{"id":60276,"date":"2012-11-15T07:38:01","date_gmt":"2012-11-15T07:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=60276"},"modified":"2012-11-22T10:59:27","modified_gmt":"2012-11-22T10:59:27","slug":"things-fall-apart-do-we-have-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/things-fall-apart-do-we-have-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThings Fall Apart\u201d: Do We Have Lessons?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the penetrating novels that I have ever read was Chinua Achebe\u2019s <\/a><\/span>Things Fall Apart<\/a><\/span>. <\/em>When I read it for the first time, sometime back, Okonkwo\u2019s character reminded me of Silidu in Leonard Wolf\u2019s <\/a><\/span>Village in the Jungle<\/a><\/span>.<\/em> But today Okonkwo reminds me somebody else. It would not be so difficult for you to guess. The tragedy of Okonkwo and Silidu was determined by the conditions of colonial transition in two societies, Nigeria and Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. But today, it can be of post-colonial transformation, painfully in the context of conflicts between communities and with the \u2018international community\u2019 in any country, let alone Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

Both Okonkwo and Silidu walked in the \u2018war path\u2019 of aiming what they perceived as \u2018correct\u2019 by unleashing violence against the supposed perpetrators or enemies. They both ended up unfortunately in immense tragedy. I am not going to compare the two novels or the two characters, but wish to highlight some of the interesting experiences or episodes of the former and that is of Things Fall Apart<\/em> for pleasure or possible wisdom.<\/p>\n

One reason to write this \u2018roundabout story\u2019 is what is now happening in Sri Lanka and what happened recently in particularly Libya and other Arab countries. Also look at what is happening in Syria, as I write or you read this. Just because somebody or a clique wants to hold on to power, disregarding all norms of civility, the whole society is suffering.<\/p>\n

Background <\/strong><\/p>\n

The background to the story proper is the conflict between the \u2018white man\u2019 and his Christian mission, on the one hand, and the traditional tribal society in Nigeria and its beliefs and customs, on the other hand. The author, Chinua Achebe was born in 1930 and during his time, and that is post 1930s, the conflict was still going on. Achebe furthermore was privy to the events and stories of the previous generations when the conflict was more intense.\u00a0 The setting of the story perhaps goes back to the end of the nineteenth century (although not mentioned) with the initial arrival of the \u2018white man\u2019 and missionaries in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

The story portrays the traditional tribal society of the Ibo community with nuanced variations from one village to the other. From the prism of the twenty first century, it is a society of strengths and weaknesses and also admirable and abominable customs. The story centres on Okonkwo, who was the main character. \u201cUnoka, for that was his father\u2019s name, had died ten years ago. In his day he was lazy and improvident and was quite incapable of thinking about tomorrow.\u201d I am quoting from Achebe with double quotation marks for you to identify.<\/p>\n

Okonkwo was different. \u201cOkonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was reacting to his father perhaps, to be strong and authoritarian. That was also the ethos of the tribal society. \u201cThat was many years ago, twenty years or more, and during this time Okonkwo\u2019s fame had grown like a bush fire.\u201d Tribal societies are closely knit societies. The \u2018centre holds.\u2019 Authority, tradition and brutal punishments against violations of tradition are the things that presumably hold the society together. It is full of myths and mysticism. They believed in the Oracle pronounced by a witch type woman called Agbala<\/em>. She is a priestess. Everyone had a Chi <\/em>and that is a personal god. If Chi<\/em> is favourable, you are well off or otherwise you are doomed. In ancient village Sri Lanka it was different. According to the Sinhala Tele-drama, Arundathi<\/em>, there is a chi<\/em> \u2013 but that is for the whole village of Hathveliya.<\/p>\n

They had some sort of democracy. Most of the decisions concerning the village were taken by the elders or the kindred meeting. However, only men were allowed in that, like in ancient Greece or until recently of \u2018modern democracy.\u2019 All other family decisions were taken by the head of the family or the man. Okonkwo had three wives. They lived in separate huts with respective children in Okonkwo\u2019s compound. Okonkwo had his Obi<\/em>. That was a large living quarter. The set up was very much similar to what the Vedda\u2019s or the indigenous people had in Sri Lanka until recently.<\/p>\n

Breach of Peace<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once, \u201cOkonkwo was provoked to justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went to plait her hair at her friend\u2019s house and did not return early enough to cook the afternoon meal.\u201d This is like a modern day quarrel in an \u2018old fashioned\u2019 marriage in the Sri Lankan or the Indian society. The tradition was each wife to cook a plate for the husband and bring one by one to his Obi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is Ojiugo?\u201d he asked the second wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has gone to plait her hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are her children? Did she taken them?\u201d he asked them with unusual coolness and restraint. It was the Week of Peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are here,\u201d answered his first wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid she ask you to feed them before she went?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d lied the first wife trying to minimize Ojiugo\u2019s thoughtlessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth.\u201d \u201cAnd when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of Peace.\u201d This was not appreciated in the community. \u201cOkonkwo\u2019s neighbours heard his wife crying and sent their voices over the compound walls to ask what was the matter. Some of them came over to see for themselves. It was unheard-of to beat somebody during the sacred week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Okonkwo committed a great evil in the eyes of the tradition. The priest of the earth goddess, Ani, called on Okonkwo\u2019s Obi. He declared: \u201cYour wife was at fault, but even if you came into your Obi and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to beat her.\u201d \u201cYou know as well as I do that our forefathers ordained that before we plant any crop in the earth we should observe a week in which a man does not say any harsh word to his neighbour. We live in peace with our fellows to honour our great goddess of the earth without whose blessings our crops will not grow.\u201d Okonkwo was punished.<\/p>\n

Killing \u2018the Son\u2019 <\/strong><\/p>\n

That was not the downfall of Okonkwo. That was the beginning. Okonkwo was too authoritarian. That was not necessary, warranted or permitted by the tradition. Okonkwo had a sort of an adopted son, Ikemefuna. He was brought to the village as a payment from another village in settlement of a dispute. That was some time ago. Now he was part of the family and Okonkwo liked him.<\/p>\n

However, after the appearance of Locusts on the village, which was considered a bad omen, the elders decided to kill the boy. It was permitted as he was an outsider or a son of another village. The Oracle of the Hills and Caves had pronounced it. When Ogbuefi Ezeudu, the oldest man in the village came to know about it he came to Okonkwo and said \u201cThat boy calls you father. Do not bear hand in his death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father\u201d he repeated. Okonkwo did not heed the advice. He wanted to avoid the feeling of weakness or failure. That was the moral degeneration of Okonkwo. When his own son, Nwoye, came to realize that his father had killed his \u2018brother,\u2019 he was disdainful of him. Okonkwo was not the only one who was responsible for the \u2018things falling apart.\u2019 But according to Achebe\u2019s story he was symbolic.<\/p>\n

\u2018White Man\u2019 and the Iron Horse <\/strong><\/p>\n

First the white man had appeared in Abame. The story was something like the following. \u201cDuring the last planting season a white man had appeared in their clan.\u201d \u201cAn albino,\u201d suggested Okonkwo.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was not an albino. He was quite different. He was riding an iron horse. The first people who saw him ran away, but he stood beckoning to them. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them\u2026.And so they killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did the white man say before they killed him?\u201d asked Uchendu. \u201cHe said nothing,\u201d answered one of Obierika\u2019s companions.<\/p>\n

There was a long silence. Uchendu ground his teeth together audibly. Then he burst out: \u201cNever kill a man who says nothing. Those men of Abame were fools. What did they know about the man?\u201d He ground his teeth again and told a story to illustrate his point.<\/p>\n

\u201cMother Kite once sent her daughter to bring food. She went, and brought back a duckling. \u2018You have done very well,\u2019 said Mother Kite to her daughter, \u2018but tell me, what did the mother of this duckling say when you swooped and carried its child away.\u2019 \u2018It said nothing\u2019 replied the young kite. \u2018It just walked away.\u2019 \u2018You must return the duckling,\u2019 said Mother Kite. \u2018There is something ominous behind the silence.\u2019<\/p>\n

And so Daughter Kite returned the duckling and took a chick instead. \u2018What did the mother of this chick do?\u2019 asked the Old Kite.\u2019 It cried and raved and cursed me,\u2019 said the young kite. \u2018Then we can eat the chick,\u2019 said her mother. \u2018There is nothing to fear from someone who shouts.\u2019 Those men of Abame were fools.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dialogue <\/strong><\/p>\n

Achebe\u2019s story went on and on and on. The missionaries came and built a Church right in the middle of Okonkwo\u2019s village, Umuofia. The first priest was one Mr Brown who was a spiritual man. He had good relations with the clan and its elders. He tried to convince the villagers that his religion was correct and superior to the religion of the clan. But villagers also had their own arguments.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say that there is one supreme God who made heaven and earth,\u201d said Akunna during one of Mr Brown\u2019s visits. \u201cWe also believe in Him and call him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other gods.\u201d \u201cThere are no other gods,\u201d said Mr Brown. \u201cChukwu is the only God and all others are false. You carve a piece of wood \u2013 like that one\u201d (he pointed at), \u201cand you call it a god. But it is still a piece of wood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d said Akunna. \u201cIt is indeed a piece of wood. The tree from which it came was made by Chukwu, as indeed all minor gods were. But he made them for his messengers so that we could approach Him through them. It is like yourself. You are the head of your church.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d protested Mr Brown. \u201cThe head of my church is God himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d said Akunna. \u201cBut there must be a head in this world among men. Somebody like yourself must be the head here.\u201d \u201cThe head of my church in that sense is in England.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is exactly what I am saying.\u201d Akunna argued.<\/p>\n

In this way there was a dialogue between the two sides and a growing understanding. Thereafter came a change. Mr Brown was replaced by Mr Smith. He condemned openly Mr Brown\u2019s policy of compromise and accommodation. He virtually saw things as \u2018black and white\u2019 so to say.<\/p>\n

Final Confrontation<\/strong><\/p>\n

The conflict became intense. The most violent men in the village, Okonkwo being the head among them, in the form of ancestral spirits, Egwugwu<\/em>, went against the Church and destroyed it. They also destroyed the houses of the converted Christians. By that time the \u2018White Administration\u2019 also had come to the area. The District Commissioner sent his messengers to ask the elders of the village to meet him. When they went to see him they were cunningly arrested. The Commissioner announced the following.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come to your rescue. But we will not allow you to ill-treat others. We have a court of law where we judge cases and administer justice as it is done in my own country under a Great Queen. I have brought you here because you have joined together to molest others, to burn people\u2019s houses and their places of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sermon went on and on. And thereafter, all the heads of the elders were shaved. \u201cThey were not given any water to drink, and they could not go out to urinate or go into the bush when they were pressed. \u2026At night the messengers came in to taunt them and to knock their shaven heads together.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Achebe said, they were simply humiliated. The whole village was punished and only after the villagers paid a huge fine, that the elders were released from custody. A few days later, almost the whole village, of course except those who were converted to the Church or the colonial administration, gathered to decide what to do.<\/p>\n

There were \u2018soft liners,\u2019 \u2018hard liners\u2019 and very few \u2018middle ground\u2019 people and so on. They were arguing and discussing. At this point there was a sudden stir. There were messengers. The head messenger declared, \u201cThe white man whose powers you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop.\u201d In a flash Okonkwo drew his Matchet. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. The District Commissioner himself came to arrest Okonkwo.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich among you is called Okonkwo?\u201d he asked through his interpreter. \u201cHe is not here,\u201d replied Obierika, one of the close friends of Okonkwo, but a wise and sober man. \u201cWhere is he?\u201d the Commissioner asked. \u201cWe can take you where he is, and perhaps your men will help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commissioner could not understand what Obierika meant by \u2018perhaps your men will help us.\u2019 \u201cOne of the infuriating habits of these people was their love of superfluous words, he thought.\u201d They went into the bush. \u201cThen they came to the tree from which Okonkwo\u2019s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t you take him down yourselves?\u201d the Commissioner asked. \u201cIt is against our custom,\u201d said one of the men. The Commissioner was puzzled.<\/p>\n

The Lessons <\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me finish the story here and highlight its lessons briefly as I see it. Anyway Achebe\u2019s story ends with Okonkwo\u2019s tragedy.<\/p>\n

\u2018Things fell apart\u2019 because of internal and external reasons. All societies have certain ethics, ethos or customs in both \u2018war and peace.\u2019 These moral principles may be akin by and large to all societies. Most of them are now called Humanitarian and Human Rights Principles. Okonkwo was one who did not follow some of these sacred principles for greed of power, wealth or simple pleasure of authority.<\/p>\n

He beats his wife during the \u2018week of peace.\u2019 He killed Ikemefuna who called him father, for fear of feeling weak or failure. Not only he was responsible, but the whole society. The people in Abame killed a \u2018white man\u2019 when he was silent. It was against the sacred principles of the tribe. Finally, Okonkwo could not control his rage and killed the head messenger of the \u2018white administration\u2019 and killed himself thereafter in desperation.<\/p>\n

Of course the \u2018white man\u2019 also or primarily was responsible for the whole calamity, whatever the pronounced pretexts again for greed of power, wealth or simple lust for authority, like what Mr Smith or the Commissioner demonstrated. But they perhaps followed certain principles although pronounced by themselves for ulterior motives. As Okonkwo\u2019s wise friend, Obierika, said:<\/p>\n

\u201cNow he has won our brothers, our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.\u201d Achebe took the title of the novel from a verse by W. B. Yeats in The Second Coming<\/em> which says the following:<\/p>\n

Turning and turning in the widening gyre<\/em><\/p>\n

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;<\/em><\/p>\n

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;<\/em><\/p>\n

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":48998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,3,8],"tags":[6454],"class_list":["post-60276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-review","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial","tag-book-review-chinua-achebes-things-fall-apart"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cThings Fall Apart\u201d: Do We Have Lessons? - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/things-fall-apart-do-we-have-lessons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cThings Fall Apart\u201d: Do We Have Lessons? 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