heavy blow. Now, the betrayal of his people,
and their inevitable subjugation, pushes Okonkwo into despair. Okonkwo's
central beliefs have been undermined. He believed that a man was the master
of his own fate; his exile and the loss of his son challenged that belief. He also
had great faith in his clan, but now his clan will be a subservient people. He
cannot bear this disgrace. Parallel to Okonkwo's tragedy is the tragedy of his
people's subjugation. As a final bit of bitter irony, Okonkwo's suicide violates
the very traditions that are being menaced by the white man.

The DC's intrusion at the end of the novel is a commentary on a certain kind
of narrative. In European conceptions of Africa, the DC's attitude is typical.
Okonkwo's death, a great tragedy, is worth only one paragraph of entertaining
reading. The DC also reflects on the need to cut out any unnecessary detail.
The book the DC imagines is in many ways the opposite of Things Fall Apart,
with its focus on a great African man, its many beautiful digressions, and its
loving and sympathetic portrait of Igbo culture. The novel is in some ways a
response to earlier depictions of "savage" Africa. Now that we have reached
the end, the digressions pay off. In the course of following Okonkwo's tragedy,
we have learned a great deal about Igbo life. Now we know that the culture
depicted in the novel is a culture that in many ways no longer exists.
Imperialism changed many aspects of life in Africa, and usually not for the
better. The destruction of tribal social institutions and traditions led to great
social and cultural voids, the negative results of which are still being felt in
Africa today.