Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The spell was broken by the head messenger. " Let me pass!" he ordered. "What do you want here?" "The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop." In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo's machete decsended twice and the man's head la y beside his uniformed body. The waiting backcloth jumped into tumultuous life and the meeting was stopped. Okonwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He heard voices asking: Why did he do it?" He wiped his machete on the sand and went away.

Chapter 24, Page 188

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel about how the spread of European Christianity and European Colonialism destroys the traditional African way of life. The novel focuses on the Ibo society in Niger. Achebe gives a deep insight into the way of life and the culture within the society by following the life of a strong village leader, Okonkwo. The story shows how Okonkwo rose to his greatness, how he began his demise, and later his attempted redemption that only led to his death. After showing the way of life in Ibo society, Achebe introduces the White settlers from Europe whom act peaceful and righteous while spreading their influence mainly through Christianity. And when the European settlers move into the Ibo society things begin to fall apart. The European colonists take over the Ibo society and destroy their way of life.

This scene is the climax of the most important part of the book. The European just recently disgraced the leaders of the village of Umofia by cutting off all of their beards and hair and now the people are having a meeting in order to discuss what they should do. As soon as the European District Commissioner heard about the meeting he sent his messengers to have it stopped. Okonkwo saw that if they continued to obey the European colonists, they would take full power of the nation. Okonkwo felt that the best way to resist this would be to have a war against the European colonists and force them elsewhere. However, when Okonkwo made the first strike to the enemy, none of his people supported him as they were expected to. He saw that the village of warrior people that he once knew and loved no longer existed. He then knew that there was no hope for his people; they were going to be overtaken by the White man. Okonkwo felt so shameful that he committed suicide, for he could not bear to see his dear village fall to the power of the European colonists.

This passage brought to light the way that the European colonist took over and devastated Africa. Previous to reading this book, I was confused on how it could be possible for the Europeans to walk in to Africa and just take it over as it was portrayed in most of the textbooks that i have studied from. But now I see and understand. The European colonist pacified the African people to the point in which they lost their fight. And those who retained their fight were so few that they could hardly make a difference. ( However, there are is one exception to this and that is in the case of Ethiopia [led by His Imperial Majesty Hailie Selassie I]which was the only African country not colonized by Europe. )

Personally, i was greatly saddened by this story simply because it was a sad part of the history of my people. And for such a proud and strong man to die in the manner that Okonkwo does is truly tragic.

JAHlil Over and Out