Jacob Baxley Chinua: Things Fall Apart 12-04-2014 Things Fall Apart was a book written in 1959 by author Albert Achebe. Achebe was born on November 16, 1930. Achebe originally from Nigeria was able to move away and get a college education and later become a famous author. Things Fall Apart is a story about a man named Okonkwo who is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia Clan. His trouble starts early when he believes his son will be a failure just like his father. He lives life trying not to be a failure and does many regretful things but never lets it show on the outside because it would reveal his weakness. He gets exiled later on and must move away for seven years and during this time his son converts to Christianity and Okonkwo is forced to disown him. Upon getting back to the village the Christian’s are there trying to convert his whole tribe. In an uproar Okonkwo kills a Christian messenger and fears for his life because he knows his village will not go to war with the white man. So in the ending Okonkwo decides to kill himself and does. A major theme within the book is th3e struggle between change and tradition. Okonkwo is a very religious and tradition …show more content…
free will. This come about when you find out that Okonkwo’s dad was no good and left the world owing a lot of people money, and real]ding on fate would mean that Okonkwo would also be a no good scoundrel. This is quit wrong though because he worked hard and became rich and respected so clearly fate had no hold on him, he used the power of free will and created his own destiny. However, when times got hard Okonkwo always blamed his fate. He believes that the oracle has condemned him and his fate is sealed to be a sad and sorrow filled life. Once again fate vs. free will is argues upon in the book when his oldest clan member Ezeudu tells him that he has a choice when time turns bad, but he never choses to stand up and create his own