When the Pride Escapes?

In 1958, one of the most successful African novels of all times was published. “Things fall apart” was written by Chinua Achebe a Nigerian Novelist who had experienced first-handed the overwhelming tenacity that the white missionaries and their religion had. 

Chinua Achebe wrote this novel based in what he experienced as one of the many African natives who saw the terminal arrival of the white man and their Christianism. His parents themselves were Africans natives converted to Christianism, they abandoned their old religion, their old Gods in order to join the white man’s religion. 

 

"We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die." -European Missioners introducing themselves.

 

This work reflects mostly how overwhelming and deadly was the arrival of the white European missioners. As Achebe stated himself, “I wanted the story to be true”. Hence, even though this is a non-fictional story, the story attempted to show things just as they happened.  

The story is divided into 25 chapters and two major parts. The first part fulfills the role of telling how was the life of a native African village, their ways of life, their religion, etc., before the arrival of the white men. The second part dealt primarily with this “inconvenient” arrival.

 

Through the entire story, we follow the manly-prideful-warrior figure of Okonkwo. He was a warrior a man known throughout the entire village and beyond, for he in his youth, as proven to be a champion at wrestling and henceforth considered a true warrior by the villagers. Early in the story, it is explained that his pride is actually born of hate, hate for his father, who was known to be a lazy, squandering, weakling, effeminate and disrespected man. That was how the people of the villages and Okonkwo thought of this man. 

For this reason, Okonkwo decides that he will not be like his father. He will be a man worthy of his ancestors and his respected earthly Gods. Furthermore, none of his sons will be like their grandfather, they must also be men and women worthy of the land they were born on.  

 

I found this to be quite ironical since in a way it was his father’s actions what made Okonkwo the man he was. Because if his father would have been a regular man of the village, Okonkwo would have probably been the same as the other kids, a lazy, weakling man living at the cost of his father. In this sense, Okonkwo’s hate for his father made him these prideful men. 

   

“To show affection was a sign of weakness, the only thing worth demonstrating was strength." –Okonkwo

 

The more I read about this character, the more I started to wonder what kind of man he really was. Was he a Psychopath that would allowed one of his closed one to be killed in cold blood because the village demanded so? Was he a Hero (Hemingway’s kind of hero) who would follow his code without delay? Was he a tender Tyrant who would strike his family down regularly because of the rage he kept inside? Or perhaps just a man of his land who would act as he must because that is how his world worked? The only thing I was sure was that he was a prideful man, as prideful as they come. Proud of his religion, of his people, of his village and of himself.

After the white men arrived at Okonkwo’s village, little by little they started converting the people of the village to Christianism. Not far after, most of the villagers had converted to this religion. Tossing aside all their previous beliefs about their Gods and traditions. 

“He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. 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 we have fallen apart."-Obierika. 

 

Okonkwo being as proud as he was, found himself overcame with rage born from the idea that his own people have become “weakling effeminates” that prefer to join the white man’s religion and abandon their native beliefs and ancestors. Even his first son had converted to Christianism. Due to all this, Okonkwo could not handle his world anymore. After some specific events, he came to the conclusion that the world in which he was living was not worthy anymore. The final Crisis was here, thus, he escaped, he killed himself.

 

Now, it is here, in the end when the story becomes blurry to me, Okonkwo was an adamant-steel-prideful man. That is how he is shown throughout the entire story, a man who would not back down or escape from anything. But in the end… he commits suicide? 

After reading a few analyses, it became evident to me that what the author intended to demonstrate was that even the most prideful of men would chose to take his life provided the situation (his religion been desecrated, and the shame of his people). However, Okonkwo was likely to be the proudest man in the entire village, and the simple fact of killing himself would show a sign of cowardice, and a man as he would have never taken a run for. He was not a good father, he was not a good husband maybe he was not even a good neighbor, but a coward? That idea does not fit. Moreover, at some point it is mention in the novel that those who dare to kill themselves are a shame for the land, the Gods and the ancestors. And one of the things that kept Okonkwo alive, beside his rage, was his beliefs. 

"…but the law of the land must be obeyed."-Okonkwo.

 

He was shown as a man that never, for any possible reason, would escape a fight. And that is what suicide is, an escape from a problem you are not strong enough to deal with. So how is it possible that a man as prideful and vainglorious as he would have committed such atrocity against his Gods, beliefs and ancestors? 

This is what troubles me; because as I went through the story, I notice that Okonkwo would have never walked away from anything, he would always prefer to fight or to die fighting. As a proof of this, in the final meeting, Okonkwo was eager that his village might come to decide about going to Holy War against the white men because of what they had previously done. However, he was truly excited because it would not matter the decision that his clan would make, He was going to war regardless of his clan effeminate opinion. Hence, the fact of Okonkwo killing himself works metaphorically since it shows how the shame and weakness of his entire village and the tenacity of the white men and their “disrespectful religion” finally overcame even pride itself. 

Now I ask you… Can Pride escape a man?                     

Bibliography:

•  Alan R Friesen., (2006). “Okonkwo’s Suicide as an Affirmative Act: Do Things Really Fall Apart?” University of Regina.
• Alam F., (2010). “Reading Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Ecocritically”. University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• Michael Kirkpatrick. (2015, August 13th). “Chinua Achebe Interview” Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqeWAVlps0U

• PBS NewsHour. (2015, August 13th). “Achebe Discusses Africa 50 Years After 'Things Fall Apart'”. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHF_w0gkyiI