Things Fall Apart

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the main character, Okonkwo attempts to salvage his village’s traditions and customs by killing a messenger. The messenger was making an effort to stop a meeting that the Ibo people were having concerning how the white people were destroying their culture by implementing their own. Before the white people introduced their customs, the Ibo people were polytheistic. The Ibo people exiled certain people who were twins, obanjes (a wicked child that dies and enters their mother’s womb to be born again), etc. The people who were exiled fled to the Christian church because the white people accepted them and saw the exiled as their equals; therefore additional people slowly begun converting to monotheism as time went on. The Ibo people were oblivious to how many people then began converting to the new religion. As a result the Ibo people’s culture significantly changed. Although Okonkwo desperately tried to save his culture, he was “too little, too late” because “he (the whites) has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart,” explained Obierka to Okonkwo after his exile.
The Ibo people who were exiled were relieved to finally find a place where they were accepted, therefore, they began telling their friends and families about the new religion, Christianity. The white people then began singing and preaching in order to have their religion heard. “We have now built a church, and we want you all to come in every seventh day to worship the true God”, declared Mr. Kiaga. By simply inviting everyone from the tribe, the white people converted a plethora of people into their religion. Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye, converted to the new religion; Nwoye defied his father to join the white church which shows how the white people have severely impacted this society.
When the white people first came to Okonkwo’s village, they were paid no attention. The villagers viewed the white people as unimportant, so they gave them land in the Evil Forest. The Evil Forest was said to kill anyone who set foot within it, but the white people didn’t die. As a result, they began building on the land. The white people began implementing traditions from their culture such as the church, hymns, and supermarkets. The Ibo people did nothing to make their promotion cease. The white people continued preaching and accepting whomever took an interest in their religion. The Ibo people showed ignorance to the fact that the white people have the potential to take over.
Okonkwo was exiled for seven years after accidentally shooting a clansman. By the time Okonkwo returned, the village had already converted. The villagers didn’t practice their old traditions such as praying for their chi or the earth goddess. The Evil Forest was no longer feared as it was in the old traditions. War, greatness, and fighting were no longer deemed great. The culture did a complete one hundred-eighty degree turn. By the time Okonkwo returned from his exile and attempted to go back to their forefathers traditions, most of the village was already brainwashed in thinking that the white peoples God was the supreme and the only God.
Although Okonkwo desperately tried to save his culture, he was “too little, too late” because “he (the white people) has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart,” explained Obierka to Okonkwo after his exile. To think one person who was seen as petty and unworthy of being recognized can start a new revolution and completely change an entire village’s way of life. After Okonkwo murdered the messenger sent to stop the meeting, all the villagers backed away from Okonkwo. The villagers looked at him with dismay and disbelief, so it was a slap in the face to Okonkwo. He was trying to help his people and save them, but they didn’t realize and just looked at him as if he were crazy. Therefore, Okonkwo sacrificed his life because he knew it was too late for his people to return to their old ways. Okonkwo was fulsome, so he didn’t want to die at the hands of the white men who “won” and took over his and his family’s way of life. Okonkwo was a tragic hero, but he was