Things Fall Apart

It is said that the only thing certain in one’s life is change. In the Umuofia village the potential for change is often disregarded because of a strong belief in tradition. When change is no longer avoidable for the village of Umuofia, or for Okonkwo, a highly esteemed member of that village, things begin to fall apart.

Sometimes it is only in hindsight that we can see why things turn out the way they do. Several events in the book Things Fall Apart have an effect on Okonkwo and the rest of his village. Some of these events can be

The first main event in the story was when the Mbaino villagers kill a woman from Umuofia, the people of Umuofia feel that a war should not take place, but rather a deal should be made. Within that deal was an agreement that the Mbaino village would give the Umuofia village a young man. Since Okonkwo was the person assigned to retrieve him from Mbaino, he was given the responsibility of caring for the boy. The boy’s name was Ikemefuna, and although he missed his family dearly, he adapted to life with Okonkwo’s family quite well. He became very fond of Okonkwo’s eldest son, Nwoye, and even started calling Okonkwo, father. Though Okonkwo concealed his feelings from the people around him, passages in th

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He had been shot accidentally by Okonkwo’s gun. When the time came for Ikemefuna to be killed, Ikemefuna ran to Okonkwo in search of mercy, but instead Okonkwo killed his machete, once again, because he didn’t want to appear weak. Although at times he did not appear to be distressed at the fact that Ikemefuna was gone, it is still apparent that he wishes he had a son like him. Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. When a meeting with the whole village is announced, Okonkwo is comforted by the fact that his village is attempting to fix the changes and problems that are going on. At that point all of Okonkwo’s past anger and rage was released spontaneously upon the head court messenger and he was killed by Okonkwo’s machete. The only option of escaping terrible punishment in Umuofia was to leave, and not return until seven years had passed. Also during his stay he had time to think about what had happened, and how this affected his dreams and plans of becoming one of the lords of the clan, and now it had been shattered by a sheer accident. They believed that the Oracle of the Hills and Caves had announced it. However people soon realized something had gone wrong. e book display his affection for Ikemefuna; “Even Okonkwo himself became very fond of the boy [Ikemefuna] – inwardly of course. 28

Three years after the arrival of Ikemefuna, Umuofia made the decision to kill Ikemefuna. When the district commissioner arrived at Okonkwo’s compound later that day, he was found dead. That night was spent packing his most needed belongings, and the next morning Okonkwo and his family fled to Okonkwo’s motherland, Mbanta.

Approximate Word count = 823
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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