Tradition In Wole's Things Fall Apart

In this novel there are many themes that come up multiple times. One of the biggest themes in this book was tradition and breaking tradition. “The old must flow into the new, Sidi, not blind itself or stand foolishly apart” (Wole 54). Baroka said this while talking to Sidi. Baroka the chief of the tribe wants to keep the old in and keep the new out is basically what he said. “Yesterdays wine alone is strong and blooded, child, and through the Christians’ holy book denies the truth of this, old wine thrives best within a new bottle” (Wole 54). This is another example of Baroka aka Bale trying to convince Sidi that she should be with him because even though a younger person may be stronger everything is better aged. Bale is just using everything that he can …show more content…
This is where he is trying to bring the western culture in to the village. Bale has so munch say in the village that Lakule’s comments or his actions have very little success. Another key point in the novel was when the train tracks were getting put in near the city. “ He loves this life well to bare part from it. And motor roads and railways would do just that, forcing civilization at his door” (Wole 25). This was a great plan but Lakunle didn’t know how easy it would be for Bale to mess that up for him as well. Bale doesn’t want to change his village he wants to keep things exactly how they are. All Bale does is when the surveyor comes out to mark the tracks, Bale pays the surveyor off to move the tracks away from the village. With the train tracks moved way from the village people wouldn’t visit the village and a big city wouldn’t amount without the train. In the end all of Lakule’s attempts to change the village to a western society fails and Bale still holds all the power in the village. Also at the very end of the book Bale tricks Sidi into making love with him, which flows with one of the themes the old must flow in with the