Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

A Literary Critique

Submitted by:

Marjorie Balajadia

BSEd 2A

Submitted to:

Prof. Hazel P. Villa

West Visayas State University

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Psychoanalytic Criticism of the novel Things Fall Apart through the concept of Lois Tyson

The novel Things Fall Apart was written by Chinua Achebe and was published in
1958. Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a “strong
man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first, a powerful fable of the immemorial conflict between
the individual; and society, traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world. The second,
as modern as the first ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo’s
world with the arrival of aggressive European missionaries (Achebe, 1958). 

The main character in the novel Okonkwo is famous in their village for being a strong
man, winning most of the tribal fights in their village. With his achievements, Okonkwo is proud
of himself for being a strong man at his young age. Okonkwo’s character, just like how people in
their village would describe him being a strong man, indeed Okonkwo shows it in their
household. If someone committed mistakes he does not favor anyone in the household may it be
one of his sons, his first wife, second wife, third wife or his daughter. Okonkwo uses his heavy
hand to whoever will do any wrong to him. He is a harsh man, a cold husband and a biased father
to his children. It was caused by his father’s failure to uphold their dignity in the past. It results
in Okonkwo having fear of resembling his father, being expressionless unless he will show
anger, he hurts his family even if it is just a small mistake, and he is refraining from his father’s
qualities. Thus, molding his character to be a prideful, hypocrite and a man which is full of
himself.

Okonkwo’s traits are embedded by his past with his father, Unoka. Unoka has numerous
debts when he was still alive. He ought to promise that he will pay but in the end, he kept piling
up his debt. One of Okonkwo’s playmates when he was still a child called Unoka
an agbala  which is another term for a woman. Okonkwo then regarded his father as a woman
because of the laziness that his father possesses. His father also does not participate in wars; he is
even frightened by the sight of blood. By this, Okonkwo was ashamed of having a father like
him. 

He bears it in his mind that he will not become his father. He always thinks of his father that
way. Okonkwo was ruled by one passion- to hate everything that his father Unoka had loved.
One of those things was gentleness and another was idleness (Achebe,1958). As much as
possible he avoided anything and anyone who resembles his father or even his father’s character
traits. Thus, Okonkwo paved his way to be a better man than his father. In his youth, he was a
wrestler and when he has grown up he became the representative of their clan in Umuofia.
Unlike his father who did not have any farm, he worked hard to have one.

Unlike his father, Okonkwo has a heavy hand towards his wives and children. One time
he hit one of his wife, the youngest, Ojiugo for leaving its house to plaid its hair. When
Okonkwo knew about it, he was in a rage for Ojiugo did not make him food and when Ojiugo
came home, he beats her. Not to mention that it was a week of peace in their village. Okonkwo
has a short patience for he believes that "No matter how prosperous a man as if he was unable to

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rule his women and his children he was not a man." Besides from the heavy hand of Okonkwo,
he also scolds his family countless times because they committed mistakes. This proves that
Okonkwo is true to what he wanted of being a man. He always tells it in his every action, “That’s
what a man does”. Again this shows the side of Okonkwo that is strong, righteous and
perfectionist kind of a man. He already instills it in his conscious mind because, in his conscious
mind, he ought to be a strong man displaying masculinity most especially in their household. He
feared that if he does not impose strength, he will become his father whom his playmate once
called a woman. Growing up, Okonkwo belittles women. He is full of himself.

This act of Okonkwo of having a heavy hand especially with his wives may be rooted in what his
playmate once called his father, an agbala, a woman. Growing up, he always reminds himself
not to be his father. By this, Okonkwo is most of the time being automatically angry with his
wives because they are women. By the sight of women, although he has three wives, triggers the
memory of his playmate calling his father a woman. This action of Okonkwo is projecting anger
and shame from his father towards the women around him which are his wives and daughters.
 
Okonkwo does not only resent women but also his son who manifests laziness just like his
father. It is now evident that whatever reminds Okonkwo of his father, he automatically rejects it.
He has developed a fear of intimacy towards that person. Specifically Nwoye, his eldest son,
whom for Okonkwo for the age of 12 years old is lazy. With that, Nwoye received numerous
beating from his father. Okonkwo cannot just accept that his 12-year-old son is lazy and does not
share the same dispositions in life with him. He said that at his son's age, he already had a farm
from his sweat as he did not inherit one. Mainly because of Unoka's trait, of being lazy,
Okonkwo has not received any inheritance from his father neither a farm nor a small piece of
land. So at his young age, he worked hard to fill what his father has failed to give him. All his
possession is a fruit of his hard work. 

Okonkwo did not like his father the same as how he did not like his eldest son, Nwoye.
Here, Okonkwo’s displacement of his father Unoka to his son Nwoye is very evident. 

Despite Okonkwo’s traits of lifting a heavy hand and scolding his family, his inner self
might not be like that. He might be considered a hypocrite. "Perhaps down in his heart, Okonkwo
was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.
It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father." Those acts of him
might be an avoidance not to be with whoever resembles his father. His scoldings and lifting
hands are because of Okonkwo’s conscious mind telling him to uphold masculinity. He is
upholding masculinity but it is only a scapegoat with his past, it is avoidance for the softness of
his father. He wanted to be tough to forget those memories of his father being a good for nothing.
All his actions were because of his father’s past thus classifying him to have an unstable sense of
self for he acts according to his past. 

Also, Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly unless it is anger. He is a very prideful
man thus he refrains from whatever things that will make him appear weak. In the novel, there
are several mentions of Okonkwo having a different feeling externally and inwardly. Sometimes,
it is said that Okonkwo was repentant when he beat his youngest wife, Ojiugo for leaving the
house and having its hair plaid but that repentant was never shown, he just keeps it to himself.

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Another one is his fondness towards Ikemefuna, a sacrifice of neighboring Mbaino clan; he also
did not show that he liked the boy because of its being hard-working. Also when Nwoye and
Ikemefuna were having a hard time planting yams, deep in him, he said that he understood the
situation because of their age but still, again he did not show it. In addition to this was when
Okonkwo was happy for Nwoye’s progress on their farm because of the help and presence of
Ikemefuna. Okonkwo even told them of the land-masculine stories of violence and bloodshed.
He was instilling and showing them any signs of becoming a strong and fearless man. He might
be afraid that his sons will become his father in the future. He also might be only wanted what is
good for his children. 

In the novel, the word “inwardly” was mentioned multiple times about what Okonkwo
feels within. In the end, he still did not speak it out because he believes that to show affection
does not resemble strength and he wanted to be a really strong man all through his life.
Any sign of being feminine upsets him but not Ezinma, his eldest daughter. His fondness of
Ezinma might be a substitution for what he wished Nwoye could be. He found what he wanted
for Nwoye to possess in Ezinma. His eldest son Nwoye, failing him caused him to be over-fond
on his daughter. He likes Ezinma because she understands him. She is also hard-working despite
her gender, unlike Nwoye. The daughter also sticks with him, when Okonkwo cannot eat after
Ikemefuna was killed; Ezinma fetches food in his hut. He also sees potential with Ezinma for
resembling his strong and hard-working character. It is evident when Ezinma was young and was
taken by the priestess and Okonkwo’s eldest wife traced the path where the priestess has brought
Ezinma. Okonkwo, that time, when Ezinma was taken did not do anything but later on, he
followed his wife and joined her waiting for their daughter.

It shows that despite Okonkwo lift a hand on them sometimes, he also values his family. He did
not show it but he stands with his words and virtues. 
    
In the story, Okonkwo stands with his words countless times. One is when the oracle and
Umuofia told him to kill Ikemefuna. Although he cannot do it personally, he still does it because
it is what his custom told him to do so. Indeed he is a man by keeping his word. It was observed
that he is always obeying whom he thinks has great power, for example, the oracle, its diviner
and Umuofia. Okonkwo did not think twice but do already as he was told to do so. The oracle is
greatly believed and praised in their village. Another is when he accidentally fired a gun to a boy
in one of his village’s celebrations. He unintentionally killed the boy but it was a crime against
the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. He
accepted it and leaves Umuofia. He accepts what the superior says, maybe for him, when he does
what the superior says, he will also be highly praised just like the superior. He seems to greatly
have fond of upholding his dignity as a man. All of these are opposite to what he has experienced
with his father in his past. In this part, he shows a fear of abandonment. Although his father was
not abandoned by his clan, it is what Okonkwo thinks of his father. He also abandoned his father
in a way that he did not accept what his father truly is. He is afraid it will happen to him so he
obeys whoever the dominant or superior is for he wanted to be one of them. 
          
Seven years later, when he came back to Umuofia it was not the same as what it feels
growing up in the village before. "He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and
falling apart. He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become

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soft like women." He mourned because of their customs and, popularity in Umuofia seems to
fade. It is not what it was like before when he leaves, where his clan praises him and talked about
him. Everything changed in their village. It made him sad for he cannot redeem his popularity in
his land.
          
Later on, Okonkwo cannot stand the changes in his village and called a meeting. They
were planning to make the missionaries leave their village. With their meeting, their clansmen
listened to him with respect just like the old times. It made him happy.

Mainly, what made him happy is his authority and power coming back, the eyes of
people towards him, listening to him and paying attention to him. Their plan also made him
happy but it comes next after the happiness to regain his authority.

In the last part of the novel, Okonkwo, upon killing the messenger also decided to kill
himself. This act of Okonkwo might be rooted in his fear of abandonment because he had
already committed a crime when he fired a gun at the boy in the celebration and the second is
killing the messenger. With his two crimes, Okonkwo might be thinking that if he still lives he
will either be sent far away again from their village or he will be killed by the messenger's
kinsmen. Neither would please a man like Okonkwo who wanted fame and authority, who
upholds masculinity and strength. He could not bear any of those happening to him for he would
greatly resemble his father. He foresees the possible consequences and he acted first before it
happens to him resulting in him committing suicide.  

In conclusion, Okonkwo’s character in the story gathers both sympathy and antipathy.
His end was unexpected as he is a strong man in their village. He proved his manliness through
maintaining his farms and on his wrestling battles in their village. His character is also awful
because of his actions and words that hurt his family. He has an unstable sense of self because he
hides his true feelings in his every action. Okonkwo is unstable since all through his life, his
thoughts and actions were the results of his father’s past. He grew up having a weak and lazy
father. Okonkwo feared to resemble his father thus doing what his father has not done in its life.
Never in the story did Okonkwo showed what is inside of him, his fondness with his children, his
anxiety once when Ezinma was fetched by a spirit, his pity towards Ikemefuna although he just
stayed in his hut for three days it somehow shows his mourning but he never speaks nor tells it
because, for him, anger can be only shown and expressed. Okonkwo is a prisoner of his past and
until his last breath, he carries it on his shoulder for he was not even afraid of death just to escape
his resemblance to his father. 

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References:

Achebe, C. (1958). Things Fall Apart. New York, United States: Anchor Books.

Tyson, L. (2006). Critical theory today: A user-friendly guide. New York: Routledge.