Things Fall Apart

             A culture is only as strong as its most faithful and devoted follower. Okonkwo, the main character in Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart, can easily be argued as the most devoted follower within his culture of the Umuofia civilization. Okonkwo disowned his own son upon discovery that his child had chosen to follow another religion. However, by observing Okonkwo throughout the novel, we continually detect many indications of Okonkwo disregarding the culture's laws and eventually relating the disrespect for the culture to the inevitable downfall of the culture.
             Okonkwo disregards and disrespects his culture by breaking many traditional laws. One of the traditional laws is a Week of Peace. During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo's youngest wife, Ojiugo, goes out to plait her hair and doesn't cook afternoon meal. "In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace"(29). When she returns, Okonkwo beats her. "His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess"(29,30). Even after Okonkwo was scorned by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess, he is still too proud to admit openly to his neighbors that he is wrong. His neighbors begin to say he has grown proud. By Okonkwo growing proud and defying the laws of his culture, we begin to see how Okonkwo is a man that follows his own rules and not those of the tribe.
             Okonkwo once again disregards the belief of his tribe when he first talks back to the oracle, Agbala. Then he follows the oracle, when she takes his beloved daughter, Ezinma, to the sacred cave. Okonkwo first shows his disrespect to the culture when speaking back to the oracle Agbala, who was in real life Chielo, a friend of the family, who would, in most likeliness never harm Ezinma. However, Okonkwo did not put his faith in the oracle ...

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Things Fall Apart. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:16, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/98737.html