A Name, A Plot

The ending of Things Fall Apart underlined how cultures change. We saw the new Christian culture of the book take over the Umuofia culture. I assume this is where the title comes from even though this brings me to a main topic. The Umuofia culture fell apart. Whether this was because of the reasons that Okonkwo thought; the betrayal of the culture by the people, or because the evolution of language and ideas left the culture of Umuofia behind.

Okonkwo’s need to cling to the culture of his father and tradition really brought him to his miserable end. Okonkwo was like a stick in the mud when it came to adjusting to the new lifestyle that was being excepted. While I feel that Okonkwo did not change with the literature and oral culture I feel that he was right in one respect to not let the Christian culture of the English to invade the traditions of the Umuofia people. I do not feel that it was right for the Christians to convert people from their traditional religion and how it worked. I think this was the real way that Umuofia was destabilized. The loss of tradition not only split the people but confused the people and their traditional morals. While this was good in the case of throwing the twin children into the forest for being evil it was bad in the case that people like Okonkwo did not do well with the change of his wives and children converting to the Christian culture. This is illustrated in the end when Okonkwo kills the messenger and declares war on the Christians. Then, when no one joins in with Okonkwo, he sees how the people have changed and realizes that the culture has completely changed. Then Okonkwo takes his life. This illustrates the final blow to the traditional culture of Umuofia, the unraveling of the cultural thread and how the old ways of the Umuofia fell apart. Okonkwo fought literature and the culture it brought because he saw this death of culture coming, but he did not see the value in it because of his clouded views by trying to stay traditional.