Things Fall Apart and White Men Church BY sauced0711 “Things Fall Apart” In the Book “Things Fall Apart”, written by Chinua Achebe, the main character Okonkwo has to struggle with a struggling society especially when the white people come and try to industrialize and try to spread Christianity to the people of the clan. But the society also believed a lot in manliness and side swiped their main goal, an interviewer once was told by Achebe, “That particular society has believed too much in manliness. Perhaps this is part of the reason it crashed.
I believe this statement is particularly true because Okonkwo left a lot of things unsolved for, because he wanted to seem more like a man and not like his father. One example of them believing too much in their manliness was when his son decided to Join the white men church and leave the clan. What he did was Just say that he had other sons and that he was going to raise them well and have them be of high rank. On page 172 the author writes, “The the tragedy of his first son had occurred. At first it appeared as if it might prove too great of his spirit.
But it was a resilient spirit, and in the end Okonkwo overcame his sorrow. He had five other sons and he would bring them up the way of the clan. ” This shows that Okonkwo was willing to put his manliness first in his priorities then trying to get his son back with him. If he would of set his manliness aside and went to get his son back then things would of changed because the church would have had one less member, and a society is only as string as its members. Also if he would have gone to get his son then he would have not gone through the rieving process he went through.
Another example of him making his manliness his first priority was when he was talking about how Nwoye was not manly enough and how he would need to change that. On page 66 the author writes, “Nwoye is old enough to impregnate a women. At his age I was already fending for myself. No, my friend, he is not too young. A chick that will grow into a cock can be spotted that very day it hatches. I have done my best to make Nwoye grow into a man… ” In this statement Okonkwo is saying that it hurts im that his oldest son is not manly enough and that there is nothing much that he can do to help with that.
Is Okonkwo would of stopped worrying about his sons manliness and worried about the clan and how it was being over taken by the white men, then the clan might of stood a chance since they were being proactive and fought against the white men putting a church in the evil forest. Also because Okonkwo was too worried about his son’s manliness and how he did not want him to end up like his father then he was totally oblivious to what was going to happen to is lan. The last example of them worrying too much of their manliness was when Okonkwo killed Ikemefuna.
By killing Ikemefuna Okonkwo’s whole life changed and all of the bad things started to happen to him and his clan. On page 61 the author writes “as the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete. Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke on the sand… Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak. ” Here the author shows how Okonkwo was willing to kill someone he loved as his son In order to not 100K weak In Tront 0T nls clan memoers.
Hurtnermore, IT IKemeTuna would of lived then Nowoye would of not Joined the church and would of set his priority to becoming manly and making his father proud. Because this did not happen it shows how the clan members are cruel and how they didn’t care about how other people feel but when it came to the white men they were completely cowards and didn’t care if the white men thought they were manly or not. In conclusion the down fall of the clan was brought by them due to them worrying bout their manliness and not wanting to do anything about the white men and their Christianity.
