A Conflicted Society Essay

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel â€Å"Things Fall Apart†, Chinua Achebe challenges the reader to actively engage in the analysis of issues raised throughout the text. Achebe brings the issue of tradition versus change to the forefront of Umuofian society for the reader to examine. Achebe shows the reader the gradual downfall of the main character, Okonkwo, through his refusal to accept change in his society. Achebe also brings about the controversial issues dealing with masculinity in Umuofian society. Okonkwo rejects anything that he feels is â€Å"womanly† and thus seals his own demise. Achebe shows the reader that acting â€Å"manly† doesn’t necessarily make one a man. By simplifying the issues within Umuofian society and the conflicted Okonkwo, Achebe paints a clear picture of the consequences of closed-minded societies, and the people who exist within those societies. Okonkwo and his Umuofian society are strong believers in tradition, and continually ignore the need for change throughout the novel. In a deal with a neighboring village, Okonkwo becomes the illegitimate father to a boy named Ikemefuna. Over time, Okonkwo comes to accept the boy, finding him to be an ideal son. While Okonkwo is fond of the boy, he never shows any affection toward Ikemefuna. After three years of living with Okonkwo and his family in Umuofia, Ikemefuna is murdered by the man that he treated as his father and other men in the village simply because the â€Å"Oracle† told a village elder that the boy must die. Rather than challenge what his society is doing, Okonkwo goes along with his clansmen and takes part in the death of Ikemefuna. In his dying moments, Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for protection, but Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna because he refuses to question the ideals of his fellow villagers, and does not want to appear weak. After Okonkwo is exiled from Umuofia for accidentally killing another young man in the village, the reader still sees a reluctance to embrace change in society. Now living in his motherland, Mbanto, Okonkwo and his family are met with missionaries that have travelled to the village to share Christian beliefs with the villagers. The missionaries preach about the danger of worshipping false gods. The villagers reject the missionaries’ beliefs, simply because it is not what their fathers and grandfathers believed. The people of Mbanta cling to their pagan religion with complete closed-mindedness, rejecting the Holy Trinity and any other beliefs that differ from the traditional beliefs of their ancestors. Reverend James Smith, who is the leader of the missionaries, has his church burned to the ground because one of the villagers who converted to Christianity unmasked an egwugwu during a pagan ceremony, which the villagers believe to be the same as killing an ancestral spirit. Rather than be open-minded to other religions and beliefs, the villagers reject anything that is not what they are used to believing. They burn down Reverent Smith’s church to get rid of the villagers, and the new ideas that they preached. Okonkwo is not accepting at all of anything that seems feminine to him.   Okonkwo sets very strict boundaries with his daughter, Ezinma, simply because she is female. Even though it is his daughter, Ezinma, that knows her father the best, and that Okonkwo feels closest to, he keeps her at arms length. The feelings that Okonkwo has for his daughter are illustrated in the passage that states, â€Å"Okonkwo was very lucky in his daughters. He never stopped regretting that Ezinma was a girl (Achebe 172)†. Because Ezinma was a girl, even though she probably understood her father the best of any of his children, he pushed her away and avoided a close, loving relationship with her simply because of her gender. By pushing away Ezinma, Okonkwo is passing by a great opportunity to get to know his daughter and have a closer relationship with her. Simply because she is a female, he rebuffs her attempts to have such a relationship with her father. Another example of Okonkwo’s intolerance for â€Å"womanly† things is within his relationship with his son, Nwoye. Nwoye decides that he is going to go against his father’s wishes, and join the missionaries. Upon learning of Nwoye’s decision, Okonkwo sits down with his sons and tells them that, â€Å"I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people. If any one of you prefers to be a woman let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him (Achebe 172)†. Okonkwo would rather drive away his own flesh and blood than to have them be who they really are, and accepting them for all that they are, and all that they aren’t. By pushing away his son simply because his aspirations differ from those that Okonkwo would have for him, Okonkwo is creating a very large crack in the foundation of his family. Once a child is told that his father isn’t proud of him, it is very difficult to rebuild any relationship. Okonkwo would rather maintain a â€Å"manly† appearance than accept his family for who they are. Chinua Achebe’s novel, â€Å"Things Fall Apart† addresses the always controversial issue of tradition versus change, and shows his readers how a failure to be open-minded and accepting of new ideas can lead a one into a vicious cycle of making mistakes. Achebe also addresses the issue of masculinity versus femininity in the novel. Through the actions of his main character, Okonkwo, the reader realizes that simply because a man is â€Å"tough† does not necessarily mean that he is a good, respectable man, even if he is highly regarded within his own society. Achebe’s novel brings these issues that exist within African society, and allows the reader to see the consequences of rejecting change through the absolute demise of the main character of the story, Okonkwo, and the subsequent effects of rejecting new ideas and beliefs on society in general. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.