Unique's Stuff

George Dike
Mrs. Stephanie whetstone
Eng. 261
Nov. 20th 2012
The Demise of Umofia and its Culture
The book I choose to write about was Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe as a response to Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in which Conrad portrayed the Africans he encountered on his trip as savages. Peter Monaghan research shows that “Achebe pointed out that Conrad had deprived his African characters of any voice, granting them only eight caricaturing words in the whole short novel. Pointing, still today, to those meager eight words, he says: "That 's all that Africa has, of language; the rest is screaming, shrieking, howling -- animal sounds, you see." He wrote Things Fall Apart to give the Africans the voice that they were deprived in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Chinua Achebe focuses on the protagonist Okonkwo , whose major concerns about not ending up like his father. It shows his rise from the beginning, his trials and tribulation, and how he almost suffered defeat trying to grow his yams. He finally succeeded married several wives and even threw Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling fight. His strength became his weakness as he fought to stay relevant in his society through out the novel even when faced by certain obstacles caused by his ego. He ushered in the demise of his society through his own death when he committed suicide. The novel Things Fall Apart was fundamental in showing a different perspective of the Africans and their culture as a whole. Chinua Achebe was able to present an unbiased view of their traditions and interest and beliefs of Umofia.
Things Fall Apart could have been written differently by Chinua, but instead he chose to write it with an ending that entails his tragic hero Okonkwo falling from grace and committing suicide, a questionable ending that but was used to depict the end of the village of Umofia, and their culture as they fell into the hands of colonization.
The fall of Umofia started through his people, and Okonwo, who was the protoganist in the novel had problems therough out the novel as he fought to combact his issues that starts from his life as a young man trying to live a different life than that of his father who was lazy died without any titles and had to be buried in the evil forest. Patrick C. Nnoromele The Plight OF A Hero In Achebe 's Things Fall Apart agrees that “The first challenge Okonkwo was expected to overcome was his father 's reputation--in this case his father had none. However, he was determined to succeed in whatever respect his father had failed, knowing full well that among his "people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father"(1996, 6)”. In an attempt to be different he became egotistical, harsh and violent man that beat his wives and broke the laws of the land that he once tried to impress by his greatness. Patrick C. Nnoromele also agrees that “Okonkwo was a man of few words. He allowed his actions to speak for him. However, the cumulative effects of all these things led to his eventual suicide. This is the kind of dilemma one confronts on the road to heroism and it can be overwhelming”. Charles Larson author of Okonkwo in his time also agrees that “Achebe takes great pains to demonstrate that the cracks within Okonkwo 's character are not so much external as internal, manifestations of those aspects of his being that have been his greatest strengths: acting without thinking; never showing any emotion besides anger; inflexibility; fear of being perceived as weak and, therefore, womanly. Slowly, these characteristics that have served Okonkwo so well in the past will begin to alter the direction of his life.” Larson is saying that although he became the man that he wanted to be the desire that he had to make himself great, became surpassed by a new hunger and desire to make his family and village great without thinking that he was not the only voice of Umofia and must allow the village to make decisions as a whole. His son Nwoye was scared to cry knowing that Ikemefuna has been killed but hads to fight back tears because of his father’s values. Patrick C. Nnoromele also agrees that “Nwoye would have loved to cry, but couldn 't, because Okonkwo had tried to raise him up like himself. In Okonkwo 's world, real men do not show effeminate emotion. Crying is not a masculine attribute.”
The death of Umofia and his culture was symbolized by the suicide of Okonkwo. Umofia culture and beliefs were already on the verge of destruction in pre colonial times due to its feelings about the unnecessary laws that umofia had in place. It was also because people like Okonkwo who broke traditions and rules such as the peace week by beating his wife for not having the food ready before tending to her own affairs. The society views were not strong enough to fight the intruders that tried to influence their culture. Patrick C. Nnoromele also agrees umofia did not fight back with Okonkwo by saying that “One cannot some-how lay the blame on Okonkwo. His action at the end, hasty though it was, was quite in accordance with the traditional values. It was an act of conviction, almost religious, and the end vindicated the character of Okonkwo, who emerges as the lone representative of the Igbo value system while the entire community lay around him in a shambles. (Sarma 1993, 69)” He was saying that Okonwo’s suicide was the only way to get his point across to his people. Adélék Adéẹ̀kọ́, author of Okonkwo, Textual Closure, Colonial Conquest agrees about the death of Umofia by saying “Suicide, according to this episode, is the way Umuofia dies. It is not crushed by military strength—a fate that Okonkwo would have preferred, for after his imprisonment by colonial officials he tells himself, not that his people must win a war, but that ‘[i]f Umuofia decided on war, all would be well’(TFA 183).” Okonkwo knew the end was near for his culture and his people, but he would have preferred to die fighting a war than to just allow his culture to die without objecting to it.
The culture of Umofia had too many issues that included the killing of babies and permission from the gods to be able to go to war and also the killing of Ikemefuna, the adopted son of Okonkwo that did not make any sense being that he was killed after becoming fully integrated with his new society and people. Chima Anyadike, author of Duality And Resilience In Chinua Achebe 's agrees that Umofia helped in his demise by quoting an interview he had which Chinua and his response to the success of the colonization of Umofia, he responded by saying “A culture can be damaged, can be turned from its course, not only by foreigners. . . . [A] culture can be mutilated, can be destroyed by its own people, under certain situations. . . . The Igbo culture was not destroyed by Europe. It was disturbed. It was disturbed very seriously. But... a culture which is healthy will often survive. (page 2) Chinua achebe was attesting to the fact that Umofia was the cause of their own death.
The honesty of Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart is debatable because it was written in response to the Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in which he portrayed the Africans he encountered on his trip as savages. Many have questioned why Chinua didn’t just write about the goodness of Africa and its people, their wonderful lands, sights to see and so forth, but instead he gave a realistic view of the life of its inhabitants, their culture, traditions and goals and also their demise. He wanted to show that his people can be compared to other people in other countries and continent. He showed their own problems and also their joy, pain and their glory. Peter Monaghan in an interview with Chinua as he expresses his views to his choice of writing Things Fall Apart the way he did, Chinua explained “"There are some very hard things going on there," says Achebe. "I knew that I had to be truthful. I don 't know why, because it 's just as easy to make the thing up a little. But I refused. I went out of my way to pick up, to find out, to learn as much of the bad things that were going on, and bring them in, deliberately." His characters, he says, "have a dark side, if you like. But I dare you to say they are not human, in spite of that." Chinua felt it was the best way to write the novel a carefully orchestrated truth about their culture and their aspirations and goals.

Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1958. Print.
Adéẹ̀kọ́ Adélék. "Okonkwo, Textual Closure, Colonial Conquest." Research In African Literatures 42.2 (2011): 72-86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Anyadike, Chima. "Duality And Resilience In Chinua Achebe 's." Philosophia Africana 10.1 (2007): 49-58. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Larson, Charles R. "Okonkwo In His Time." World & I 13.3 (1998): 298. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Monaghan, Peter. "Coming Together." Chronicle Of Higher Education 54.22 (2008): B6. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012.
Nnoromele, Patrick C. "The Plight Of A Hero In Achebe 's Things Fall Apart." College Literature 27.2 (2000): 146. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012

Cited: Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. London: Heinemann, 1958. Print. Adéẹ̀kọ́ Adélék. "Okonkwo, Textual Closure, Colonial Conquest." Research In African Literatures 42.2 (2011): 72-86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. Anyadike, Chima. "Duality And Resilience In Chinua Achebe 's." Philosophia Africana 10.1 (2007): 49-58. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. Larson, Charles R. "Okonkwo In His Time." World & I 13.3 (1998): 298. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. Monaghan, Peter. "Coming Together." Chronicle Of Higher Education 54.22 (2008): B6. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012. Nnoromele, Patrick C. "The Plight Of A Hero In Achebe 's Things Fall Apart." College Literature 27.2 (2000): 146. Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Nov. 2012