Things fall apart the centre cannot hold,
mere anarchy is loose upon the words".
A book I read in elementary school, specifically primary 6, and had no idea it was about the precolonial era and migration in the south eastern portion of Nigeria; I just thought it was a story about the characters in the book. I got the impression it was about Okonkwo, who killed a young kid named Ikemefuna who came to live with him another town in a bid to satisfy a so called "culture" for gods, so I'll offer you a review based on my childhood memories of the book
Okonkwo- The main character in the book, a strong man with so much talent and exploits. He is the son of Unoka, his father is also talented but had no great history.
Ikemefuna- A surprising character in the book who played an important role in determining the fate or true nature of Okonkwo. Ikemefuna was a bright young man with great attributes, he was the adopted son of Okonkwo
Nwoye and Ezinma - Nwoye was the oldest son of Okonkwo while Ezinma was the apple of her father's eyes, his beloved daughter.
Ezeudu- A fierce and very popular warrior who had a son in the book.
District Commissioner, Mr Brown and Mr Smith- Colonial missionaries that preached about Christianity and they were based in Okonkwo's community
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When I opened and read the pages of Things Fall Apart as a child, it offered me an insight into the setting of the Eastern region of Nigeria. It offered me an understanding of the concerns with the god-worshipping culture, as well as pressure of accepting masculinity rigidly.
The story begins with a sight of a renowned wrestler from Nigeria's eastern area named Okonkwo. He was rewarded with as many as three wives because polygamy was the most frequent style of marriage at the time. Farming was also a common occupation, Okonkwo was an excellent farmer. He had the ideal bio to identify himself as a wonderful man, and he inherited his male traits from his father, who was a talented man but had no great history, Okonkwo rewrote the history of his father.
The plot twist arises as a result of religion, which at the time was centered on the worship of gods, and it was common practice between the two neighboring towns to satisfy the land's gods by sacrificing a selected person.
The book then moved on to another interesting character named Ikemefuna , who was taken to live with Okonkwo as a sacrificial lamb for the land's gods to be appeased.
The gods seemed to have forgotten about the sacrificial lamb, so he stayed in Okonkwo's house for a long time. During the long wait, Ikemefuna had settled into his new family and formed a close bond with Okonkwo's first son, Nwoye. He was active in the family, he did the family tasks, he had a family obligation, just like other youngsters in families, he was also involved in the dominating occupation and was good at it.
The gods' representative called "chiefpriest" and the council of kinsmen came to Okonkwo's property on a fateful day to remind him that it was time to utilize Ikemefuna as the sacrificial victim for the gods.It shattered Okonkwo,when he heard this; Ikemefuna was already a member of the family, but if there was one thing Okonkwo valued above all else, it was his "Pride as a Man,"
So he told Ikemefuna that they were going on a trip; the other children and wives were concerned about the nature of the trip, but Okonkwo assured them that everything was fine.On their way, he forced Ikemefuna carry a keg, and they saw and greeted some elders, which made Ikemefuna fearful that something awful was about to happen, the energy was different from a man he called Father, and Okonkwo was warned not to have Ikemefuna's blood on his hands when he murders him. Okonkwo didn't want to appear weak, so he ignored the warnings and killed him.
Ikemefuna's death set in motion a chain of bad events in Okonkwo's life.Okonkwo fell into depression and felt as if his life was about to end. The great Okonkwo believed that Karma was paying him a visit for murdering his adopted son, and he was slowly losing his identity. His ailing daughter Ezinne had ceased becoming sick when Ikemefuna joined the family; but, after Ikemefuna 's death, Ezinne began to fall sick again, which was a lot for Okonkwo.
So there was a burial for a guy named Ezeudu, and at the event, Okonkwo shot Ezeudu's kid by mistake, and he was exiled for his actions but when Okonkwo returned from exile, the colonial masters had introduced Christianity to the community. Okonkwo believed that the colonial masters had introduced it to obliterate an existing culture, and he was not pleased.
As a result of a member of the community interfering with a local customary ceremony, Christianity was rapidly spreading throughout the community. Okonkwo took advantage of the opportunity to behead a Christian, causing the missionary to arrest him and bring charges against him in court.Okonkwo, once again, refuses to be viewed as a weak man, and would never go to court, he hanged himself in his home. The missionary was astounded to witness what happened as a result of a man's pride.
The lesson I took away from the book when I was a kid was that Okonkwo had a lot of power and talent, but he let Pride get the best of him. He was likewise dogmatic and unwilling to adapt; if Ikemefuna had lived and had accepted the Christian missionary it would have been great. Ikemefuna's death made it difficult to finish the story because he gave a different energy to it and was fantastic.
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