Things Fall Apart

Book Report

02/11/05

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is about different traditional village

cultures in Africa. It also speaks about the British who try and take over the

village by introducing his religion and making it the higher and better religion.

Okonkwo is the narrator of the story. The novel setting is in a small village

called Umofia which is located in the southeastern part of Nigeria and it is

in the late nineteenth century. Man verses Man is the conflict that is seen

in this novel.

Okonkwo is the main character in the novel. He is a hard working

farmer, wrestler, and clan leader who has several children with three wives.

Okonkwo is afraid of being a failure like his father. Because of this, his

behavior towards others is mean. In the novel it explains how Okonkwo

is a man filled with anger and violence. At the end of the story Okonkwo

kills himself. This shows that he has let the violent part of him down and

has become insecure and crazy. I did not like this character because of

his mean actions.

Nwoye is Okonkwo's oldest son. He is very lazy and following in

his grandfathers footsteps. Okonkwo is ashamed of him. The book shows

how Nwoye still shows a feminine side when he likes to hear his mothers

stories. In the end, Nwoye stops trying to please his father and finds peace

in another religion with the British missionaries that have invaded the

village.

In one part of the book, Okonkwo accidentally

kills a boy and he and

his family is bannished from the village with his home and field burned

to keep away bad luck. He must stay away for seven years. Okonkwo

is troubled by this because he is a man who wants only wealth and

power. Okonkwo continued to be mean and nasty but this made it

worse.

The missionaries trying to take over the village to make their religion

the primary