Change In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Life is a road with infinity paths, among these paths is change. The character Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was driven by the fear of losing himself in the whirlwind know as change. He needed the village of Umuofia, his home, to remain stuck in time because he measured his own self-worth by the system and the structure of Umuofia. Okonkwo required this order because of the ruined childhood, he had due to his father, their strained relationship, and this was the underlying cause for all his fears and drive for success. When the cultural and political structure of Umuofia changed, as it happens in society. Okonkwo was unable to adapt; the life he desired could not survive the collision with western culture, leading it to collapse.

The unpredictability of receiving food, gave rise to fear and embarrassment, both of which Okonkwo blamed on his father. Furthermore, when Okonkwo went out to Umoifa he discovered that people held similar views of Unoka, leading to further justification of his father. When he became old enough, Okonkwo began farming his own yams because “he had to support his mother and two sisters […] and supporting his mother also meant supporting his father” (Achebe 31). Okonkwo’s self-reliance was admired, even valued by the community where “age was respected […] but achievement was revered” (17); this sense of admiration gives Okonkwo self-value and the respect of his peers, further pushing him away from his father. The respect and self-value he earned become synonymous with acceptance into the community, which as his life’s goal stretched to point where he become a symbol for manliness to express the villages. If he was a part of the community, he was admired, safe, successful, and unlike his father, his life had