Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo has made himself a leading man of Umuofia through wrestling, farming and war, all to escape the memory of a father he considered a failure. His fear of looking weak drives him to terrible acts, including one that haunts his son for the rest of the book. Then an accident sends him into exile, and while he is gone white missionaries and government men arrive and begin to pull his clan apart from within. Achebe tells the story of Igbo life before and during colonization from the inside, showing a whole society with its own laws, stories and flaws, and a hero who cannot bend.

What happens in Things Fall Apart

Okonkwo, a champion wrestler and fearless warrior, is one of the leading men of Umuofia, a clan of nine Igbo villages in what is now southeastern Nigeria. His father, Unoka, was a gentle, idle musician who died in debt, and Okonkwo has built his life on being everything Unoka was not: hardworking, harsh and feared. When a neighboring village kills a woman of Umuofia, it hands over a boy, Ikemefuna, as compensation, and Okonkwo raises him for three years. Okonkwo’s son Nwoye looks up to him and follows his lead. When the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves decrees the boy’s death, Okonkwo is warned not to take part, but he joins the men who lead Ikemefuna into the forest and strikes the fatal blow himself because he cannot bear to seem soft. Nwoye is deeply shaken. Okonkwo also fears for his favorite child, his daughter Ezinma, whose mother Ekwefi has lost many babies. At an elder’s funeral, Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills the dead man’s son. Though the killing is accidental, custom demands seven years of exile, and Okonkwo flees with his family to his mother’s village, Mbanta. During the exile, his friend Obierika brings news that white men have destroyed the village of Abame, and Christian missionaries arrive in Mbanta. Nwoye, drawn to their hymns and their acceptance of outcasts, joins them and breaks with his father. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia, he finds a church, a colonial court and a government that hangs men for breaking its laws. The gentle missionary Mr. Brown is replaced by the rigid Reverend Smith, and after a zealous convert unmasks an ancestral spirit, the masked egwugwu burn the church. The District Commissioner tricks Okonkwo and other leaders into a meeting, jails and humiliates them, and demands a fine. At a gathering to decide whether to fight, Okonkwo kills a court messenger sent to break up the meeting, but the crowd lets the others flee instead of joining him. Seeing that his clan has no stomach for a fight, Okonkwo hangs himself, an act his own people consider an abomination.

Where and when Things Fall Apart happens

Chapter by chapter summary + why it matters

1. 1

   Part One, Chapters 1–6: Okonkwo’s rise

   Okonkwo made his name as a young man by beating a champion wrestler nicknamed the Cat, and he despises the memory of his debt-ridden father, Unoka. Ikemefuna arrives from a neighboring village as compensation for a killing and joins Okonkwo’s household. Okonkwo breaks the sacred Week of Peace by beating a wife and must pay a penalty, and at the Feast of the New Yam he fires his gun at his wife Ekwefi. The section ends with the village wrestling match.

   Why it mattersAchebe builds a full picture of Igbo society, its seasons, laws, feasts and sports, while showing Okonkwo’s violence as a response to his fear of weakness. The clan’s rules and penalties show a community that values balance, even when its strongest man does not.

2. 2

   Part One, Chapters 7–13: Ikemefuna’s death and the exile

   After three years, the Oracle decrees Ikemefuna’s death, and Okonkwo, ignoring an elder’s warning, kills the boy himself rather than appear soft. Obierika’s family settles his daughter’s bride-price, Ezinma falls gravely ill and the story of Ekwefi’s lost children is told, and the masked egwugwu judge a marriage dispute. Then the priestess Chielo carries Ezinma to the Oracle’s cave at night while her parents follow, and the next morning Obierika’s family holds the betrothal feast. At Ezeudu’s funeral Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills a boy, and he must go into exile for seven years.

   Why it mattersOkonkwo’s killing of Ikemefuna is the moral turning point of the book and plants the doubt that will drive Nwoye away. His accidental crime and exile show that even a great man is subject to the clan’s laws and to forces he cannot control.

3. 3

   Part Two, Chapters 14–19: Exile in Mbanta

   Okonkwo is received by his mother’s kinsmen in Mbanta, where his uncle Uchendu scolds him for his despair and explains why a man in trouble turns to his mother’s people. Obierika brings news that the village of Abame was wiped out after its people killed a white man. Missionaries arrive, build a church in the Evil Forest and survive, and outcasts and the unhappy begin to convert. Nwoye joins them and leaves his father, and when the exile ends, Okonkwo holds a farewell feast for his mother’s kin.

   Why it mattersThe Christians gain ground by offering a place to those the clan had rejected, and Nwoye’s conversion shows how Okonkwo’s harshness helps push his son toward the new faith. Okonkwo’s forced absence also means he misses the early changes, making his return all the more jarring.

4. 4

   Part Three, Chapters 20–22: A changed Umuofia

   Okonkwo returns to Umuofia and finds a church, a colonial court and court messengers who enforce foreign law. Mr. Brown, a tolerant missionary, builds a school and hospital and discusses religion respectfully with an elder, but he falls ill and leaves. His successor, Reverend James Smith, is rigid and uncompromising, and when the convert Enoch unmasks an egwugwu during a sacred ceremony, the egwugwu destroy Enoch’s compound and burn the church.

   Why it mattersAchebe contrasts two missionaries to show that colonialism could work through patience as well as force, but both bring change the clan cannot reverse. The unmasking is a direct attack on the heart of Igbo religion and sets off the final crisis.

5. 5

   Part Three, Chapters 23–25: The last stand

   The District Commissioner invites Okonkwo and other leaders to a meeting, has them seized and jailed, and demands a fine, while the court messengers humiliate the prisoners. After their release, the clan gathers to debate war, and when court messengers order the meeting to end, Okonkwo kills their leader with his machete. No one follows his lead, and Okonkwo, left alone, goes home and hangs himself. When the Commissioner arrives, Obierika shows him the body, and the Commissioner thinks the episode might earn a brief mention in the book he intends to write.

   Why it mattersOkonkwo’s suicide, an abomination in his own culture, completes his tragedy: the man who stood for Umuofia’s traditions dies in a way that breaks them. The final shift to the Commissioner’s view shows how colonial history would shrink a whole life and culture into a footnote.

Characters and how they connect

Character Relationships who connects to whom, and the themes that bind them

Themes in Things Fall Apart what the novel is really about

Symbols & motifs

The ending of Things Fall Apart, explained

After Okonkwo returns from exile, he wants Umuofia to drive out the colonizers as it once would have driven out any enemy, but the clan is divided. Many have converted, others value the trade and money the newcomers bring, and all fear the government’s guns. When the egwugwu burn the church, the District Commissioner lures six leaders, including Okonkwo, to a meeting, seizes them, and holds them until the village pays a fine, while the court messengers shave their heads and mistreat them. At a great gathering afterward, the clan debates whether to fight. When court messengers arrive to stop the meeting, Okonkwo kills their leader with his machete. The crowd does not rise with him, and from the way it reacts Okonkwo sees that his clan has no will to fight. When the Commissioner comes to arrest him, Obierika leads him to a tree where Okonkwo has hanged himself. Because Igbo belief treats taking one’s own life as a grave sin against the earth goddess, the clansmen are forbidden to handle his corpse and must rely on outsiders to take it down. Obierika, in anger and grief, blames the Commissioner’s people for the death of one of the clan’s most respected men, who now faces a shameful burial. The novel ends in the Commissioner’s mind as he plans a book on bringing the region under colonial control, in which Okonkwo would get only a brief mention. Readers see several meanings in this ending. It completes Okonkwo’s personal tragedy, since his refusal to bend leaves him isolated and destroyed. It also represents the fall of Igbo independence, as the clan’s unity collapses. The final shift to the Commissioner’s view is widely read as Achebe’s answer to European writing about Africa: the Commissioner’s brief mention is exactly the reduced version of history that this novel was written to replace.

Common misreadings

Test yourself

Flashcards flip, self-grade, and the deck remembers what you know

Okonkwo is a strong, proud man in an African village called Umuofia, and he works hard so no one will think he is weak like his father was. He does some cruel things because of that fear, including killing a boy he had raised like a son. After an accident, he has to leave his village for seven years. While he is away, white missionaries arrive, and his own son Nwoye leaves him to become a Christian. When Okonkwo comes home, the British are in charge and his village is changing fast. He wants his people to fight back, but they will not, and he takes his own life.

Compare & connect the story universe

Discussion & essay prompts for class, or your next paper

Key questions students ask

• Why does Okonkwo kill Ikemefuna in Things Fall Apart
• What does the title Things Fall Apart mean
• Why does Nwoye convert to Christianity
• Why does Okonkwo kill himself at the end of Things Fall Apart
• What is the significance of the District Commissioner’s book
• How does Okonkwo’s father shape his character