Things Fall Apart
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Things Fall Apart
There was a man who dreamed as a child of being well known and respected throughout his village and neighboring villages. This man, Okonkwo, worked hard at his goal, and he achieved it. Okonkwo, a man with great strength and personality, had achieved his goal to become rich and famous, a privilege that was unseen before in his family. Although Okonkwo reached his goal at an early age, his life began to Fall Apart when tragic episodes took place.
One can see that Okonkwos life first began to fall apart when Ikemefuma, a captive who stayed at Okonkwos home, was killed. Okonkwo had thought of Ikemefuma as one of his own sons. He was deeply saddened when he was killed. One can see the effects on Okonkwo from that event. First Okonkwo was unable to sleep for the following three days. He also kept on getting drunk, and that was a sign that he was depressed. This incident also had a long-term effect on Okonkwo. From then on his family would look at him as if it were his fault that Ikemefuma is dead. This episode can be seen as an event where Okonkwo looses some faith from his family. This corresponds to Okonkwo losing
faith in his father.
Another important occurrence where one can see that Okonkwos life falls apart was when he was thrown out of the clan for a few years. From this episode one can see that Okonkwos hopes dreams have begun to fall apart. His hopes of being a rich and popular individual had drifted away with this upsetting incident. Okonkwo had no longer had his farm or animals. Also Okonkwo lost faith with most of his friends. This goes to show that Okonkwo lost faith with his friends,
like his father lost faith with his.
Another episode that showed the downfall in Okonkwos life was when Nwoye, his oldest and favorite son, converted to the white mans religion, Christianity. To Okonkwo this was very upsetting because Nwoye was his eldest son, and Okonkwo had the greatest expectations for him. When news came to him that Nwoye was among the white men, one could have foreseen that only no good was coming to Okonkwo after that. By glancing at Okonkwos life, one could see that the title Things Fall Apart fits perfectly with the book. Starting from the episode with Ikemefuma, one can see that Okonkwos