Luis Acevedo
Mrs. Bosch
Mrs. Bosch
Honors English 10
05 August 2008
Chinua Achebe’s Pride
In all novels there seem to be characters and occurrences that happen because of the author’s tone towards his subjects. While the creation of a novel is occurring, the author speedily tries to put his thoughts on paper before they dissipate and they are no longer his thoughts. The formation of a novel is purely based on the author’s true beliefs, thus the novel reflects on its author’s feelings, and Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is no exception. Things Fall Apart displays Achebe’s pride in family, heritage, memory, language, and lives through the manipulation of the characters, plot, dialect, and settings in the novel.
The author’s pride of family is expressed in various ways throughout the novel. First and foremost, all of the characters in the novel had a family, and a relatively large one at that. Okonkwo had several wives and children as well as his friend Obierika, though only two characters, the most dynamic of which described in the novel, so the example will suffice. The families in Things Fall Apart are all structured and all have jobs in their environment that best suits them, and throughout these daily jobs, they bond with each other and in the end of the day, success is only available because of the entire family’s efforts. The novel depicts families to be of great importance very much so. When it was decided that Ikemefuna was to be killed--since he had been almost a part of Okonkwo’s family— Okonkwo was told not to take part in his demise; “‘That boy calls you father,’ he had said. “Bear no hand in his death.” (Achebe 121) When Okonkwo was exiled from his community and was sent to his motherland, he “was well received by his mother’s kinsmen in Mbanta.” (Achebe 129) because he was family. In the most desperate times, Achebe made his family be the only one there for Okonkwo; when Okonkwo was separated from the village, his family followed him to his motherland for they were a family and could not be kept apart. Through the most diverse situations, the collaboration of the families in Things Fall Apart is what makes them prevail. When Ezinma was taken to meet Agbala, because of the bonds between Okonkwo, Ekwefi, and Ezinma, they followed her despite going against what their beliefs were, thus family is held above all else. Even in the addition of a new member of the family through marriage, it is taken very seriously and, after the matter of the bride-price is discussed, the bride is asked rigorous questions with awful consequences if she had not spoken the truth, “‘Remember that if you do not answer truthfully you will suffer or even die at childbirth…”’ (Achebe 132) The novel also depicted Okonkwo’s family telling stories together and bonding meaning that he really cared for family. Clearly through the characters, Things Fall Apart illustrates Achebe’s pride in family.
Another thing that the novel, Things Fall Apart illustrates about the author is his care for heritage. An example of Achebe’s admiration for heritage is shown through Okonkwo. Okonkwo was said to have hated his father because he was a lazy man, but he might have really been angry with him because he never left him anything to inherit because of his idleness, “Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father.”(Achebe 16) thus meaning that heritage was very important among the people for it decided whether they would have an easy beginning or a hard one. Throughout the entire novel, the people’s lives were controlled by their ancient beliefs and even killed their own kind for them. Their beliefs are held very highly and it dictated the way they live their lives such as the week of peace and ceremonies they make. Their entire court system and laws only existed and functioned because of the people’s belief in the egwugwu. The egwugwu would be the judges and their decision on the turnout of a scenario was unquestioned. The entire existence of the setting in the novel was due to heritage “The nine villages of Umuofia had grown out of the nine sons of the first father of the clan.” (Achebe 89) Finally, the whole fact that every explanation of things was due to stories that were passed down verbally through generations, shows that the people held heritage to be very important. Undoubtfully, because of the way the people lived their lives, Things Fall Apart depicted Achebe’s pride in heritage.
The novel also depicts Achebe’s pride in memory. Constantly there are sacrifices and such given to the ancestors, and those memories of them are what keep them alive. The masses in the novel would try not to do harm because of fear that their ancestors will be upset; this preservation of the ancestors is seen throughout the novel, such as when Uchendu was giving Okonkwo a pep talk when he was exiled to his motherland, he said “‘Is it right that you, Okonkwo, should bring to your mother a heavy face and refuse to be comforted? Be careful or you may displease the dead.” (Achebe 134) The people do not easily forget about their ancestors and seem to be ever vigilant of what they do for fear of punishment from them “‘...who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?’” (Achebe 146) Even if Okonkwo hated his father, he would still honor his death by remembering things about him and giving him sacrifices hoping for a good harvest. Showing great prowess in a particular manner is also not forgotten very easily. Although it had happened long ago, the villagers would still talk about Okonkwo’s victories in war and in wrestling, “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nice villages and even beyond…as a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat.” (Achebe 3) Even after all the years had passed, Okonkwo’s achievements were still preserved by the people’s minds. All in all, through the characters, the authors pride in memory is displayed.
Through the reading of the novel the reader may find some strange vocabulary and dialect that the characters use. Through this strange vocabulary, the author’s pride in language is portrayed. The language of the people is of great importance to them, for it is one of the ever-present customs that they preserve. There are endless encounters in the novel where one is presented with words of the Ibo language such as “ogbanje”, “Oye”, “ozo”, “umuada”, “umunna”, and “Uri.” The language in the novel is greatly needed to set up the tribal ways of the people of Umuofia and it vividly displays their dialect in sayings they have that have great meaning, “‘For whom is it well, for whom is it well? There is no one for whom it is well.’” (Achebe 135) Communication is expressed throughout the novel in important events and such, thus making language very important, for a miscommunication would cause great troubles, such as in an egwugwu trial. The language in the novel also consists of the drum, which tells the villagers of current events, and is very useful for things of great importance are announced and that is the only way the villagers will hear of the news in such a quick manner. The novel portrays some of the Ibo language countless times, showing that language is very important, otherwise English would have been used, but in keeping the original Ibo words, it reflects the pride of the author towards language.
Lives are of severe importance in the novel, thus being of great importance to the author. The characters in the novel all lead lives full of hard work, are very devoted to their ways, and never are they just being idle like we see so much of in our modern day time, unless it be at an important ceremony or a meeting in which is hardly of little importance enough to be considered being idle. All of the characters work for a living and really seem to make use of their lives and are never without something that they must do; they are ants that must work to bring nourishment to the queen, the queen being his family and himself. Everyone in the novel really makes use of their lives by working and accomplishing great things, however, those who don’t earn a title or have ambition are really looked down by all as lazy and disgraceful because it is a waste to be idle. Lives are very important in the novel and after the loss of one life there is much mourning even in the strongest households, “Okonkwo did not taste any food for two days after the death of Ikemefuna.” (Achebe 63) Although Okonkwo had always been depicted as an uncaring, cruel, and strong man, the death of Ikemefuna had impacted his life more than he would have liked. Lives are not easily wasted in the novel, for they are too important to waste. The greatest offence one can do, and it brings much shame to those related to the person, is for the person to kill themselves, “‘It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen.” (Achebe 207); this is only so because it is such a waste for a man to kill himself because he could have contributed so much, such as when Okonkwo killed himself in the end, but only because he had to do something very drastic to make the villagers of Umuofia realize that something had to be done. Finally, through the characters’ actions—which the author made—the significance of lives in the novel is shown, thus making the author’s pride in lives be shown.
The settings, actions and characteristics of characters, and the dialect show many things about the novel. It may show that they hold certain things to be of importance, or they may hold some things to be unimportant, and the ways of the people are shown. Because the author is the one who manipulates these matters, they put their thoughts and feelings on paper. Thus the novel reflects on the feelings of its author. In this case, Chinua Achebe’s pride towards family, heritage, memory, language, and lives is shown through his novel, Things Fall Apart.
Work Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 50th Anniversary Edition. New York: Random
House Inc, 1994
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