Chinua Achebe, in full 

Albert Chinualumogu Achebe,

(born November 16, 1930, Ogidi, Nigeria—died March 21,
2013, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.), Nigerian novelist acclaimed
for his unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological
disorientation accompanying the imposition of Western customs
and values upon traditional African society. His particular
concern was with emergent Africa at its moments of crisis; his
novels range in subject matter from the first contact of an African village with the white man to the
educated African’s attempt to create a firm moral order out of the changing values in a large city.

Achebe grew up in the Igbo (Ibo) town of Ogidi, Nigeria. After studying English and literature at

University College (now the University of Ibadan), Achebe taught for a short time before joining the
staff of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos, where he served as director of external
broadcasting in 1961–66. In 1967 he cofounded a publishing company at Enugu with the
poet Christopher Okigbo, who died shortly thereafter in the Nigerian civil war for Biafran
independence, which Achebe openly supported. In 1969 Achebe toured the United States with fellow
writers Gabriel Okara and Cyprian Ekwensi, lecturing at universities. Upon his return to Nigeria he
was appointed research fellow at the University of Nigeria and became professor of English, a position
he held from 1976 until 1981 (professor emeritus from 1985). He was director (from 1970) of two
Nigerian publishers, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. and Nwankwo-Ifejika Ltd. After an
automobile accident in Nigeria in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed, he moved to the United
States, where he taught at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. In 2009 Achebe left
Bard to join the faculty of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Things Fall Apart (1958), Achebe’s first novel, concerns traditional Igbo life at the time of the advent
of missionaries and colonial government in his homeland. His principal character cannot accept the
new order, even though the old has already collapsed. In the sequel No Longer at Ease (1960) he
portrayed a newly appointed civil servant, recently returned from university study in England, who is
unable to sustain the moral values he believes to be correct in the face of the obligations and
temptations of his new position.

In Arrow of God (1964), set in the 1920s in a village under British administration, the principal
character, the chief priest of the village, whose son becomes a zealous Christian, turns his resentment
at the position he is placed in by the white man against his own people. A Man of the People (1966)
and Anthills of the Savannah (1987) deal with corruption and other aspects of postcolonial African
life.

Achebe also published several collections of short stories and children’s books, including How the
Leopard Got His Claws (1973; with John Iroaganachi). Beware, Soul-Brother (1971) and Christmas in
Biafra (1973) are collections of poetry. Another Africa (1998) combines an essay and poems by Achebe
with photographs by Robert Lyons. Achebe’s books of essays include Morning Yet on Creation
Day (1975), Hopes and Impediments (1988), Home and Exile (2000), The Education of a British-
Protected Child (2009), and the autobiographical There Was a Country: A Personal History of
Biafra (2012). In 2007 he won the Man Booker International Prize.
Things Fall Apart novel by Achebe

Things Fall Apart, first novel by Chinua Achebe, written in English and published in 1958. Things
Fall Apart helped create the Nigerian literary renaissance of the 1960s.

The novel chronicles the life of Okonkwo, the leader of an Igbo community, from the events leading
up to his banishment from the community for accidentally killing a clansman, through the seven years
of his exile, to his return, and it addresses a particular problem of emergent Africa—the intrusion in
the 1890s of white missionaries and colonial government into tribal Igbo society. Traditionally
structured, and peppered with Igbo proverbs, it describes the simultaneous disintegration of
its protagonist Okonkwo and of his village. The novel was praised for its intelligent and realistic
treatment of tribal beliefs and of psychological disintegration coincident with social unraveling.

Things Fall Apart is acclaimed as the finest novel written about life in Nigeria at the end of the
nineteenth century. Published in 1958, it is unquestionably the world’s most widely read African novel,
having sold more than eight million copies in English and been translated into fifty languages. But it
offers far more than access to pre-colonial Nigeria and the cataclysmic changes brought about by the
British. It also can be a window into the story of the Aborigines in Australia, the Maori of New
Zealand, and the First Nations of North, Central, and South America in the “falling apart” of the
indigenous cultures of these and other places whose centers could not hold.

Chinua Achebe is the ideal teller of this story, born in Nigeria in 1930 and growing up in the Igbo town
of Ogidi. He spoke Igbo at home and studied English in school, imbibing the dual culture. In an
autobiographical essay, he describes his childhood as being “at the crossroads of cultures.” In the
course of a distinguished academic and literary career, much of it in exile, Achebe has been the
recipient of many awards, beginning with the Margaret Wrong Memorial Prize in 1959 for Things Fall
Apart and including more than thirty honorary doctorates. Achebe is in great demand throughout the
world as a speaker and visiting lecturer, and is presently teaching at Bard College in New York.

Achebe uses that most English of literary forms, the novel, to make his story accessible to
Westerners, and interlaces the narrative with Igbo proverbs and folktales. The novel challenges
Western notions of historical truth, and prods readers into questioning our perception of pre-colonial
and colonial Africa. More than half the novel is devoted to a depiction of Igbo culture, artfully drawn as
we follow the rise to eminence of the protagonist. As a champion wrestler and a great warrior,
Okonkwo is a natural leader. His flaw, however, is that he never questions the received wisdom of his
ancestors. For this reason he is not drawn in a flattering light, but his culture is given a full and fair
depiction.

Students might well keep journals in which they identify their own culture’s equivalent to each Igbo
folkway, discovering affinities as well as differences. There is no culture shock in discovering that
Okonkwo’s father has low status because of his laziness and improvidence. He would rather play his
flute than repay his debts. It follows, then, that land, a full barn, expensive titles, and many wives
confer status. Our protagonist is ambitious. Indeed, one of his flaws is his fear of failure, of becoming
like his father.

Viewing society from the inside, students can make inferences about why a high value is accorded to
clan solidarity, kinship, and hospitality, and the reasons for courtship and funeral customs. In a culture
without written language, the arts of conversation and oration are prized. Wisdom is transmitted
through proverbs, stories, and myths. The agrarian cycle of seasons, with their work and festivals, the
judicious use of snuff and palm wine, the importance of music and dance, all could be noted and
compared to similar Western mores. Law and justice keep the peace, pronouncing on a land dispute
or the killing of a clansman. A priestess and masked tribesmen interpret the Oracle, speaking for
ancestors and gods. They enforce taboos against twins and suicide, and offer explanations for high
infant mortality.

The second and third parts of the novel trace the inexorable advance of Europeans. For years, stories
told about white slavers are given little credence in Okonkwo’s village. The first white man to arrive in
a nearby village is killed because of an omen, and in retribution all are slaughtered by British guns.
Christian missionaries seem to be madmen, their message of wicked ways and false gods attractive
only to outcasts. But along with Christianity come hospitals and schools, converting farmers to court
clerks and teachers. Trading stores pay high prices for palm oil. Government is closely linked to
religion and literacy. A District Commissioner superimposes Queen Victoria’s laws, and Africans from
distant tribes serve as corrupt court messengers and prison guards.

Okonkwo, upholder of the ways of his ancestors, is inevitably cast in the role of tragic hero. His eldest
son’s early conversion merely hardens his belief in a rigid code of manly behavior. In exile during the
first years of colonization, he has less understanding of the power of the Europeans than his now-
passive kinsmen. His doom is swift and sure. By the novel’s end, readers flinch when a British official
reduces Okonkwo’s life and death to a passing reference in a book he plans to write to be titled The
Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

Note: This guide uses the contemporary spelling, Igbo, rather than Ibo.

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Things Fall Apart tells two overlapping, intertwining stories, both of which center around Okonkwo, a
"strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first story traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the
tribal world in which he lives. It provides us with a powerful fable about the immemorial conflict
between the individual society. The second story, which is as modern as the first is ancient, concerns
the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo’s world through the arrival of aggressive,
proselytizing European missionaries.
These twin dramas are perfectly harmonized and they are modulated by an awareness capable of
encompassing the life of nature, history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul. Things Fall
Apart is the most illuminating and permanent monument we have to the modern African experience
as seen from within.
Character List
1. Okonkwo- An influential clan leader in Umuofia. Since early childhood, Okonkwo’s embarrassment about
his lazy, squandering, and effeminate father, Unoka, has driven him to succeed. Okonkwo’s hard work and
prowess in war have earned him a position of high status in his clan, and he attains wealth sufficient to
support three wives and their children. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw is that he is terrified of looking weak like his
father. As a result, he behaves rashly, bringing a great deal of trouble and sorrow upon himself and his
family.
2. Nwoye- Okonkwo’s oldest son, whom Okonkwo believes is weak and lazy. Okonkwo continually beats
Nwoye, hoping to correct the faults that he perceives in him. Influenced by Ikemefuna, Nwoye begins to
exhibit more masculine behavior, which pleases Okonkwo. However, he maintains doubts about some of
the laws and rules of his tribe and eventually converts to Christianity, an act that Okonkwo criticizes as
“effeminate.” Okonkwo believes that Nwoye is afflicted with the same weaknesses that his father, Unoka,
possessed in abundance.
3. Ezinma- The only child of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi. As the only one of Ekwefi’s ten children to
survive past infancy, Ezinma is the center of her mother’s world. Their relationship is atypical—Ezinma
calls Ekwefi by her name and is treated by her as an equal. Ezinma is also Okonkwo’s favorite child, for she
understands him better than any of his other children and reminds him of Ekwefi when Ekwefi was the
village beauty. Okonkwo rarely demonstrates his affection, however, because he fears that doing so
would make him look weak. Furthermore, he wishes that Ezinma were a boy because she would have
been the perfect son.
4. Ikemefuna- A boy given to Okonkwo by a neighboring village. Ikemefuna lives in the hut of Okonkwo’s first
wife and quickly becomes popular with Okonkwo’s children. He develops an especially close relationship
with Nwoye, Okonkwo’s oldest son, who looks up to him. Okonkwo too becomes very fond of Ikemefuna,
who calls him “father” and is a perfect clansman, but Okonkwo does not demonstrate his affection
because he fears that doing so would make him look weak.
5. Mr. Brown- The first white missionary to travel to Umuofia. Mr. Brown institutes a policy of compromise,
understanding, and non-aggression between his flock and the clan. He even becomes friends with
prominent clansmen and builds a school and a hospital in Umuofia. Unlike Reverend Smith, he attempts
to appeal respectfully to the tribe’s value system rather than harshly impose his religion on it.
6. Reverend James Smith- The missionary who replaces Mr. Brown. Unlike Mr. Brown, Reverend Smith is
uncompromising and strict. He demands that his converts reject all of their indigenous beliefs, and he
shows no respect for indigenous customs or culture. He is the stereotypical white colonialist, and his
behavior epitomizes the problems of colonialism. He intentionally provokes his congregation, inciting it to
anger and even indirectly, through Enoch, encouraging some fairly serious transgressions.
7. Uchendu-The younger brother of Okonkwo’s mother. Uchendu receives Okonkwo and his family warmly
when they travel to Mbanta, and he advises Okonkwo to be grateful for the comfort that his motherland
offers him lest he anger the dead—especially his mother, who is buried there. Uchendu himself has
suffered—all but one of his six wives are dead and he has buried twenty-two children. He is a peaceful,
compromising man and functions as a foil (a character whose emotions or actions highlight, by means of
contrast, the emotions or actions of another character) to Okonkwo, who acts impetuously and without
thinking.
8. The District Commissioner- An authority figure in the white colonial government in Nigeria. The
prototypical racist colonialist, the District Commissioner thinks that he understands everything about
native African customs and cultures and he has no respect for them. He plans to work his experiences into
an ethnographic study on local African tribes, the idea of which embodies his dehumanizing and reductive
attitude toward race relations.
9. Unoka- Okonkwo’s father, of whom Okonkwo has been ashamed since childhood. By the standards of the
clan, Unoka was a coward and a spendthrift. He never took a title in his life, he borrowed money from his
clansmen, and he rarely repaid his debts. He never became a warrior because he feared the sight of
blood. Moreover, he died of an abominable illness. On the positive side, Unoka appears to have been a
talented musician and gentle, if idle. He may well have been a dreamer, ill-suited to the chauvinistic
culture into which he was born. The novel opens ten years after his death.
10. Obierika- Okonkwo’s close friend, whose daughter’s wedding provides cause for festivity early in the
novel. Obierika looks out for his friend, selling Okonkwo’s yams to ensure that Okonkwo won’t suffer
financial ruin while in exile and comforting Okonkwo when he is depressed. Like Nwoye, Obierika
questions some of the tribe’s traditional strictures.
11. Ekwefi- Okonkwo’s second wife, once the village beauty. Ekwefi ran away from her first husband to live
with Okonkwo. Ezinma is her only surviving child, her other nine having died in infancy, and Ekwefi
constantly fears that she will lose Ezinma as well. Ekwefi is good friends with Chielo, the priestess of the
goddess Agbala.
12. Enoch- A fanatical convert to the Christian church in Umuofia. Enoch’s disrespectful act of ripping the
mask off an egwugwu during an annual ceremony to honor the earth deity leads to the climactic clash
between the indigenous and colonial justice systems. While Mr. Brown, early on, keeps Enoch in check in
the interest of community harmony, Reverend Smith approves of his zealotry.
13. Ogbuefi Ezeudu- The oldest man in the village and one of the most important clan elders and leaders.
Ogbuefi Ezeudu was a great warrior in his youth and now delivers messages from the Oracle.
14. Chielo- A priestess in Umuofia who is dedicated to the Oracle of the goddess Agbala. Chielo is a widow
with two children. She is good friends with Ekwefi and is fond of Ezinma, whom she calls “my daughter.”
At one point, she carries Ezinma on her back for miles in order to help purify her and appease the gods.
15. Akunna- A clan leader of Umuofia. Akunna and Mr. Brown discuss their religious beliefs peacefully, and
Akunna’s influence on the missionary advances Mr. Brown’s strategy for converting the largest number of
clansmen by working with, rather than against, their belief system. In so doing, however, Akunna
 formulates an articulate and rational defense of his religious system and draws some striking parallels
between his style of worship and that of the Christian missionaries.
16. Nwakibie- A wealthy clansmen who takes a chance on Okonkwo by lending him 800 seed yams—twice the
number for which Okonkwo asks. Nwakibie thereby helps Okonkwo build up the beginnings of his
personal wealth, status, and independence.
17. Mr. Kiaga- The native-turned-Christian missionary who arrives in Mbanta and converts Nwoye and many
others.
18. Okagbue Uyanwa- A famous medicine man whom Okonkwo summons for help in dealing with Ezinma’s
health problems.
19. Maduka- Obierika’s son. Maduka wins a wrestling contest in his mid-teens. Okonkwo wishes he had
promising, manly sons like Maduka.
20. Obiageli- The daughter of Okonkwo’s first wife. Although Obiageli is close to Ezinma in age, Ezinma has a
great deal of influence over her.
21. Ojiugo- Okonkwo’s third and youngest wife, and the mother of Nkechi. Okonkwo beats Ojiugo during the
Week of Peace.