What Is Things Fall Apart Igbo's Identity

1021 Words3 Pages

Haille LaCroix
Phelps
English 2H
16 Dec 2014
Things Fell Apart
Chinua Achebe interprets the interaction of the white men and Ibo as an overall identity changer of the colonizers and the colonized by the fact that the natives were becoming brain-washed slaves, and the white men were transforming into tyrannical brutes. Set in pre-colonial Nigeria, Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart, the life of an extraordinary Ibo man, Okonkwo, flips completely upside down. The novel is split into three parts, the first describing his family and personal history, the customs and society of the Ibo, and the second and third sections introduce the influence of British colonialism and Christian missionaries on the Igbo society. The clash of cultures, …show more content…

Okonkwo, being raised in a society founded on masculine power, despised the white man's ways, and therefore swore to himself that if he would ever be forced to convert, he would take his own life on his own terms. As Dwight Garner of the New York Times said, “The changes that Christian missionaries and other white men have brought are intolerable to him” (Garner 1). Garner picks out the message Achebe is presenting, and understands its meaning. Okonkwo’s oath to himself can be related back to “Part 1”, when Ekwefi (Okonkwo’s wife), tells Ezinma (Okonkwo’s daughter) the story of the tortoise that wanted to fly. In the story, Tortoise, who was “full of cunning” (96), wished to fly among the birds. Once he achieves this by his “sweet tongue” (97), the tortoise abuses his privilege and disgraces the birds culture. In hopes of revenge, the birds create a plan that will either kill or mutilate the tortoise, “and then like the sound of his cannon he crashed on the compound” (99). The tortoise’s shell shatters, and therefore serves as a didactical story that represent Okonkwo’s life. The tortoise is Okonkwo, who believes he can do basically everything he wants with a little consequence or argument. The birds are the colonists, who give little, but in the end, take away the privileges

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