Things Fall Apart

Q: “A text is only valuable if the lessons arising from it are worthwhile” – discuss this statement with close reference to Things Fall Apart

An intrinsic aspect of reading any text is the process of evaluating its worth, both as it is read, and once it is finished; the response to a text is usually based, to a large extent, on whether it is seen as providing a valuable lesson. Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel about traditional life and colonisation in Nigeria, Things Fall Apart, has been widely regarded as a modern classic, and its success can be attributed to the fact that despite its specific context, the lessons it provides about tradition, change and identity are meaningful for any audience, within any context. By considering the way that Achebe develops poignant lessons about the impact of external forces on individual identities, we can see why this text is considered so valuable across national, cultural and historical boundaries.

Through the novel’s protagonist, the well-respected and successful warrior Okonkwo, Achebe depicts a strong identity, resistant to change. The reader encounters Okonkowo as someone whose “fame rested on solid personal achievement"; his sense of identity is based around his own accomplishments and the recognition of those by his society. Indeed, Okonkowo is motivated to act in an especially masculine way because his father had been ridiculed for his feminine behavior – his strength of character is tied to his fears of social persecution. However Achebe emphasizes that, in Igbo society, "a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father", and as such, the novel suggests that a strong identity is something that will be respected regardless of other social factors. This is further underlined by the appearance of missionaries, and the coming of Europeans to the novel’s central community. Here, although Okonkow is finally killed, he is elevated to a heroic register, because of his resistance to external pressures to change, and his continued integrity. In portraying a character like Okonkwo, who prioritises adhering to his own personal values, in an heroic light, Achebe suggests the value of a strong and stable identity – something that all readers can relate to.

Achebe’s depiction of Okonkwo is not entirely favourable, however, and Ahebe stresses his weaknesses as well as his strengths. Chief amongst his weaknesses is that he overly favours the masculine side of his character, demonstrated most clearly when he kills his adopted son, because "he was afraid of being thought weak". This is a particularly visceral example of his flaws, and this action leads directly to a loss of social status and exile for Okonkwo. The negative repercussions of an imbalanced character are extended at the end of the novel, when Okonkwo is killed for resisting the colonizing Europeans – his death could have been avoided, if he had been more flexible. From this perspective, Achebe seems to be suggesting that an imbalanced character can have negative consequences for both an individual and their society – a message he reinforces in more subtle, and universal ways, such as when Okonkwo thinks that "to show affection was a sign of weakness". Readers can recognize that a lack of affection leads to isolation and alienation, and in this way Achebe suggests more subtle, but no less relevant consequences for an imbalanced character.

The idea that one’s identity needs to be in balance is further emphasized by the larger downfall of the community of Umuofia – Achebe suggests that the collapse of the civilization in the face of colonization is due to a society that is no longer in balance. Near the end of the novel, one character remarks that “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion.... 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 now we have fallen apart.” Here, the dissolution of traditional society in the face of change is linked explicitly to a collapse in the cohesion between individuals, through traditional values, where the “things that held us together” represent shared cultural heritage and beliefs. In this respect, Okonkwo can be considered a metonym for Umuofian society: his personal downfall is due to his lack of balance, and lack of ties to traditional culture. One way Achebe demonstrates this is through the concept of proverbs, which are carriers of traditional culture in this illiterate society; the narrator explains that "Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten". Okonkwo, however, disregards traditional proverbs, and is in fact a very poor speaker, who has "a slight stammer". Through the parallel downfalls of Okonkwo as an individual and Umuofia as a community, Achebe illustrates the importance of shared traditions in both individual success, and the success of larger groups. In this way, he also suggests that the strength of our identity can be judged by our relationship to tradition.

Despite the very specific historical focus of his novel, therefore, Achebe’s writing presents lessons regarding identity that have universal value. Through the twin trajectories of Okonkow and his community, Achebe suggests a nuanced model of identity: a strong and successful identity is one that values integrity, but which is also balanced and in tune with tradition. While he uses the context of colonization in Nigeria to explore this, and illustrates it with culturally specific examples, the text has been enduringly popular and well-respected because this model of identity is relevant to any reader, as much today as it was more than 50 years ago when it was first published.