Resumo de Things Fall Apart

Professor Achebe?s story of Okonkwo, published in 1958, is set in Nigeria
in the last century, when Tribal laws and customs were still in place and few
white men had put in an appearance.

Okonkwo is the main character whose pride and fears are theme of this
tragedy.

As a child, he had learnt to despise his father, Unoka, who was weak and
of no importance in the Ibo tribe. He was a debtor & owed many people, a
lazy & ineffective farmer who lacked ambition, despite family responsibilities
who only wanted to play music & drink palm wine. Okonkwo had had to take
care of the family at a young age.

He, Okonkwo, however, was driven
to succeed. By eighteen he had made a name for himself as a champion wrestler,
amongst the nine villages. He seemed fearless but his greatest fear was himself
lest he in anyway resemble his father in failure or weakness.

For the next twenty or so years he drove himself to achieve. He built up
an impressive & prosperous Yam plantation. He had a large compound, with
three wives and children whom he ruled with a heavy hand. As a man of
consequence, he began to achieve his dream to be included with the tribal
elders. The people found him moody, hot
tempered and he could be brusque with those he considered to have achieved
little in life. But they were aware of his personal struggle against poverty
& misfortune and knew that his success was through his own efforts. And
therefore he was accorded respect. So it was he who was sent as a war emissary
to a neighboring tribe to obtain compensation satisfaction for the murder of
one of the Umuofia wives. He was successful & returned with a replacement
(wife) for the wronged husband as well as a young boy slave named Ikemefuna,
whom the elders left in his care until they had decided what to do with him.

But this is a story of how Okonkwo?s pride & fears pushed him to do
things that would displease the gods and bring about his downfall.

His first fall from grace was when he disobeyed the tribal rule of the
Week of Peace by beating his youngest wife who had been irresponsible. He was
the first person in living memory to have broken the sacred Peace. He was
ordered to make sacrifices to appease the Earth goddess which he did. Although
he was repentant inwardly, he did not show it outwardly and people felt that he
had no respect for the Clan gods.

The second incident was three years later, when a great & respected
Elder, Ezeudu, approached Odonkwo & informed him that the Tribal Elders had
decreed that the slave boy Ikemefuna was to be killed and that he, Okonkwo, was
not to have anything to do with the boy?s death as he was like a father to him.
Naturally, Okonkwo felt that this would portray weakness on his part and
disregarded the warning. In fact, when Ikemefuna ran to him for help, he,
Okonkwo, defiantly delivered the final blow.

Again a village elder (& friend) Obierika warned him that his
actions had displeased the Earth goddess, who would bring retribution, and that
his pride was a weakness. But Okonkwo again ignored the advice, as he was a man
of action and not a great deal of thought. Not long afterwards, as fate would
have it, the great & respected elder, Ezeudu, died, and a great tribal
funeral was held for him. As the guns fired the last salute, Okonkwo?s gun exploded
and the shrapnel killed the sixteen year old son of the dead man. In a matter
of seconds Okonkwo?s life changed dramatically.

For the third time, he had committed a crime against the goddess &
even though it was inadvertent, he would have exile himself from the Clan for
seven years & go to his Mother?s people. Obierika stored his clams for him,
but the rest of his Compound & animals were destroyed to erase the bad chi.

In exile, Okonkwo was in despair. He had almost achieved his great
passion to be a lord of the clan only for things to fall apart, & he was
cast out. He did not have the imagination to see his part in it.

Although he prospered amongst his Mother?s people, it had no meaning for
him. He used the time to plan his return to Umuofia in a significant way & regain
some of his pride.

However, on his return, circumstances had changed dramatically, &
the white man?s laws ruled and the clans accepted this. All his plans to become
a significant part of his community came to nought, as the tribal elders had to
relinquish their power to the white government & their laws.

After a humiliating run-in with the new white government, he lashed out
& killed one of messengers in anger and frustration, and when he realized
the result would only be further humiliation, he committed suicide.

Resumos Relacionados