"Things Fall Apart," Raises More Questions Than Answers

Africa has many faces. Many in the United States view it as a completely foreign world and many only associate it with poverty, disease, and death. In Europe, many citizens may ignore the people and think solely of the animals and landscape. Dozens of opinions and perspectives are held on Africa as a whole, but each is merely one pixel in a picture. The truth is, a massive continent composed of many countries, all extraordinarily unique, cannot be summarized with a few words. It is just as complex as any other continent in the world, and equally human. Achebe illustrates this in Things Fall Apart. Achebe doesn't attempt to skew perspective by portraying a Lion King style utopia, but instead creates a story of great depth. It is a story where the protagonist may become the guardian and protector of a child of a neighboring village, but kill the same boy three years later. Okonkwo, the protagonist of the story, has weaknesses and strengths that ultimately make him human. "Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger" (28). As the name of the novel suggests, things will fall apart. Already Okonkwo has killed a boy who had been as a son to him; before Okonkwo raised his machete for the fell swing, the boy screamed, "My father, they have killed me!" (61). Okonkwo's answer was the sound of iron. This act proves that Achebe isn't interested in making a fake case about Nigerian people, but instead interested in showing how alike people are. Regardless of what culture a person immerses in, he/she will find people are one and the same. We all feel anger, confusion, sadness, pleasure, joy, excitement, anxiety, and we all do deeds we regret and deeds we pride ourselves on. Achebe reminds the reader of this, whether or not the reader is open-minded or not. It is not an opinion or perspective, but a fact. The title foreshadows events in the book; likely including Okonkwo falling from grace, more people dying, crops withering, tribes dispersing, and foreign influences permeating into tribal life. All these things and much, much more are possible when things fall apart. We are a single race, on a single planet.