Graduate Course

PAPER 8: Contemporary Literature

Chinua Achebe

Prepared by: P.K. Satpathy

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 Before we begin

P.K. Satpathy

This study material should not, under any circumstances, be treated as an adequate substitute for the
prescribed text, which in this case is, Things Fall Apart. This material is designed only as a
supplementary reading to help you formulate your own responses to the novel. It is important to
remember that reading literature is a creative process in itself. Each reader in the process of reading,
brings to bear on the text, his/her own experiences and concerns thereby adding to the meanings and
richness of the text. So it is important to enjoy the text and formulate your own responses before you
consult any other 'critics' response to the text.
Having said that, I would also like to alert you to the fact that responding to literary texts in an
academic way is slightly different from Our ordinary responses to a literary text. In literary studies
responses are valid only if they are supported by evidence, both internal (from within the text) and
circumstantial (the circumstances under which the author lived and wrote). Hence it is often necessary to
read, apart from the text, other supplementary material to understand the circumstances that contributed,
indirectly though, to the text in question.
A student of literature, then, is expected not only to be familiar with the prescribed text in question,
but should also possess a fair degree of acquaintance with the circumstances (socio-economic, political
and literary) of the author and his writing. In short, a student of literature should be able to present an
informed response to a literary text. Further, while presenting an argument you could strengthen your
position by citing a few other' critics 'who have responded to the text in question in the same way as you
do now. Thus it is also important that you read a few essays by other critics on the text in question. But
you must formulate your own responses (it has to be an informed response) before you read other 'critics',
because often enough students tend to get overwhelmed by established 'critics'.

Let us begin here

This Study material is divided into two parts. Part I contains an introduction, a brief biographical
sketch of Chinua Achebe, discussions on colonialism, literature and colonialism, and the writer in the
colonial context. All the five sub-sections in Part I try to situate the writer/author in his milieu. These
discussions are useful in developing a perspective on African fiction. You will also find these sections
useful in understanding the socio-political and the cultural context that led Chinua Achebe to write the
kind of fiction that he wrote. The best way to read these Sections is to read them in a sequential fashion
and when you have finished section 1.5 you must return to the Things Fall Apart and give it a close
reading. After you are through with the novel you can proceed to Part II of this study material.
Part II contains a series of critical commentaries on the text. It is arranged in a sequential fashion.
These are commentaries and not a summary of the text and must be used with care. Though adequate care
has been taken to present a broad view, it is quite possible that you might come across comments that you
find yourself disagreeing with. Please feel free to disagree. I must point out once again that these
discussions are only meant to guide you through the text and point out the important thematic and
structural features of the text. You must finally come to your own conclusions based on your
understanding of the text. Please note that the self-check questions, wherever provided must be completed
before you proceed to the next section.

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 Part I

Chinua Achebe : Brief Biographical Note

Albert Chinualumogue Achebe was born on November 16, 1930 in Nigeria. He was the fifth of six
children of a Christian Churchman Isaiah Okafo and Janet N. Achebe. His parents were some of the early
converts to Christianity in their ancestral village of Ogidi. Isaiah Achebe worked as a teacher of the
Church Missionary Society. After retirement he returned to his ancestral village. Ogidi was a Igbo Village
near the river Niger and had served as a major base for the early Anglican Church Missionaries working
in Eastern Nigeria under British Rule. Isaiah Achebe, being a devout Christian, taught his children to look
down upon their fellow tribe members who indulged in obscurantist practices of their traditional society.
But Achebe, as a child, was fascinated by the traditions and customs of his own tribe and often sneaked
out to attend the ceremonies and festivals of his tribesmen.
Quite predictably, Achebe was sent to attend the local primary school run by the Church Missionary
Society. Achebe was bright and eventually won a scholarship to study at the Government college at
Umuahia, considered as one of the best government run secondary schools in West Africa. He excelled in
his studies, especially in English. He even acquired the nickname 'dictionary', for his knowledge of
English. In school he learned to appreciate British and European literature. He then moved to the
University College at Ibadan from where he received a B.A. from London University in 1953. At Ibadan
he was fascinated by the works of writers like D.H.Lawrence and Joseph Conrad. Joseph Conrad's tales of
adventure had a special fascination for Achebe. Subsequently he went on to study broadcasting at the
British Broadcasting Corporation in London in 1956.
Before leaving for London, Achebe had already worked for a year as a school teacher. He would
come back to teaching at the university of Nigeria years later. While at London he started working for the
BBC. After his stint at the BBC, London, he came back and worked for Nigerian Broadcasting company
as a producer in 1954 and rose to become the Director of Voice of Nigeria, the external broadcasting wing
of the BBC, in 1961. The same year he married Christiana Chinew Okoli and settled down in the suburb
of the capital city of Lagos. But his radio career was cut short by the countrywide persecution of the Igbo
people in 1960. The coup by Igbo army officers in 1966 was met swiftly by a counter coup led by
predominantly muslim officers. What followed was a nightmare in which more than thirty thousand Igbo
tribesmen were murdered. Some of the counter coup leaders believed that Achebe's novel A Man of the
People somehow contributed to the coup by Igbo army officers and that Achebe was also involved in it.
Achebe fled to the Igbo region of Nigeria which subsequently declared itself as an independent
country, the Republic of Biafra. He was deeply involved with the resistance movement and put in a great
deal of energy in seeking aid for the children of Biafra. He also established a publishing firm to further the
cause of the new country. The Biafran war which followed these political upheavals was disastrous for the
Igbo People, who suffered much misery. Finally Biafra lost the fight for independence.
After the war Achebe moved to the University of Nigeria to work as a research fellow. He was quite
successful in his university career and quickly went on to become the Director of African studies at the
University of Nigeria, Head of the English Department and finally Professor Emeritus in 1985. At the
University he edited Okika a Nigerian literary journal. In 1986 he became the pro-chancellor of Anambra
State University of Technology. He also lectured at American Universities between 1971 and 1976 and
again between 1987 and 1988. He moved to United States in 1991 and since then he has been teaching at
Bard-College in Annandale, New York.
Achebe's literary career began early. Born into a family which valued books and education a great
deal, Achebe developed a healthy respect for books. At school he developed a liking for English
Literature and language. School was a great learning experience. During this period he was greatly
influenced by the Bible which, later on, had a major influence on his writing. Initially he was drawn to
adventure tales like Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, Gullivers Travels and other travel writings, engaging

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with the experience of the white-man's journeys to strange lands and stranger people in his quest for
discovery and knowledge. What he did not realize then was that, these journeys were actually not an
innocent search for knowledge and adventure. Achebe journeyed on the white man's ships and boats
thinking that he was discovering things along with the white man. It is only when he went to college at
Ibadan, he realised that these journeys actually excluded him altogether. In fact he realized that he was the
object of the white man's journey. He was the savage that the white man considered as his 'Other',
someone who needed to be civilized, controlled and exploited.
Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness had a profound influence on Achebe. Though he admired Conrad
as a story teller and admired Conrad's language, it was while reading Conrad at the college, that he
realized the hoax. Achebe says that he came to realize "that these writers had pulled a fast one on me! I
was not on Marlowe's boat steaming up the Congo in Heart of Darkness. I was one of those strange
beings jumping up and down on the river bank, making horrid faces." This was a turning point for
Achebe. He realized that he must write to present his side of the story, his own story, the story of his
people. He decided to write back to the European center. He started out by writing articles for his college
newspaper. And in 1958 he published his first novel Things Fall Apart, arguably his best to date. Thus
began a literary journey which was remarkable in its range of concerns and in its commitment.
Achebe has received numerous awards and honours from various parts of the world. He received the
first of his many literary awards in 1959, the Margaret Won Memorial Prize. Achebe has more than a
dozen honorary doctorates from various Universities from allover the world. In 1987 he received what
could be termed as the most important award of his life, the Nigerians National Merit Award, the highest
award in Nigeria for intellectual achievement.

Colonialism, Post-Colonialism

Now that you are in the final year of your B.A. (Hons.) English course you will encounter terms like
Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, Post-Colonial literatures, etc. I am sure you are familiar with these terms,
having encountered them, especially colonialism, in your study of Modern Indian Literatures. However,
now, you would be expected to have more-than just a passing familiarity with them.
If colonialism is understood, as the 'conquest and control of other peoples lands, good and resources',
then colonialism has been a recurrent and widespread phenomenon in human history. Conquest and
subjugation of native populations of other countries on a large scale begins, perhaps, with the Roman
Empire in the second century AD. And it continued in various parts of the world including India right into
the middle of the twentieth century. The colonial conquests till the fifteenth and sixteenth century were,
by and large, scattered and barring a few, not very systematic. However the European expansions into
Asia, Africa and the Americas, beginning in the 16th century was qualitatively different from all the other
colonial expansions of the earlier times. The European Powers adopted different practices and techniques
and reengineered the world in ways which has altered the world in many fundamental ways.
How then was European Colonialism different from other, earlier, forms of colonialism? Marxist
scholars have pointed out a crucial distinction between the two which is validated by history. They have
pointed out that while the earlier colonialism was pre-capitalist, there was a simultaneity between Modern'
European Colonialism and the development of Capitalism in Western Europe. Though exploitation and
appropriation of the goods and resources of a conquered people is the essential feature of any kind of
colonialism, the earlier colonial powers, unlike the European powers, did not tamper with the economic
structure of the conquered people.
Modern European colonialism, on the other hand, apart from plundering the wealth of the conquered
people, altered their economies in a fundamental way. They altered the economic organization of these
societies in such a way that they were drawn into a complex relationship with the economy of the 'Mother
country'. Consequently, there was a continuous flow of human and natural resources both ways. Raw
material, slaves and labourers were shifted to the 'Mother Countries' to manufacture goods for
consumption in not only the 'Mother Countries' but also in the captive markets of the colonies. I am sure
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our own experience as a colonized country would make this process clear to you. Cotton was transported
to England for manufacturing cloth which was then sold back to the Indian people, ruining the, flourishing
handloom sector. The moot point here is that in whatever direction materials and human beings were
moved the profit always flowed back to the colonial powers.
It was not just the colonized who were moved around all the time. The colonizers also moved as
soldiers, administrators, merchants, teachers, missionaries, writers, settlers etc. More often than not
colonial conquest was followed by religious and socio-cultural activities which helped the colonizers to
penetrate deep into the society of the colonized people. The pattern of domination varied from place to
place and the techniques adopted also varied significantly. Sometimes they just engaged at a superficial
level and sometimes their engagement went much deeper. However the one defining feature which cuts
across all these differences was the fact that they created an economic imbalance which assisted the
growth of capital and industry in the 'Mother Country'.
Apart from economic exploitation there is an equally important dimension of colonialism which we
need to discuss here. The Oxford English dictionary describes colonialism as "a settlement in a new
country .... A body of people who settle in a new locality, forming a community subject to or connected
with their parent state;.....". What this description fails to tell us is that a new settlement in a new country
would, of necessity, produce an encounter with the native population. And the process of forming a
community must factor in the presence of an alien people with an alien culture. The encounter then takes
place on several planes (political, social, cultural, religious and others) This encounter is certainly not a
happy one for the colonized people. It is rather traumatic and tension ridden because the colonial powers
bring with them a new set of hierarchies and values which are presented as superior to the existing
hierarchies and value systems of the colonised people.
The colonial subjects experience a sense of inferiority which is forced upon them by the superior
power. Their self image is dented resulting in a crisis of identity. Their oppressed consciousness is forced
to accept their economic, political, social and cultural inferiority and slowly they end up internalising this
inferiority and with this the process of colonisation is complete. Frantz Fannon (1925-61) was one of the
first writers to theorize this oppressed consciousness. In his book The Wretched of the Earth, he pointed
out that material inferiority produces a sense of racial and cultural inferiority. Further, colonization, he
pointed out, takes place not only through economic and political domination, but also through linguistic
and cultural domination. The language of the colonized and consequently his whole culture is rendered
inferior to the language and culture of the coloniser and leaves an indelible imprint on the psyche of the
colonised subject.
Now that we have mapped the broad contours, however inadequate, of colonialism let's move on to
the issue of Post-colonialism. The 'Post' in the term Post-Colonial presents an even bigger challenge than
colonialism. If one uses the term to periodise in a historical sense it would obviously refer to the phase
after independence from colonial rule. The major problem here is that as conceptual categories it is
extremely difficult to make a neat distinction between the two. Since colonisation, as we have discussed
earlier, also affects the psyche and consciousness of the colonised people, cultures affected by colonial
subjugation display a continuing preoccupation with the tensions and contradictions of living as a subject
population of a colonial power. Viewed against this backdrop of a continuing concern the 'Post' in the
Post-colonial seems problematic because it carried with it a sense of an aftermath or in other words the
end of colonialism.
It would be premature to declare the end of colonialism because mere political independence does not
necessarily guarantee economic and cultural independence. The inequality that was initiated with
colonialism persists even today in the imbalances between the 'first' and 'third' world nations. Neo-
colonialism, (economic and cultural domination) does not depend on direct political rule. For instance the
United States of America exercises immense economic, cultural and political dominance over a large part
of the globe without being a colonial power. At the same time one cannot ignore the formal decolonisation
which has been taking place for more than two centuries now. It is an important process in the creation of
a free world. But this creates another problem for us.

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 When does the 'post-colonial' begin? Historically one has to go back to the eighteenth and nineteenth
century, to America, Australia and other parts of the world. But how does one account for such a diverse
scenario? The decolonisation of America or Australia is qualitatively different from the decolonisation of
African, Latin American or Asian countries. Then there is the question of race, gender and hierarchies
within the decolonized societies.
For instance in South Africa the white Africans practised apartheid even after the country achieved
political independence from Great Britain. Closer home, in India, the tribals still remain on the margins of
our society even fifty years after the country achieved independence. In a nutshell, we can say that the
'post-colonial' is marked by immense diversity and difference. In such a scenario the 'post-colonial' is
hardly useful to theorize contemporary reality. We can do so but only by reducing this immense variety
into a workable formula in which case the 'Post-colonial' becomes a mere technical term.
How then do we approach a term like the 'Post-colonial'? Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick in their
book 'Key concepts in cultural theory' (1999) point out that post-colonialism as a term is "generally
used to indicate a range of global and cultural developments which occurred in the aftermath of the
Second World War 'Post-colonialism' signifies something distinctive about this period as one in which the
cultural, economic and social events which have constituted it mark the decline of European imperialism".
They further state that 'to be identified as 'Post-colonial'... involves a retention of the belief that
colonialism continues to extend its influence through providing a definition of the identity of 'post-
colonial' subjects and their cultures.' (pp. 291-293).
Without discussing this description any further we can conclude that the term 'Post Colonial' is best
used as a descriptive term and needs to be used cautiously keeping in mind the fact that there is no one
'post-coloniality' but 'post-colonialities'. Keeping in mind this plurality we can say that the term is useful
for conveying a structure of inequality it refers to the process of disengagement from the whole process of
colonial domination and more so, as Frantz Fannon would have it, from the oppressed colonial
consciousness itself. However I wish to conclude by observing that Colonialism and Post-colonialism are
much more problematic and complex than it has been made out in this lesson. But going beyond this
would be way beyond the need and scope of this lesson.

Colonialism, Culture and Literature

We often come across young undergraduate students of literature who feel a little uneasy about the
idea that literature and politics enjoy a close relationship with each other. This unease is based on the
notion that literature belongs to the world of imagination (which is ennobling) and politics belongs to the
real world with all its associated filth. Such compartmentalisation of literature and politics has a long
history. Ever since Plato literary theorists have conceded that literature mediates between the real and the
imaginary. But, until recently, hardly any serious attempt was made to define the nature of this mediation.
Moreover, politics was hardly even considered as a part of the reality that literature mediates.
I think we could begin this section with two broad observations and work our way through these
observations to the relationship between colonialism, culture and literature.
1. Language is not an innocent neutral medium of communication. It is value laden and is deeply
intermeshed with hierarchies and power structures.
2. Language and literature have been used by colonial powers to exercise colonial control and
colonial authority.
Until recently the relationship between language and the things that it signified was considered a
natural one. Thus language was considered as an innocent vehicle which carried our ideas. But recent
research in linguistic and social sciences has proved that the relationship between language and the things
that it signified was arbitrary and motivated. For instance, there is hardly any relationship between the
word 'tree' and the object 'tree' that it signifies. The relationship is one which is determined by the society
that uses the given language. If all the people using English decide to call the object tree by a new name,

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let us say, a cow, there would be no problem. Thus meaning in any language is the product of convention
and accepted practices. In other words, language produces the meaning that we want it to produce.
Language then is a privileged medium through which a culture conceives of itself and its values like truth,
order, real, good and evil and so on. We also know that values operate in a system of hierarchies, for
example good is superior to evil, light is superior to darkness. Language disseminates these hierarchies
which are again products of various kinds of power structures. It is but obvious then that the ruling elite in
any society would be anxious to exercise control over language.
Literary texts, on the other hand, are a complex arrangement of language. They are the products of an
individuals subjective exploration of the relationship between the real world and the world of imagination
or even the transcendental world. Since literature belongs to the domain of an individual imaginative
world it was considered as a private affair and was far removed from the public domain. Politics lies in the
public domain hence liberal humanist scholars would not allow anything more than a tangential
relationship between literature and politics.
The literary text is the product of a complex relationship between an individual, his social contexts
and language. It is important to remember that texts, literary or otherwise, do not have any intrinsic value
in themselves. They are valued in terms of the accepted practices, values and norms 'of the society they
were produced in. Their valuation is also deeply influenced by the institutional practices, such as the
educational institutions and the market forces prevalent in that particular society. For instance Tagore's
writings on nationalism and other issues in which he condemned violence, during the later part of the
Swadeshi movement in Bengal were not valued very highly by the people and he received some very
hostile reaction in Bengal. But later on, under changed circumstances, he was canonised as the foremost
poet and intellectual of Bengal.
The point I am trying to make here is that values are not fixed entities. They are determined by
various factors like the given social context, existing hierarchies and power structures. Since literary texts
play a crucial role in the representational practices of a given society, they end up reproducing,
perpetuating and sometimes contesting the values, hierarchies and power structures of the same society.
Literary texts not only represent the dominant practice of a society, they also represent the tensions,
complexities and contradictions existing within these societies. Literary texts also create new ways of
seeing because they work imaginatively on people as individuals.
Is it any wonder then that literature was made the corner stone of the cultural enterprises of colonial
expansion. Gauri Viswanathan in her book (The Mask of Conquest) (1987) has very clearly
demonstrated the relationship between the rise of English literary study and colonial consolidation in
India. The idea that language and literature was the key to colonial control was formulated by Macaulay in
his famous Minutes on Education (1835). He had proposed that the colonial administration must
aggressively promote the study of English literature at the expense of native literature. The British, he had
said, ".....must.....form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a
class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect".
You may find it interesting to note that English literature as an academic discipline, was introduced at
Oxford University only after the Indian Civil Service examination included a 1000 mark question paper
on English literature. It was based on the assumption that the knowledge of English Literature was
essential to those who wished to administer British interests. We can see from this the centrality of
literature and culture in colonial and political enterprise.
We know that "Civilization, Christianity and Commerce" was the basis of European colonial
expansion. The English often referred to their colonial empire as a "civilizing mission". This clearly is an
ideological formulation which was necessitated by the need to plunder and conquer. The European
traveller encountered vast new world which were strange and different from their own cultures. They
interpret these new worlds with ideological filters provided by their own cultures which provided the
cultural framework to interpret other peoples civilisation and culture and provided the justification to
conquer and plunder. The need to interpret in a certain way proceeded from an ideological climate which
operated at two levels, a) at the level of practical necessity in which propaganda was a major need b) at a
deeper psychological level where Europe found its identity vis-a-vis a non-European, Other and provided

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the moral justification for the civilizing mission. This ideological operation involved a process of
naturalising constructed values like civilization, humanity, order etc. which were associated with the
Europeans and the antithesis of these values like savagery, primitive, beastiality was associated with the
non-European Others and hence the need to reform them, to civilize them.
Africa, thus, became the dark continent (remember Heart of Darkness). It was savage, without
history and without culture. The construction of an European self was quite often a product of this
European encounter with the non-European natives. Travel writing from Renaissance onwards is full of
such encounters. These travel tales were an interesting mix of new observations, fiction and received
attitudes and contributed a lot towards the formation of an European identity. For instance the idea that
black was ugly is quite interestingly linked up with the cultural contact with black people which then
produced the Renaissance idea of whiteness as central to beauty. However, what is interesting to note is
that these encounters produced hierarchies of values in terms of Europeans and its non-Europeans
antithesis (White/Black) which provided the key to colonial control. It also produced the colonial
stereotypes of the native as savage. For instance Caliban in Shakespeare's Tempest represents one such
stereotype of the dark skinned native as a rapist. What this stereotype does is to invert the realities of
colonial rape and plunder on its head. Thus colonial control worked in subtle ways in the cultural sphere
through an inversion. The European culture was presented as a superior culture and the natives culture
was represented as degraded. We have noted earlier that the native economic inferiority forces him to
accept his cultural inferiority as well. Thus colonial control leads to the suppression of the creativity and
intellectual tradition of those it had to rule and it was especially easy where the native traditions were
primarily oral like in Africa.

The Writer in Politics

"Every writer is a writer in politics, the question is whose politics."

Ngugi
Most African writers are deeply involved in politics in one way or the other because as an intellectual
the African writer is an integral part of the political elite. There have been many debates and exchanges
between various writers, social and political scientists and literary critics about the role of the writer in
post-colonial societies. One of the most vigorously debated topic, it is still an ongoing debate, in which
Achebe participated, was the question about the possibility of de-colonising the culture. In a post colonial
society where the dominant language, literature and culture was that of the colonizers, in Achebe's case it
was English, this question appears even more difficult. Whether the dominant language could be used in
the process of decolonisation was the subject of a major debate between Achebe, Ngugi and other writers
as well.
Ngugi believed that true decolonisation could only take place by the recovery of the pre-colonial
language and cultures, by creating an indigenous National Culture. By doing so the post-colonial societies
could achieve true political and cultural independence and the scars of colonial subjugation could be
erased. Consequently consciously Ngugi, wrote in his mother tongue Gikuyu. I am sure you would
remember that a similar movement was launched in India called "Jatiya Siksha" during the Swadeshi
movement in Bengal in 1905. It was believed that education in ones mother Tongue and a 'National
Education' could be used as a major weapon in the struggle for political independence R.N. Tagore also
supported this movement. It was believed that education, an Indian one at that, in one's mother tongue
would produce a vibrant cultural nationalism which would spur the people in their struggle for
independence.
Achebe on the other hand, believed in syncretism and creative hybridity. He maintained that a fusion
of cultures was inevitable and was, in fact, a necessity in a multicultural society. Post colonial Nigeria, or
for that matter. Africa was not only multi-cultural they were multilingual as well. At the same time the
colonially generated English language had made such deep inroads into the African society that it was the

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only language understood by a large section of the people. Achebe maintained that in a situation like this
if a national literature had to be written, it had to be in English. However the challenge before the writer
was to mould the English language to suit their own experiences and not the other way round. Achebe in
his book Morning yet On Creation Day (1975) says,
"...For me there is no other choice. I have been given this language and I intend to use it .....I feel that
the English Language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a
new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its African surroundings."
(p.103)
Achebe, like many of his contemporaries, felt compelled to engage with the writers social
responsibilities in what he called the 'New Nigeria'. The greatest challenge before the African writer, he
maintained, was to deal with the issue of black humanity as against that of white. In a lecture entitled "The
Role of the writer in a new Nation' delivered in 1964 he said :
"It is inconceivable to me that a serious writer could stand aside from this debate, or be indifferent to
this agreement which calls his full humanity in question. ...As far I am concerned the fundamental theme
must first be disposed of. This theme quite simply is that African peoples did not hear of culture for the
first time from Europeans: That their societies were not mindless but frequently had a philosophy of great
depth and value and beauty, that they had poetry, and above all, they had, dignity. It is this dignity that
many African peoples all but lost in the colonial period, and it is this dignity they must now regain......The
writers duty is to help them regain it by showing them in human terms what happened to them.
Achebe is suggesting here that the African writer must perform the dual role of a cultural nationalist
as well as a teacher. As a cultural nationalist he/she must represent the strong story of his people and their
history and culture to a hostile world who had denied them their humanity. And as a teacher to his own
people, he must help them regain their dignity which they had lost as a subjugated people. He refused to
believe that the African writer, a product of an alien education system (western) and language, would be
alienated, (like his western counterpart) from his people. The society expected the writer to be a leader
and show them the way and the writer must show his commitment to the society. Yet the writer must not
write to please he must remain objective enough to criticize his society if necessary. "I would be quite
satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their
past -with all its imperfections -was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting
on God's behalf delivered them". (Achebe, 1975 : 44-45).
Nigeria and the Ibo-people achieved their independence in 1960. The socio-political situation in the
post colonial Nigeria was far from stable. Achebe's thoughts on the role of the writer also kept evolving
during the time. He was quite disturbed by the corruption, inefficiency and cultural disintegration which
flourished in post-independent Nigeria. By the time Achebe wrote his fourth novel. "A Man of the
People" he had expanded the role of the writer to include the writer as a social critic. A Man of the
People was a hard hitting attack on the evils being inflicted on the African societies by Africans
themselves. The books ends on a prophetic note which got him into trouble later on. The novels ends with:
"But the Army obliged us by staging a coup at that point and locking up every member of the
government."
We can observe that Achebe was moving beyond his own stated position of the role of the writer as a
teacher by adopting the role of a social critic. He goes even further by putting forward a solution to the
problems faced by the people. The coup of January 1966 caught Achebe unwares. The prophetic ending of
the novel A Man of the People had come true. The subsequent counter coup and the massacre of the Ibo
people affected Achebe profoundly. At a personal level Achebe lost his brother who was killed in the
counter coup and he himself had to flee. The formation of an independent republic of Biafra of the Ibo
people, pushed Achebe further into the political arena. He became a roving ambassador for the new
republic Achebe's ideas also kept evolving during the period. He regarded himself more as a 'protest
writer' fighting for the 'right and just causes'. We can see that the writer as an impartial observer is pushed
to the background. Achebe now moves on to a new position when he says that the "...writers role is more
determining than merely in reporting. In other words his role is to act rather than to react".

8
 After the Biafran war Achebe found himself in a new situation. There was a need to realign all his
different positions. His initial position that a writer must be a teacher was dictated by the prevalent
political climate of that time. The same is true of all his subsequent formulations. He realized that all these
positions, could at best, be temporary measures. He then produced a synthesis of these positions "African
Literature in its present form, "he said," is not really sufficiently relevant to the issues of the day....
African writers cannot forget the past because the present comes out of it; but they should not be
mesmerized or immobilized by their contemplation of the past to the exclusion of the contemporary scene.
The most meaningful work that African writers can do today will take into account our whole history:
how we got here and what it is today: and this will help us to map our plans for the future".

Check your Progress :

1. What are the distinctive features of:

a) Colonialism b) Post-Colonialism ?

2. Would it be correct to say that cultural domination is a key component of colonialism'? If yes, how ?

9
3. Why do you think African writers were deeply involved in politics in one way or the other ?

□□□

10
 PART II∗

Commentary (Chapters 1-4)

Achebe's representation of indigenous Ibo culture contradicts stereotypical, often oversimplified

Europeans representations. The Ibo are not mindless savages. Rather, we can detect a serious commitment
to harmonious relations in their society. Visitors and hosts often share kola nuts and palm-wine. Not only
does this practice demonstrate a strong commitment to sharing, it serves as a way to diffuse tensions that
could otherwise turn violent or ugly.
When a neighbour visits Unoka to collect a debt, he has good reason to resent Unoka's bad financial
planning. He needs his money to purchase a clan title. However, when he enters Unoka's hut, he does not
immediately address the debt. Instead he and Unoka share a kola nut and pray to their ancestral spirits.
Afterward, they converse about community affairs at great length. Moreover, Unoka's neighbor introduces
the subject of debt through a series of Ibo proverbs. The customs regulating social relations emphasize
their common interests and culture, diffusing possible tension. Unoka's neighbor diffuses it further by
introducing the matter through a shared oral tradition.
When Okonkwo goes to Nwakibie to ask for some seed-yams, he takes palm-wine and a kola nut.
Again, asking for a favor might cause tension. Although Nwakibie keeps two-thirds of the harvest, he still
takes a financial risk in giving Okonkwo seed-yams. A bad farmer will produce less than Nwakibie
himself could produce with his seed-yams. Okonkwo's gifts demonstrate respect. Moreover, he does not
immediately address the purpose of his visit. First, he and Nwakibie share the kola nut, and everyone
drinks the palm-wine. Afterward, they engage in conversation about the community. These customs
diffuse possible tensions by emphasizing the value of community relations through sharing and
conversation. Although everyone drinks in order of his status and rank, everyone still has a share.
The religious values of the Ibo also emphasize the shared benefits of peaceful, harmonious relations.
The Week of Peace honors the earth goddess in the hope that she will favour them with a good harvest.
The Ibo always consult their Oracle before declaring war. They fear punishment from their gods if they
declare war without a just cause. Their religion emphasizes the individual's obligation to the community.
When Okonkwo breaks the peace during the sacred week, the priest chastises him for endangering the
entire community by risking the earth deity's wrath. He refuses Okonkwo's offer of a kola nut, expressing
disagreement peacefully.
Moreover, the religious belief in the chi, an individual's personal god also smoothes possible tensions
in the Ibo community. During a meeting, Okonkwo insults a titleless man. The other men remind
Okonkwo that he has a favourable chi. The chi allows individuals to attribute some portion of the failures
and successes to divine influence, so it lessens the shame and pride of both. The belief encourages respect
between individuals. The men settle the dispute between Okonkwo and the insulted man without resorting
to personal attacks, but rather through their religious belief system. Moreover, the meeting demonstrates
an emphasis on community cohesion. Even men without titles can take part in community decisions and
discussions. Generally, pre-colonial Ibo culture is rather democratic in function.
However, traditional Ibo culture is profoundly patriarchal. Wife-beating is an accepted practice.
Moreover, masculinity is associated with strength. It is no coincidence that the word that refers to a
titleless man also means "woman", A man is not a man that cannot control his women. However, Achebe
often makes an effort to show that Ibo women are indeed strong, brave, and extremely important to Ibo
society.

∗
From the Web World.

11
 Social mobility is more possible in Ibo society that it is in nineteenth century European society. A
man's worth is determined by his own actions, not by his father's. Okonkwo's father died of a shameful
illness, penniless and titleless. However,. Okonkwo rose to a position of wealth and prestige through his
own efforts. However, this does not mean that the Ibo do not care about kinship relations. Rather, kinship
forms the very basis of their society. Clans are organizations based on family relations. Although
Okonkwo hated his father, he still supported his household with his early attempts to build his own farm.
When he visits Nwakibie, he addresses him as "our father", The use of kinship establishes mutual respect
and commitment.
Okonkwo's tragic flaw is his hatred of his father. His "Ruling passion" is to avoid resembling Unoka.
Unoka's words also foreshadow Okonkwo's sad end. After Okonkwo's first, terribly disappointing harvest,
Unoka tells him that he has a proud, manly heart. He states that such a heart can withstand a general
failure whereas it is much worse when a man fails alone. Hidden within Unoka's words is an emphasis on
shared suffering. The entire community had a bad harvest, so Okonkwo's failure is no reflection on his
character. However, failing alone through one's individual action is a reflection on his character, so it is a
cause for despair. Okonkwo fails to heed the wisdom of Unoka's words.
To avoid resembling Unoka, Okonkwo acts violently without thinking, often provoking avoidable
fights. He has a bad temper and he rules his household with fear. Okonkwo believes his behaviour
constitutes masculinity. However, it leads him to sin against the Week of Peace, and it strains his
relationship with Nwoye. His rash behaviour also causes tension within the community because he
expresses disdain for less successful men. Ikemefuna demonstrates that masculinity need not preclude
kindness and affection. Nwoye responds far more positively to Ikemefuna's influence than he does to
Okonkwo's heavy-handedness. Although Okonkow is very fond of Ikemefuna he does not express his
affection because he fears that it will make him look weak. Ikemefuna even makes flutes, Unoka's
favourite instrument.

Chapters 5-8

The Feast of the New Yam, a religious ceremony, expresses the profound importance of agriculture in
Ibo society. Although Ibo society is patriarchal, women play an extremely important role. Women are the
primary producers of the body art and the intricate designs on the huts. The cooking also facilitates social
interaction between women. Therefore, the ceremony strengthens the communal bonds in the village.
Moreover, they invite friends and family from other villages. Therefore, these celebrations also strengthen
the friendly relations and kinship bonds with other villages.
Okonkwo's nearly fatal attack on Ekwefi demonstrates the sobering truth of women's vulnerability.
Okonkwo resolved to hate everything Unoka loved, primarily gentleness and idleness. The preparations
for the feast are largely a feminine province. Okonkwo's frustration at his idleness causes him to act
violently, violating the spirit of the celebration.
Moreover, women can also be religious authorities. Chielo is the priestess of the Oracle. She and
Ekwefi are close friends and she calls Ezinma "my daughter." The use of kinship terms to express respect
and affection illustrates how strongly the Ibo value kinship bonds.. Ikemefuna also calls Okonkwo
"father" even though he is not Okonkwo's biological son. Ekwefi's conversation with Chielo reveals
another detail about the reality of the pre-colonial Ibo. Child mortality is very high. In agricultural
societies like the Ibo, a child's first five years are extremely precarious. Most women lose one or more of
their children. However, this does not mean they love their children any less. Chielo's question about
Ezinma early in the conversations reveals the emotional attachment women have to their children.
The real tragedy of Ikemefuna's death is that he is the perfect clansman. He eagerly takes part in the
community celebrations. He integrates himself into Okonkwo's family. Okonkwo and Ikemefuna love one
another as father and son. He is a good older brother to Nwoye. Moreover, he is a promising young man,
but he does not have to be harsh like Okonkwo. He does not allow Nwoye and his brothers to tell their

12
mother that Obiageli broke her water pot because she was showing off. He does not want her to be
punished. Ikemefuna illustrates that "manliness" does not preclude gentleness and affection.
Nwoye shows promise because he voices chauvinist opinions. However, he seems to aim his
comments at Okonkwo. In fact, Nwoye loves women's stories, and he was pleased when his mother or
Okonkwo's other wives ask him to do things for them. Therefore, Nwoye receives validation of his
manhood from women as well as men. He also seeks comfort in his mother's hut after Ikemefuna's death.
Manhood does not necessarily require the denigration of women. Ikemefuna was not close to his
biological father. Rather, his primary emotional attachments to his native village are his mother and little
sister.
Okonkwo disobeys the authority and advice of a clan elder in killing Ikemefuna. His actions are too
close to killing a kinsman, a grave sin in Ibo culture. Okonkwo fears looking weak so much that he would
violate a tribal law, albeit on a metaphorical level. No one would have thought that Okonkwo was weak if
he had stayed in the village. In fact, it would have been the more appropriate action.
Okonkwo thinks his grief demonstrates weakness. He calls himself a "shivering old woman". Again,
he associates weakness with femininity. He denigrates his emotional attachment to Ikemefuna, but it is
through his affectionate friendship with Obierika that he seeks comfort. Moreover, Ezinma is a great
comfort to him. She understands Okonkwo, so she does not address his sorrow directly. She urges him to
eat instead. Traditional Ibo society values sons over daughters, but this does not preclude love and
affection for daughters. For all of Okonkwo's chauvinism, Ezinma is his favorite child. In a way,
Okonkwo secretly desires affectionate attachment with his sons although he avoids admitting it because
he fears it as a weakness. He voices this desire through his wish that Ezinma was a son. He says that she
has the "right spirit." However, it is not because she exhibits desirable masculine traits. It is their bond of
sympathy and understanding that he values.
Women are a valuable economic and social resource. Although taking a wife is equivalent to buying a
woman, it is important to note that a woman can also leave her husband if her family returns the bride-
price. Therefore, she does not have some control over whom she marries. Marriage also strengthens the
ties between family groups. The suitor and Obierika greet one another ceremonially by mentioning that
their families have inter-married before. Therefore, women are crucial in establishing social relations.
Marriage is a joining of two families, not two individuals. Men also must often consult their fathers and
older relatives in the choosing of wives when they cannot pay the bride price alone.

Chapters 9-11

The relationship between Ekwefi and Ezinma is more like that between equals than between parent
and child. Ekwefi receives a great deal of comfort and companionship from her daughter. Their
relationship demonstrates that interactions between women are very important. Okonkwo's wives often try
to protect one another from his anger. Ekwefi loves and respects her daughter so much because she has
lost so many children. Although motherhood is the crowning achievement of a woman's life, Ekwefi does
not prize Ezinma so highly for the status motherhood brings her. She values her daughter for the love and
companionship she offers.
Before Ezinma's birth, she was not jealous of Okonkwo's first wife. She only expressed bitterness at
her own misfortune. Even Ezinma's minor illnesses bring fear and anxiety for Ekwefi. While Okonkwo
gathers medicine for the fever, his other wives try to calm Ekwefi's fear. Therefore, wives are not always
in competition with one another. They are also sources of comfort and feminine companionship.
Okonkwo also loves Ezinma deeply. His anger dissipates when he realizes why Ekwefi wakes him so
early in the morning. He does not hesitate to gather medicine for her fever. It seems that he too
experiences anxiety and fear at the thought of losing Ezinma. Therefore, a daughter is far from valueless
in Ibo culture.

13
 Losing a series of children is not an ordeal for the mother only. It is Okonkwo who consults medicine
men regarding the deaths of Ekwefi's children. The religious belief system of the Ibo offers an explanation
for the deaths of multiple children. The myth of the obanje gives meaning to the heart-breaking
experience of losing more than one child in succession. It also gives the Ibo a sense of control over events
that they cannot otherwise change or influence. Their religious beliefs explain the phenomenon and
prescribe a series of actions to prevent its reccurrence. Like other religious belief systems, it explains and
gives meaning to the Ibo reality, a reality that includes high child mortality.
When Chielo comes for Ezinma, she orders Ekwefi and Okonkwo not to follow her. Despite their fear
of the supernatural, both Ekwefi and Okonkwo attempt to prevent Chielo from taking their daughter for
reasons unknown. Their love for their child is strong enough that they are willing to defy religious
authority. Despite the pain of losing her first nine children, Ekwefi's suffering has made her strong. Chielo
orders her and Okonkwo not to follow her.
However, Ekwefi overcomes her fear of divine wrath and follows her anyway. She resolves to enter
the cave if she hears Ezinma crying even if it means incurring divine wrath. She vows to defend her only
surviving child against the gods themselves. Therefore, she demonstrates that strength and bravery are not
only masculine attributes. Okonkwo himself disobeys Chielo and follows her to the caves. However, he is
careful to show respect to Chielo. She is a woman, but, as a priestess, she can chastise him openly and
deliver orders to him. Her authority is not to be taken lightly.
Despite Okonkwo's often mercurial nature, Ekwefi does not seem to regret marrying him. She loves
him still, and Okonkwo seems to love her as well. Part of his special attachment to Ezinma arises from her
resemblance to her mother. He sits with her during the anxious wait for Ezinma's return.
The Ibo justice system demonstrates the relatively democratic nature of their government. Their
religion also plays a central role in the justice system. The egwugwu represent the divine voice as well as
the voice of tradition. It allows the Ibo to settle disputes peacefully, and the entire matter is a public
concern. Although women cannot join the cult, they decorate the cult's hut. Therefore, they are not
entirely excluded.
The first dispute reveals that women are not always completely at the mercy of violent husbands. It
also shows that there are differing opinions regarding the proper treatment of wives. A woman can rely on
her brothers and male relatives to protect her. The egwugwu also decide in the Mgbafo's favor. One clan
elder in the audience thinks that the dispute is a trifle. However, another man tells him that Uzowulu will
listen only to egwugwu. Therefore, the opinion of the clan elder is not shared by all. The other man does
not see the matter as a mere trifle.
Ekwefi's tale also stresses the value of reciprocal, fair social relations. Her story obviously has a moral
message. Throughout Things Fall Apart, peace, community, and fairness are stressed as important
values. These beliefs are expressed in the justice system, the folklore, and the Ibo's religious values.

Chapters 12-15

Okonkwo views affection as a sign of weakness, so he forces himself to wait before following Chielo.
However, he makes the trip to the caves four times. He is gravely worried about Ezinma's welfare.
Therefore, Okonkwo is not a cruel, heartless man. His tragic flaw prevents his better nature from showing
itself. Chielo's actions remind him of the importance his wife and child have in his emotional life.
The ceremonies connected to marriages strengthen community relations by expressing the
fundamental values of Ibo culture. A uri involves an entire village. Therefore, the union between
individuals expresses the union of the entire community. Moreover, the gift-giving customs are very
important. Obierika provides a fat goat for his future in-law, and they bring large quantities of palm-wine
to the celebration.

14
 The problem of one individual is a problem for the community. When a cow escapes. most of the
women take part in retrieving it, protecting one another's crops. Moreover, this diffuses possible tension.
The matter interrupts the preparations for the uri, but Ibo social setup facilitates a quick, peaceful solution.
Okonkwo's accidental killings of Ezudu's son echoes his deliberate killing of Ikemefuna. The
violation of kinship bonds is a running theme throughout Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo's strained
relationship with his father sets the conditions for his tragic flaw. This tragic flaw contributes to his
strained relationship with Nwoye; Ikemefuna arrives as a possible solution. He entered Okonkwo's family
and became a surrogate son. Ikemefuna began to heal the tension in Okonkwo's relationship with Nwoye.
He was a possible solution to Okonkwo's tragic flaw as well. However, Okonkwo failed to overcome his
flaw and killed the boy who had become his son, thus permanently damaging his relationship with
Nwoye. Moreover, he seriously damaged Nwoye's commitment to Ibo cultural tradition. Now, Okonkwo's
metaphorical crime becomes a literal crime, albeit inadvertent. In a sense, Okonkwo's killing of
Ikemefuna represents a turn for the worse in his fortunes.
The Ibo culture prescribes punishments that do not destroy the offender for crimes like Okonkwo's.
Rather, Okonkwo's punishment emphasizes the value of the strong, harmonious communal relations.
Obierika questions the harsh punishment for such an accident. However, in a way, the punishment
prevents anger, resentment, and ultimately, revenge. Although the death of Ezeudu's son is an accident, it
is entirely possible for Ezeudu's close relatives to be angry at Okonkwo anyway. The burning of
Okonkwo's compound displaces this possible anger onto his property. The punishment does not
completely severe the offender's connection to the community. Over a period of seven years, any
remaining anger and resentment from Ezeudu's close relatives will lessen, preserving the offender's place
in the community.
Okonkwo's exile demonstrates that maternal kinship bonds are important despite the patriarchal
structure of Ibo society. Okonkwo does not deal well with his misfortune because he is so intent on being
as successful and influential as his father was poor and powerless. His lack of gratitude for his mother's
kinsmen is a transgression of Ibo cultural values. Unoka's words regarding the bitterness of failing alone
are important considering Okonkwo's present situation. His misfortune is not a bitter, solitary failure.
Although many Ibo men are chauvinist, many of them value the role of their mothers in their lives.
Every man is born of woman, and Ibo culture recognizes the important emotional bond of a child with its
mother. A man's affection for his daughters and his sisters have also made an appearance in Things Fall
Apart. Perhaps it is possible that Achebe wishes to represent the chauvinism of traditional Ibo culture as a
flaw. However, he is careful to add detailed nuances to the complex nature of women's status in Ibo
culture. It is patriarchal culture, but women are not entirely excluded from positions of power, and they
are far from valueless. Like any other culture, Ibo society is complex and varied in its opinions and
attitudes.
Like Unoka, Uchendu reminds Okonkwo that he alone does not suffer. It is interesting that Uchendu
mentions losing five wives as one of his own heartbreaks. He expresses strong attachment to the women
who have shared his life and borne his children. He mentions that his remaining wife is a young girl who
"does not know her left from her right." Youth, beauty, and sexual attractiveness are not the primary
values of a wife. Uchendu also values the wisdom of great age, intelligence and experience in a wife.
Uchendu also knows the exact number of the children he has lost. Therefore, each and every death has
caused him pain. A father grieves for lost children as well.
Okonkwo believes that the people of Abame should have armed themselves and killed the white men.
Considering that we have seen the emphasis that the Ibo place on careful thought before violent action,
Okonkwo's rash, violent nature seems to clash with fundamental Ibo values. Throughout Things Fall
Apart, Ibo customs and social institutions emphasize the wisdom of seeking a peaceful solution to
conflict before a violent solution. Uchendu voices this social value when he states that the killing of the
first white man was foolish, for they did not even know what his intentions were.

15
 One of Okonkwo's cousins notices Nwoye among the Christians and informs his father. When Nwoye
returns, Okonkwo chokes him by the neck, demanding to know where he has been. Uchendu orders him to
let go of the boy. Nwoye leaves his father's compound and travels to a school to learn reading and writing.
Okonkwo wonders how he could ever have fathered such an effeminate, weak son.
The church wins many converts from the efulefu, title-less, worthless men. The missionaries also
rescue twins thrown into the Evil Forest. However, they never bring them to the village, so the villagers
do not take issue with them. The missionaries work hard at persuading their converts to allow the osu, the
outcasts, to join the church. The missionaries remain firm in allowing them to join the church, and the
hesitant converts settle their doubts. Almost all the osu join. One boasts that he killed the sacred python.
Okonkwo urges Mbanta to drive the church out with violence. They vote to ostracize them instead.
Okonkwo thinks bitterly that they are a "womanly clan." The man who boasted of his crime dies of an
illness, so the village ceases to ostracize the converts.
Before Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after his exile, he provides a large feast to thank his mother's
kinsmen. He regrets losing time in his rise to status and influence in his own clan, but he is also grateful to
his mother's family. His bounty surprises his kinsmen. An old man of the family praises Okonkwo's
devotion to the kinship bond. He expresses worry for the younger generation because Christianity is
winning people away from their families and traditions.
Okonkwo has planned since the first year in exile to re-build his compound on a larger scale. He plans
to take two more wives and get titles for his sons upon his return. He still regrets that Ezinma is a girl. She
understands him best of all his children. He requested that she wait to marry after his exile, and she
agreed. She persuaded her sister, Obiageli, to do the same. Okonkwo hopes to attract interest when he
returns with two beautiful, marriageable daughters.
However, Umuofia is much changed after seven years. The church has grown in strength, and the
white men subject the villagers to their justice system. They are harsh and arrogant. Okonkwo is disgusted
that his clan did not drive the white men and their church out. Obierka explains sorrowfully that the
church has weakened the ties of kinship, so it is too late.

Chapters 16-20

The introduction of the European missionaries is not entirely a sorrowful event. Rather, it contains
some comical elements. The villagers react to the humorous moments with relatively good nature, making
fun of the interpreter's dialect. They do not see the missionaries as a threat, and they do not react violently
like the village of Abame, even though the missionaries call their gods "false gods" outright. To the
missionaries credit, they do not forcibly thrust Christianity on the village as was often the case when
Europeans colonized indigenous peoples.
The arrival of Christianity did bring good things for some individuals. Nwoye is drawn to the religion
because it seems to answer his long held doubts about aspects of Ibo religion, specifically the
abandonment of newborn twin and Ikemefuna's death. The Christian church also offers refuge to lower
status individuals. A pregnant woman who has seen four sets of her newborn twin thrown away to die
seeks refuge to avoid the possible repetition of her misfortune. The church offers her an alternative
religious value system that will allow her children to live should she give birth to another set. Men
without titles find affirmation of their individual worth. The osu are able to leave their position as a
despised, ostracized caste and enter the church as equals with other converts.
Okonkwo wants Mbanta to drive away the Christians with threats of violence. However, he has a
vested interest in the rejection of Christianity. If Mbanta does not drive the missionaries away, his killing
of Ikemefuna loses part of its religious justification. The damage to his relationship with Nwoye seems
more pointless than before. Both matters become his mistake rather than the result of divine will.
Moreover, high status men like Okonkwo view the church as a threat because it undermines the cultural
value of their accomplishments. Their titles, their position as religious authorities, and clan leaders lose
some of their force and prestige if lower status men convert.
16
 Nwoye's conversion kills Okonkwo in spirit. Although he has always treated his son harshly, he also
had placed a great deal of hope in Nwoye's potential as a great clansman. His sons's actions also
undermine his status and prestige. However, it is Okonkwo's inability to adapt to the inevitable change
that colonialism brings that ultimately ends his relationship with Nwoye. He is the one who cannot accept
his son's decision. Nwoye is clearly pained by his father's angry reaction. However, despite the challenges
that the church represents, Mbanta is content to live and let live for the most part. Basically, the village
reacts according to Ibo commitment to peaceful, friendly relations. Conflicts arise when the converts and
the missionaries openly disrespect their customs, but the clan leaders vote for a peaceful reaction.
Okonkwo, on the other hand, wants to react violently. Although Ibo culture strongly emphasizes relatively
democratic values, Okonkwo is not happy with their decision to keep the peace. He wishes that the village
would act against their cultural values in order to preserve them. Essentially, Okonkwo's own insecurity is
the motivation for his reaction.
However, it is necessary to recognize that the arrival of the white colonists and their religion does
weaken the fundamental structure of Ibo culture. Ibo religion is intimately connected to kinship bonds.
Therefore, a devout Ibo individual automatically expresses strong loyalty to his kinsmen. Ancestral
worship plays an extremely important role in Ibo religion. Therefore, conversion to Christianity is partly a
rejection of the Ibo structure of kinship.
The Christians tell the Ibo that they are all brothers and sons of God. However, Christian religion
replaces the literal ties of kinship with a metaphorical kinship structure through God. They clearly
emphasize the metaphorical kinship with God over the literal kinship relations in the community. After his
argument with Okonkwo, Nwoye approaches a missionary and tells him that he wishes to go to school in
another village. Overjoyed, the missionary states, "Blessed is he who forsakes his father and his mother
for my sake. "Therefore the Christian church is well aware that the central obstacle to the success of its
missionaries is the strength of lbo kinship bonds. Therefore, it goes to great effort to weaken the literal
kinship bonds of the Ibo community to replace them with the metaphorical kinship bond through God.
Moreover, the white colonial government subjects Ibo individuals to their justice system. Therefore,
the colonial government often does not respect the Ibo culture's own advanced institutions for self-
government. Many of their punishments also destroy the offender whereas the Ibo's own justice system
tries very hard to allow the individual to atone for his wrongs without destroying him, or his relationship
to his community.
Okonkwo's feast is a tribute to the kinship between his family and his mother's family. However, it is
also a mourning rite, because the colonial government and religion will eventually weaken the mystical,
religious power and symbolism of the Ibo kinship structure. However, Ezinma remains a comfort to
Okonkwo throughout his troubles. She understands her importance to his position in the community, and
she has considerable influence over her sister. Moreover, she also has a quick temper like her father. Of
all his children, she resembles him the most.

Chapters 21-25

Mr. Brown is far more enlightened than the average white colonist. He is capable of respecting
traditional Ibo beliefs. He does not want his flock to antagonize the clan. Therefore, he seems to share
their belief in the value of peaceful, harmonious relations. Moreover, there is the possibility of cross
cultural communication. Mr. Brown not only befriends prominent clansman, but he also discusses religion
with at least one of them without insults and violence. However, like many white missionaries, Mr. Brown
is also guilty of holding an oversimplified view of indigenous religious beliefs. He seems to believe that
the Ibo worship their wooden and stone carvings. The Ibo do not worship wooden and stone carving as
gods. The carvings are used as a channel to the spiritual world. However, through peaceful, respectful
dialogue, Mr. Brown and Akunna learn more about the other's religious beliefs. They differ, but they also
share some things in common.

17
 The arrival of the Christian church and white colonists brought some goods things. The cross cultural
contact provided economic benefits to indigenous peoples. Moreover, the hospital does help in treating
some illness. Mr. Brown urges the Ibo to send their children to school. He is keenly aware of the trend in
the colonial government to rob the Ibo of self-government. The changes brought about by the cross-
cultural contact are inevitable. He urges the Ibo to adapt so that they do not lose all autonomy. However, it
is difficult to see this phenomenon in an entirely positive light. The colonial government does not relate to
the Ibo on the their own cultural terms. The Ibo must relate to the colonial government on European
terms. The colonial government punishes individuals for abandoning newborn twins to die without
making an effort to understand the cultural and religious tradition behind the practice.
Mr. Smith causes a great deal of conflict between the church and the clan with his refusal to
understand and respect traditional Ibo culture. Mr. Brown was far more lenient with the converts' retention
of some of their old beliefs. He did not draw as clear a line between the converts and the Ibo community.
Mr. Smith, however, demands a complete rejection of the converts' old religious beliefs. His inability to
practice mutual respect and tolerance incites a dangerous zealous fervor in some of the more eager
converts. His attitude contributes to Enoch's insult to traditional Ibo culture. Moreover, the Christian
church renamed converts with Christian names, emphasizing their difference from the traditional Ibo
community. Therefore, in many ways the church exacerbated conflicts by demanding that converts
literally and symbolically cut their ties to traditional Ibo religion.
The language barrier allows a crucial misunderstanding to take place. Mr. Smith does not know that
his interpreter chose to reinvent his statement of defiance against the egwugwu's plan to burn the church.
Therefore, he believes that the egwugwu are openly showing disrespect for the church and his authority.
The colonial government likewise does not attempt to understand the cultural influence behind the
egwugwu's actions.
Okonkwo's desire to react violently to the Christian church is not completely motivated by a desire to
preserve his clan's cultural traditions. He had wanted to make a big splash with his return to his village.
However, the church has changed his natal village so much that his return does not incite the interest he
wanted. Therefore, his motivations are also deeply personal. His humiliation in the jail is also a
motivation for wanted revenge. However, wars of revenge, or rather "wars of blame" are not just wars.
The Ibo religious beliefs forbid such a war. Okonkwo does not wait for his clansmen to decide their
course of action before he kills the court messenger. He acts rashly without thinking. Therefore Unoka's
words regarding the bitterness of failing alone comes to have real significance in Okonkwo's life. He
values his personal success and status over the survival of the community, and he fails alone. Despite his
great success and prestige, he dies in ignominy like his titleless, penniless father.
The D.C. is a pompous little man who thinks he understands indigenous African cultures. His book
will be full of European stereotypes of native Africans and European cultural hubris. His paragraph on
Okonkwo will be inaccurate and self-serving like so many European portraits of native Africans. Achebe's
novel is an answer to such inaccurate stereotypes. Okonkwo is a tragic hero of his people. Despite his
flaws, he is a complex individual who represents the complexity of his culture, and his story is deserving
of far more than a single paragraph in some white colonist's book. Okonkwo's story is an Ibo narrative,
not a European one.
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