Okonkwo Killing the Messanger

Things Fall Apart is a historic novel, written by Chinua Achebe, set in Western Africa in the late nineteenth century. The plots concerns Okonkwo, a man of high social status in the Ibo tribe. In the novel, European missionaries come to the African villages bringing Christianity, but also threatening the culture and traditional way of the Ibo peoples. When Okonkwo murders one of the Christian messengers, he alienates himself from his own people, who are all trying to decide what place the Europeans have in their society.
In the circumstances leading up to the attached passage, Okonkwo and five other prominent village men had been arrested and maltreated by the missionaries. As a result, the village was having a meeting to decide what actions to take against the Europeans. It is at this meeting that Okonkwo’s rage gets the best of him and he murders one of the messengers of the missionaries, for no apparent reason other than the fact that he resents his existence. Nonr of his fellow villagers support his action.
Okonkwo killing the messenger is a significant turning point in the novel, and demonstrates a serious disconnect between Okonkwo and his tribe. The tribe was not willing to go to war with the Christians, whereas Okonkwo would do anything to preserve the ancient culture of his people. In this event, Okonkwo takes out all his frustrations and the anger he has towards the missionaries. Okonkwo defines himself by the traditional social hierarchy of his tribe. Without it, he cannot seem to function in society. He ends up taking his own life because of this transgression. Suicide is an abomination to the Ibo people, so he does not get the burial of the great, brave, warrior that he was. Ironically, this passage shows Okonkwo crossing over from a respected title holder, to a man not fit for society.
Okonkwo causes his own people to lose respect for him when he murders the Christian messenger. The tribe does not share Okonkwo’s feelings that all missionaries and Christians must not be tolerated. He could control his emotions to the point that he went against the will of his own tribe, whom he values so greatly. Okonkwo’s downfall was due to the fact that he holds tradition in such high regards that he cannot accept change.