Role of Science, Religion & Philosophy

Science isn't discussed in the book because it is set many years ago in a developing village in Africa.  Religion is discussed throughout the book.  In Mbanta they believe in many gods that do all different things.  Okonkwo believes strongly in this and when the Christian missionaries come he is furious.  The missionaries are able to build a church in the "Evil Forest" without anything bad happening to them.  They are also trying to convert people by saying they will be "saved" if they come.  Okonkwo's son Nwoye joined.  Not until the end of the book do the Mbanta people and the missionaries work together.  They finally realize how they can work together with all their differences.  For example when the Christians took Okonkwo's body down from the tree because it is bad for the Mbanta people to touch his body after committing that crime.  Therefore a theme is believe what you believe and let others believe what they believe.  If Okonkwo hadn't been so against the missionaries he wouldn't have taken his own life.  HE might have been able to get help from them.  Philosophy isn't discussed but is present in the story.  Okonkwo is an existentialist.  An existentialist is a person that is free because they choose their own way of doing things.  This was Okonkwo's fatal flaw.  This didn't work out for him very well.  Okonkwo was told not to come with to the killing of Ikemfuma but he went anyways and ended up killing him himself.  He also kinda drove Nwoye away because he never liked him.  Nwoye joined the missionaries because he felt like part of a family there.  Although it wasn't totally Okonkwo's fault for being exiled he still didn't make the exile enjoyable.  He just waited and thought about what he would do when he got back to Mbanta.  In the end his fatal flaw drove him to suicide.  His suicide didn't help gain him any awards.  It made him look worse because he just gave up.  One theme from Okonkwo being an existentialist is what you think is best isn't always right.

Art In The Book

Igbo is the type of people that lived in the village.  They carved masks to represent their ancestral spirits of the village and all of their gods.  Above are some examples of the masks.  They are both from The Minneapolis Institute of Art.  The brown mask represents Okonkwo.  He was ruler of his family.  It was the biggest mask they had.  Since Okonkwo is in charge of his family and he beats his wives he gives off the impression of being big and scary just like the mask.  The colorful mask represents Eznima.  Eznima like to have fun, which is represented by the colors.  The patterns and line show that she follows the rules.  Art is also shown in the book at the celebration.  At The New Yam Festival the women drew patterns on their bodies with white, yellow and dark green cam wood (37).  The kids shaved their hair of to create patterns (38).

Music Connections

Music was very prevalent in the book.  China Achebe gave the book a rhythm.  A lot of the words could have been turned into lyrics.  In the second part of the book someone says, "For whom is it well, for whom is it well?  There is no one for whom it is well"(135).  I think by singing it you get more feeling out of it.  The words that are used in the book have a constant tempo just like the drums beating at the village ilo.  Instruments in the village ilo mean power.  They used a gong to get people's attention.  "An iron gong sounded, setting up a wave of expectation in the crowd.  Everyone looked in the direction of the egwugwu house"(88).  The sound of the gong sent the message of being quiet.  Ikemefuma sang a song on his walk to death to firgure out if his mom was alive or not.  The song was, "Eze elina, elina!  Sala, Eze ilikwa ya, Ikwaba akwa oligholi, Ebe Danda nechi eze, Ebe Uzuzu nete egwu, Sala"(60).  This song is what kept Ikemefuma calm while he was walking with the men.  Also many of the songs in the book were repetitive.  At one point they sing a song that goes, "If I hold her hand she says, don't touch!  If I hold her foot she says, don't touch!  But when I hold her waist-beads, she pretends not to know"(119).  All of this shows us that music was used years ago in Africa just as it is today.  Our group chose the song Lonely No More by Rob Thomas to represent Okonkwo.  Okonkwo seems to be very lonely for a guy with three wives.  He is also popular in the village but he still doesn't seem happy.  The song talks about not being lonely anymore.  Rob sings how he is going to do something with his life cause he is sick of being lonely.  Part of the songs says, "I don't wanna be lonely no more, I don't wanna have to pay for this, I don't want to know the lover at my door, It is just another heartache on my list."  Okonkwo was upset when he got exiled for seven years.  He knew what he did was wrong but it was an accident.  He had many things go wrong in his life.  For example his father's reputation, his son leaving to join the missionaries and having to kill Ikemefuma.  By the end of the book Okonkwo could stand his life so it led to his death.

Plot

The novel Things Fall Apart is about the journey of a young man named Okonkwo. The novel begins by telling the reader about Okonkwos childhood, and about his struggles. Okonkwos father Unoka was a very lazy and dishonerable man, he was in debt all of his life, and died without having gained any titles. Okonkwo grew up knowing that he wanted to be nothing like his father so he was very self determined to make a good life for himself. He started his new life from nothing, he became a very succesful wrestler, and gained honor in his village. He was known to be a strong and fierce man. Okonkwo then became a successful farmer, and went on to marry three wives. Okonkwo has three wives and many children. His favorite child was Ezinma. She was his favorite daughter, and he always wished that she had been a son, because she was hardworking, and always made Okonkwo happy. Ezinma was the only child that really understood Okonkwo. Ezinma was very beautiful and reminded Okonkwo of her mother Ekwefi. Ekwefi was his favorite wife. He also takes on the role of being gaurdian to Ilkemfuna, a 15 year old boy, who is hard-working, and very loyal. He is like the son that Okonkwo never had. Okonkwo grows to love Ilkemfuna, and three years after living with Okonkwo and his family, the learders of Okonkwos village decide that Ilkemfuna needs to be put to death. This is where life begins to go wrong for Okonkwo. He goes along to watch the death of Ilkemfuna, and then kills him himself, which is very dishonerable. He then goes to the funeral of a dead tribesman in his village, and while he was at the funeral his gun explodes and kills a 16 year old boy. In Okonkwo's village it is a crime to kill a tribesman so Okonkwo and his family are exiled from Umoufia for 7 years. While they are away in Mbanta, Christian missionaries come and begin to preach God's word throughout the villages. Okonkwo's oldest, and most dissapointing son Nwoye converts to Christianity. When it is finally time to go back to Umoufia Okonkwo is very eager, because he wants to marry off all of his beautiful daughters to successful young men from Umoufia. However when Okonkwo and his family go back to Umuofia they realize that life has changed a lot. Okonkwo is put in jail by the Christian Missionaries when he goes back to Umoufia, when he is released the town holds a meeting, and they discuss going to war. When the missionaries walk in on their meeting Okonkwo kills one of them with his machete. He soon realizes that the village will not be going to war with the Christian Missionaries. He later hangs himself, and the Christian Missionaries come to take him down.

Setting

The book Things Fall Apart takes place in Nigeria, Africa.



The Evil Forest in Things Fall Apart represents rejection, failure and the unwanted. The Evil Forest is where the people of the village throw their dead babies, the sick, and the dying. It is also the piece of land that the leaders of the village offer to the Christian Missionaries, because the missionaries are unwanted. The Evil Forest also represents superstition within the novel, because nobody wants to get to close the the Evil Forest, because they are fearful that something bad will happen to tehm if they are around the Evil Forest. The Evil Forest also was the place where Okonkwos father was



Mbanta is the land in which Okonkwos mother was from. It is where all of Okonkwos mother's family lived. When Okonkwo was exiled he went to Mbanta to live. He lived in Mbanta for seven years, with his uncle Uchendo. While living in Mbanta Okonkwo's arrogance led him into a state of depression as he could not fathem the fact that he must accept help from his relatives at some point in time. When he moved to Mbanta he started out with nothing once again, but it was too late to build a new legacy for himself so he was forced to rely on his Uncle, which was not a desirable alternative to Okonkwo.



Okonkwos home village of Umuofia was the main setting of the novel. This is where Onkonkwo had his compound in which him and his family resided. This was where Okonkwo made a name for himself, by earning titles, and becoming a very honorable man in society. Okonkwo was very well known in his village and he was very respected. The village had a town square in which they held all of their important meetings, and it was there main source of communication, and community. Okonkwos compound was very meaningful to him, because he started from the ground up in creating it. It was the source of his wealth and his power.

Compound

Okonkwo's Compound.