Son of a failure

This fascinating book came out in 1958 and it takes place in Nigeria among the Igbo people. It is said that Achebe took the title of his novel from W. Yeats poem “The Second Coming”. One of Yeats’ inspirations was the Christian doctrine which says that Jesus’s return will make the history of the world move forward, followed by the revelation and the eternal reign of God. This Christian worldwide belief was taken by Yeats as an allegory in “The Second Coming” to refer to chaotic changes of World War II era because that for him it could be compared to the imminent return of Christ. Achebe’s novel matches with the overall inspiration in Yeats’s poem, which is why it’s not surprising for anybody when Achebe uses words taken from the first paragraph of the poem as the title for his own novel.  As a way to exemplify, here you can read an extract from Yeats’s poem:

“…Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned…” (Yeats, 1990)

 

According to a publishing by Sallah & Okonjo-Iweala (2003) found in a publishing of Saine (2005), this book describes the encounter and social changes which took place in Africa after the European colonization, losing the “community innocence”. African traditional values were transformed by the introduction of Christianity and the colonial policy of divide to conquer faced relatives and neighbors.

Things Fall Apart tells us the story of Okonkwo, a man who is part of the Igbo society. To my mind, two stories can be found in this book. Both about Okonkwo of course but, on the one hand, it shows the conflict between society --as a powerful concept-- and the individual. On the other hand, it shows the crush of cultures and the falling of Okonkwo’s “empire” when the European missioners arrived.  In here, we know about Umuofia culture, a traditional Igbo tribe. While you read the novel you can notice how the community disintegrates as a consequence of its internal weakness (for me, Europeans also took part in this rupture).

I want to focus my attention on the main character of this novel: Okonkwo, since he is a very interesting person.  I really love the way in which Achebe present this character: endowed not only with a strong personality but also an excellent farmer and a skilled fighter who has earned the respect of his community through his personal effort. Throughout this book, it is feasible to say that the main goal in Okonkwo’s life is being different from his father whom Okonkwo always saw as a weak man. He is always avoiding failure because he does not want to be like his father. This is why Okonkwo is always trying to show his masculinity, due to for him, his father was effeminate and lazy. That is the reason why Okonkwo’s life is dominated by his fear of failure and weakness. This is really sad because for me it is all the way around about my parents. I mean, I want to follow their patterns since I consider is the best way to achieve success. I guess that most of people believe that.

I get the impression that the mission of Okonkwo’s life is to be the most important man in his clan, and he puts a lot of effort to do so. The way in which Okonkwo is always proving that he is not going to be a failure like his father is admirable.

"Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man but his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness."  (Achebe, 1958:9)

To wrap up, the idea of Okonkwo of being totally different from his father is what called my attention. This nightmare of failure that is constantly affecting someone’s life is really tragic and this is why I was interested, I guess. I have my own opinion about why Okonkwo kills himself but I would like you tell me what is yours  and I would love to know your reaction to the final paragraph of the book.

References

Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers.

Innes, C. L. (1979). Language, Poetry and Doctrine in Things Fall Apart. Critical Perspective on Chinua Achebe.

Saine, A (2005). Review of Tijan M. Sallah, and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 'Chinua Achebe, Teacher of Light: A Biography' African Studies Review

Smith, S. (1990). WB Yeats: A critical introduction. Rowman & Littlefield.

Yeats, W. (1990). The Literature Network. Recuperado el 12 de 08 de 2015, de The Literature Network: http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/780/