Fate and Free Will in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
The tragic story of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart offers many examples of Igbo beliefs regarding free will and fate. Religious life for the Igbo was thoroughly intertwined with secular life. According to the text, the Igbo believed in fate; that nothing happened by chance as every happenstance was the result of Chukwu or God's will. Yet the Igbo also believed that ancestors, lesser gods, and their own chi or personal god also influenced the lives of the living. Thus, if an individual lived in harmony with his ancestors, lesser gods and ultimately Chukwu, that individual would be blessed with good fortune, health and an abundance of children. If, however, an individual lived in disharmony with the deities, misfortune and untimely death would result. (Ohadike xxxii) Free will also affected an individual's life. To an outsider, this dual philosophy of fate versus free will may appear to be a paradox, but one must remember the tragic vision of Western tradition, both secular and religious, that dictates a similar paradox.
It is important to note that Achebe was a product of both traditional Igbo society and the colonizing British culture. Therefore, the narrative is influenced by two strikingly opposed philosophies. The tragic hero, Okonkwo, may have been crafted to express, not only the Igbo philosophy of harmony, but the outsider interpretation of a seemingly paradoxical belief system. Achebe's representation of Okonkwo may symbolize the collision of these two conflicting philosophies.
The synergy between Igbo spirituality and secular life suggests that harmony among members of society was just as important as h...
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Though one may attempt to hypothesize about the representation of fate and free will in the Igbo belief system, the Igbo themselves, as well as the non-Igbo, may interpret these hypotheses very differently. It is quite possible that one could argue that Okonkwo's experience was the result of his own pride and inability to abide by societal norms. On the other hand, Okonkwo's plight can be seen as the result of bad luck and the voracious exploitation by the British. The push-pull dynamics and simultaneity of fate versus free will are inherently driving forces behind the mystery of human existence, and, thus, may not be paradoxical. Achebe's novel is rich in possible intentions and interpretations. It is not a novel easily dissected and labeled.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Oxford: Heinemann,1996.
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
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The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is widely recognized by New Critics as one of the greatest novels of its age for its aesthetic artistry. In the Portrait, a powerful autobiographical novel of bildungsroman, commonly known as a coming-of-age story, that follows the life of Irish protagonist Stephen Dedalus, Joyce portraits his momentous transition to adulthood as a passage of psychological struggle towards his ultimate philosophical awakening and his spiritual rebirth as an artist. Most visibly in Chapter Four of the novel, Stephen Dedalus, after the denial of his own priesthood, goes on to seek his artistic personality through his secluded journey amongst a myriad of natural elements. Dramatizing the Stephen’s progression towards his artistic revelation, Joyce deployed numerous image patterns that together insinuate the spiritual transformation of Stephen Dedalus into an “impalpable imperishable being” out of the earthly body of which he is composed of (Joyce 108). Specifically, Stephen’s intellectual transfiguration is largely connected with the symbolic connotations of the clouds depicted throughout his journey, which alludes to his transcending soul, wafting across the celestial heaven yet hovering intimately close to the earth that he belongs.
Iyasẹre, Solomon Ogbede. “Okonkwo's Participation in the Killing of His ‘Son’ in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Study of Ignoble Decisiveness.” Understanding Things Fall Apart: Selected Essays and Criticism. Troy, NY: Whitson, 1998. 129-40. Print.
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Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart explores the struggle between old traditions within the Igbo community as well as Christianity and "the second coming" it brings forth. While on the surface, it appears the novel narrows its focus to a single character, Okonkno and his inner battles, one can read deeper into the text and find an array of assorted conflicts in the realm on human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. society, and society vs. society. For the purposes of this paper I shall focus on the labyrinth of human vs. human and human vs. society in the framework of the role of women in Igbo society and how men assign and dictate these roles. I will also briefly explain the importance of women in terms of motherhood and wifedom.
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...lly as [he] can, using for [his] defence the only arms [he] allow [himself] to use - silence, exile, and cunning" (226-269). By discussing how education affects Stephen from a child to a young man, Joyce has shown the reader Stephen's development as an artist and human being.