Summary Of Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Chinua Achebe’s masterpiece Things Fall Apart he portrays the evolution of Okonkwo, a tribal leader, struggle to get out of poverty, and the colonization of Africa. Due to the colonization of his country and the changes it had brought caused the tear in Okonkwo’s tribe leaving him with nothing, and leading to his fate. Okonkwo had started his life from the very bottom, and he clawed his way to the top of social status in his tribe. Okonkwo didn’t receive any help from his family, causing his to put very high expectations on all his children. Just like Okonkwo, his village had high expectations for all it people, but those expectations were not kept for long. The colonization of Okonkwo’s home was the final part to push Okonkwo over the tipping

“Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men usually had. He did not inherit a barn from his father. There was no barn to inherit” (Achebe, 16). Okonkwo had to figure out how to do the tasks that all men in his village do on his own, and at a young age. Okonkwo also had to be the man of the house at a young age because his father couldn’t provide for the family. “His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crop’s, was a man 's crop” (Achebe, 22-23). The tribes culture wouldn’t allow women to plant yams; inconveniently, causing Okonkwo to do his first harvest without at the very least his mothers help. “With a father like Unoka, Okonkwo did not have the start in life which many young men had. He neither inherited a barn nor a title, nor even a young wife. But in spite of these disadvantages, he had begun even in his father’s timeline to lay the foundations of a prosperous future.” (Achebe, 18). Okonkwo had many problems in the beginning of his career and Unoka. However Unoka wasn’t all of Okonkwo’s household

“As soon as his father walked in, that night, Nwoye knew that Ikemefuna had been killed, and something seemed to give way inside him, like the snapping of a tightened bow. He did not cry. He just hung limp.” (Achebe, 61). After Okonkwo had walked in to his home that night, Nwoye’s opinion on Okonkwo shifted. Nwoye avoided to be alone with his father out of fear, while Okonkwo grieved over his deed. “Okonkwo did not answer. But he left hold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned.” (Achebe, 152). Since the new religion came Nwoye was fascinated by what the missionaries believed in causing Nwoye to renounce his previous culture, and leave his family behind. The religion greatly angered Okonkwo because it made his oldest son to betray his beliefs and morals since birth. Okonkwo had many unavoidable predicaments, but maybe he could have stopped some