The Effects of Colonialism in Things Fall Apart Essay Sample

Could you even imagine experiencing the disastrous effects of colonization? In the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe constructs a world in which the main character is examined throughout pre and post colonization. To begin with, the main character Okonkwo was raised into poverty. He climbed the ladder in his village of Umuofia, becoming a very prominent figure. All the while, he resented his father, whom he thought was “woman-like.” Okonkwo is very aggressive, but ironically, the act of violence that gets him kicked out of his village was unintentional. He’s banished for seven years to his motherland, and when he returns, it’s completely dissimilar. The white man has established his church and government in Umuofia and their culture is being abandoned. Okonkwo’s external and internal conflicts with the white men challenge his sense of identity, and his momentous action is directly correlated with the introduction of the white man. Okonkwo is a powerful representation of his culture and his death symbolizes the struggles of the Ibo as a whole.

Initially, Okonkwo experiences this collision when a Christian church arises in Mbanta and his son, Nwoye, eventually converts. The missionaries were granted a spot of land in the Evil Forest, a place said to be uninhabitable. Nwoye is captivated and intrigued by a hymn he heard on the first day of the missionaries’ arrival and gains the courage to join them. His father, obviously angered by this news, beats his son when he returns home. “When [Okonkwo] suddenly overcome with fury, sprang to his feet and gripped him by the neck.” (Achebe 151). Okonkwo sees his son as an abomination like his own father and acts out against him for going against their traditional beliefs. When thinking over his actions in his head, he imagines “Himself and his fathers crowding round their ancestral shrine waiting in vain for worship and sacrifice and finding nothing but ashes of bygone days, and his children the while praying to the white man’s god.” (Achebe 153). Okonkwo feels abandoned by Nwoye and doesn’t want his cultural heritage to be repudiated. The white man enters these tribes of Nigeria and discredits and mocks their belief systems, causing Okonkwo and many others to question their own identities.

Furthermore, Okonkwo is impacted by his imprisonment after he witnesses and retaliates against the church for the humiliation of an egwugwu. “The red earth church [...] was a pile of earth and ashes.” (Achebe 191). Shortly after his return to Umuofia, a Christian man by the name of Enoch unmasks an egwugwu, killing the spirit he represents. The Christians hide Enoch and instead of killing him, the members of the clan decide to burn down the church. A group of men from the village, including Okonkwo, are tricked into being imprisoned and the village has to pay 250 cowries for their release. Okonkwo is deeply upset by all of this and feels even more deceived by the white man “[Okonkwo] mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women.” (Achebe 183). Okonkwo’s anger, derived from this unfortunate multitude of events, leads to the next remaining incidents in the novel.

Ultimately, the actions of the white man lead him to murder a court messenger and in turn, kill himself. The village gathers at the marketplace to discuss the shameful sacrilege that has taken place. A group of court messengers arrive and Okonkwo, seething with hatred, kills one of them with his machete. “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice at the man’s head.” (Achebe 204). Okonkwo, bitter with rage, kills a messenger without thinking of the consequences. Okonkwo returns to his home and ends his life, an act that is detestable in Ibo culture. When the Commissioner leads a group of men into Umuofia, demanding to see Okonkwo at once, they are led to his lifeless body. “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” (Achebe 207). Okonkwo’s death is the result of a great many things, but the arrival of the white man and missionaries was certainly a contributing factor. There is some irony behind Okonkwo’s death because the cause that he died for sees him as a disgrace for ending his own life.