Igbo Society In Things Fall Apart By Chinau Achebe

By examining precolonial, African societies, an illustration of the traditional methods of governance or tribal organization, belief systems, environmental management and external relations can be established. Chinau Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, traces the institutional structures of the Igbo people of Southeast Nigeria in the late 19th century from the precolonial era, while introducing the changes brought by the start of the imposition of British colonialism. The novel effectively characterizes the Igbo’s tribal organization and subsequent structures that create the basis of legitimacy. The novel consists of a journey through the plight of a village strongman, Okonkwo, of the fictional Igbo village named Umuofia. Okonkwo demonstrates a clear definition of the Igbo patriarchal society in which masculinity and strength are determinants of prestige, gender norms while belief systems dictate law as well as the incompatibility of traditionalism with colonialism. Achebe illustrates a comprehensive overview of Igbo society through the narrative of the protagonist where the challenges that colonialism brings only serve to reinforce the definition of Igbo society.

Igbo society is revealed to be extremely masculine-driven, in terms of actions, and patriarchal in governance structure. The novel’s depiction of Okonkwo’s personality highlights the concept of masculinity as desirable in society. The protagonist “ruled his household with a heavy hand,” dominated his many wives and children, needed to present himself as strong in order to avoid “failure and…weakness” and that for a man to be perceived as a weak, woman or “agbala” was socioeconomic suicide (Achebe, 1959, p. 14). Men lead the household on the local level and, as the Igbo a...

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... for women. The adoption of a new belief system, Christianity, may have been used as an institutional tool in order to reinforce a patriarchal society (Strayer, 1976, p. 8-9). After Okonkwo’s exile from his society and loss of his societal standing, the adoption of Christianity in his homeland could be seen as a threat as it reduces the possibility for his rise in the previously established institution that he fought his whole life to be a part of. This explains his resistance to a foreign institution that contradicted his established beliefs and subsequent jailing as a notable resistance leader, eventually resulting in his ultimate act of cultural desecration, suicide (Achebe, 1959, p. 146). For some, if their institution is seen to change from the past and they are left out of the new structure, the new framework is contrary to their cognitive dissonance dilemma.