Symbolism In Things Fall Apart

Since the colonization period started, Christian was spreading everywhere in the colonies. Some Africans were accepted Christian, but there were some more traditional couldn’t accept the new culture or religion. Achebe’s Thing fall apart and ASAMOAH-GYADU, J. KWABENA’s “’The Evil You Have Done Can Ruin the Whole Clan’: African Cosmology, Community, and Christianity in Achebe’s Things Fall Part” show how Okonkwo would do anything to prevent showing his weakness and converted to Christian. He would do anything to prevent loseing his honor in his society because his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness like his father that caused his family suffered from poverty. Therefore, Achebe uses symbolism and conflict to …show more content…
According to the text, “Unoka, the grown-up, was a failure. He was poor and his wife and children had barely enough to ear. People laughed at him because he was a loafer, and they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back” (Achebe 5). This shows that Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was a failure and caused him and his mother suffered from poverty. This made Okonkwo lives in the shadow, fear of failure for his whole life because the life he had when he was young caused him have a physiological impact on him. Therefore, he would do anything to keep his honor after he got famous from won the wresting game because he scared to suffer from poverty. In addition, Okonkwo killed a boy, who called him father to show other people that he is not weak. According to the text, “Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). This shows that Okonkwo would do anything even kill a boy that he treated as his son to prevent anything that would change his society position. If he didn’t do kill the boy by himself, other people in his village would think he is weak, then people would distrust him. It would affect Okonkwo’s societal position as the result. Thus, Okonkwo’s fear of failure and of change caused him to become bloody and aggressive because he was afraid to be nothing and suffered poverty …show more content…
KWABENA’s “’The Evil You Have Done Can Ruin the Whole Clan’: African Cosmology, Community, and Christianity in Achebe’s Things Fall Part” is connected to Okonkwo’s fear of failure and change. According to the text, “We have already noted the fact that Okonkwo attempted to place his personal interest ahead of that of the community and we see an instance of this at one of the major incidents in Things Fall Apart, the killing of Ikemefuna.” This shows that Okonkwo killed the boy for personal interest, which connected to the fear of change and failure because what he did was to keep his power and title. That’s absolutely personal interest because he was thinking his own benefit without consider bloody of killing a child. In addition, the author states, “…Okonkwo’s hostility towards his son Nwoye for embracing the white man’s faith and his son’s subsequent rejection of his father to live with the missionaries.” This states that the converted of Nwoye, which causes the disagreement with Okonkwo because Okonkwo represented tradition that would not allow any new religion. As a result, it affects Okonkwo’s family relationship and that’s why Okonkwo fear of change, which connects to why Okonkwo was angry at his son because the fear of change and failure. Moreover, the author also states, “…Christian enclaves with traditional communities that separated families from each other. There are three things that have contributed to destroying African communal