Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a book about an African tribe facing colonization. The main character is Okonkwo, a strong warrior and good farmer. He has made a name for himself in his village, which is proven by his multiple wives and many children. Okonkwo is characterized by his masculinity, which is often a bad thing. He rules his house with a heavy hand, he only shows the emotion of anger, and he has a deep fear of anything feminine. His father, Unoka, was also well known in the village, but not for good traits. Unoka spent all his time playing instruments and drinking palm wine. He also had debts to everyone in the village. Okonkwo is ashamed of his father and has a deep fear of being anything like him. He has vowed to hate everything his father loved. This sometimes helps Okonkwo because he’s determined to work hard, which has paid off for him. However, because he’s afraid of being gentle like his father, he makes some big mistakes.

The first mistake Okonkwo makes is when he beats his wife during the week of peace that celebrates the earth goddess. He even shot his gun at her because she said a snide remark. Luckily, he missed, but he was punished for disrupting the peace. Later, a boy from another village is brought to Igbo (Okonkwo's tribe) to keep peace. He is raised in Okonkwo’s home for three years and he becomes close friends with Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye. One day, the oracle says to kill Ikemefuna (the boy) to appease the earth goddess. When Okonkwo is told of this, he is told not to have any part in the boy’s death because the boy calls him “father”. Okonkwo did, however, kill the boy, because he was scared of being thought weak. The third mistake he made is when he accidentally kills a clansman. An accidental crime is considered “female”, and Okonkwo is sent into exile for seven years.

When he comes back he finds that White colonizers have taken over his village. He can barely recognize it anymore. His son, Nwoye, joins the missionaries church because ever since Ikemefuna died, he began to question the way his community was run. Okonkwo felt betrayed by his son and wondered how a man could turn his back on his ancestors. He thought his son weak, and said “living fire begets cold, impotent ash.” Okonkwo wants to fight the colonizers who have enforced their rules, but his village isn’t behind him in that decision. They are scared to fight, because if they do, they will be punished. They want to avoid things falling apart, but if they don’t fight, their culture will eventually fall apart anyways. The majority of the townsfolk did want the White people to leave, but they were afraid of taking action. When Okonkwo killed a messenger, and the townspeople let the others get away, he lost hope. When the missionaries came to arrest him, he had already hung himself.

The first head missionary was a harmless man. The second was named Mr. Brown, and he tried to come to compromises with the townspeople. He listened to their religion, and they listened to his. Mr. Brown attracted a lot of outcasts of society, like twins, to his church. The other villagers didn’t mind his presence, and some people even liked him. The last head missionary was a cruel man who saw things as black and white, and he hated what was Black. While there were some good things the missionaries brought, like education, they also used violence (even during Mr. Brown’s time when they shot a village market place) and they tried to enforce a new justice system. When the town (and ancestors) brought the destruction of the christian church, after a convert killed an ancestor, the missionaries asked the six leaders of the destruction to meet them in town hall. There, they jailed the six leaders, including Okonkwo, and left them hungry, thirsty, and without a bathroom until their family gave them money. At the end of the book, it’s revealed that the head missionary is writing a novel about the “pacification of the primitive tribes of the lower Niger.” The topic of Okonkwo would warrant “perhaps a reasonable paragraph.”

All in all, I think it’s important to read books like this, books that depict humans like real humans.