“What crime had they committed? The Earth had decreed that they were an offense on the land and must be destroyed. “
Nothing in Achebe’s novel is simplistic, and the quote I chose to illustrate it is a good example of this: far from describing the fate of the Igbo people, oppressed by white colonists ignorant of customs of the land, it applies to the traditional destiny of twins, abandoned at birth for being decreed “abominations” and left to die a horrendous death in the evil forest.
Things Fall Apart is full of complexities: written as a rebuke to the mid-twentieth century white vision of Africa and colonialism, it takes its title from an Irish poet (Yeats); a harsh indictment of Christian missionaries, it shows how their religion was an instrument of acceptance for outcasts of traditional society; a lament for tradition, it also highlights its shortcomings and violence. This sensitivity is the novel’s best trait, making it impossible to discount as partisan, and probably a very important argument for its immediate impact at release. I found it to also make the novel slightly less compelling from a story point of view, making empathy with the characters even more difficult than it already was from their distance to me (a woman from post-colonial France, an agnostic and a hater of conflicts). What remains is a thoughtful, intelligent discussion, and the memory of a writing more rhythmic and somewhat less melodic in language than I often associate with gifted novelist. That last point also is a clear intent from Achebe, in homage to the intrinsic beauty of the Igbo language, misunderstood as it was by colonists.
The story itself is that of Okonkwo, a man on a quest of strength and respectability. His entire life is built in opposition to that of his father, a man seen as weak for his lack of material ambition and leisurely tastes. In contrast, Ononkwo is hard-working and inflexible to the point of violence in his moral convictions. Both men however are victims of a contrary fate, dying alone and their bodies denied a clan burial, Okonkwo as punishment for his sin (in the Igbo tradition) of suicide, his father for dying of a taboo disease.
Okonkwo’s fate is perhaps even harder for the long struggle that has been his life. A hard worker, he is marked by ill luck from the start: the year he first attempts to make his fortune (by planting yams lent by a local strong man) is one of astounding adverse weather. Still Okonkwo perseveres, and soon makes a fortune sufficient to live comfortably with three wives. His status in the clan rising, he is asked to take care of a prisoner from another tribe. The young man, Ikemefuna, becomes a loved member of his family and a model for Okonkwo’s own son, the gentle Nwoye: tragedy strikes again when the clan orders the murder of Ikemefuna. Driven by fear of weakness, Okonkwo not only accepts, but also participates in the execution despite warnings not to – a treason he will pay the price of depression for.
As Okonkwo starts to get better, things sour again when he is the accidental cause of the death of one of his friend’s sons. A seven-year exile with his family ensues, and when finally they return to the clan, it is to find the village slowly infiltrated by white missionaries. As Nwoye joins the ranks of the converted and a series of skirmishes between old and new rules take place, Okonkwo’s anger mounts, until finally he tries to confront the white men despite the tribe’s reticence. Defeated, Okonkwo finally hangs himself before he can be executed, a final act of defiance that signs his definitive ostracism from the clan.
For a book closing on the death of its main character (and on the subsequent meditation of the European District Commissioner who, seemingly unaffected by the reality of the scene, dreams of a tamed Africa), Things Fall Apart ends with a singular feeling of unresolved questions. The Commissioner’s dreams of a quick and total “pacification” (how condescending!) of Africa are as doomed as Okonkwo’s dreams were. What does the future hold? The narrator does not seem to have any better answer than his creations.