March 8

Things Fall Apart

By Chinua Achebe

This story about social//political change in the British colony of Nigeria takes place in the late 1800s.  Okonkwo is a powerful man in the village of Umuofia, where he live with this 3 wives and their children.  Okonkwo's father had been a drinker who never made much of his life, and the son seeks to overcome what he sees as the stigma of being the son of a ne'er do well.

As a village leader it is Okonkwo who accepts Ikemefuna, a peace child sacrificed by a neighboring tribe to atone for the death of a Umuofian woman.  Instead of killing the boy immediately, however, Okonkwo takes the boy into his home, where he becomes a respectful and beloved family member.  Okonkwo's son Nwoye grows especially fond of this new brother.   When the village elders decide that it is time to sacrifice Ikemefuna, however, Okonkwo does not resist, in fact taking part in the boy's killing.

The reader observes many rituals of village life, including the funeral of a village elder named Ezeudu.  During the ritual dancing, Okonkwo's accidentally fires and Ezeudu's young son is killed.  This murder is considered "female" accidental, and Okonkwo is banished from his village for 7 years.  He goes to live in his mother's village of Mbanta, being welcomed and absorbed into that village.  After the requisite years, he returns to Umuofia - but he learns that things have changed.  White men have come to his village, and brought their religion.  Okonkwo is unable to accept this turn of events, and tragedy ensues.

Achebe went on to write 2 more novels, now called The African Trilogy.