The discussion of THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe last night May 11, 2009 in the Houston Central Market community room was attended by nineteen individuals from the Central Market Book Club who for the most part thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The group leader, Jackie led off with a question asking whether Okonkwo, the protagonist was a "good man". There were numerous responses that focused on the fact he was a good man relative to the tribal culture in which he lived. It was mentioned that he was ambitious and revered for his willingness to be violent when violence was needed. Also, his tendency to violence was a result of his being filled with anger as a response to his childhood insecurity because of the weakness of his father, Unoka who humilated Okonkwa because Unoka did not provide for his family very well. Unoka did not work or have money and instead, spent much of his life playing the flute and borrowing money that he could never pay back.
We are told that Okonkwo's father had bad chi and that as a result of his father's bad chi, Okonkwo also had bad chi. And that according to tradition, a member of Umuofia could overcome bad chi only by working very hard, thus the reason why Okonkwo was very ambitious and as described in the book was an extremely hard worker. He also demanded hard work from his children, in some cases, too harshly such as in the case of his oldest son Nwoye.
Also mentioned was Okonkwa's world view which was basically "black and white" with very little gray. Some thought his world was a rigid world especially regarding what constituted being a man and what constituted the proper way women and children should be treated. Though Okonkwa might have been rigid, he was also obedient to the laws, traditions and customs of his tribe. When he did over-reach because of his tendency to violence or anger such as beating his wife during Sacred week, or verbally insulting a neighbor at a tribal meeting when they didn't agree with him, he always apologized when it was appropriate (though not necessarily sincerely) or obediently succumbed to following the punishment as defined for his offense. In one case, when his supplies accidentally fired and killed someone, he was exiled with his family for seven years and he did not try to circumvent the punishment but gracefully heeded the terms of his exile according to custom.
Some of the problems Okonkwo encountered were due to the fact that he didn't communicate very well. One member in the group reminded us that he stammered. The person he was closest to was Ezinma, his favorite child who was the only child of his second wife. As a result of Ezinma being sickly, the reader is given the opportunity of observing Okonkwo as being a nurturing father for the first and only time in the book. Not being one who nurtures was considered a flaw of Okonkwo's by most of us but as described in the book, because he was so tormented, the reader is very sympathetic to him during this incident where he brings his daughter back to health with herbs after leaving his tent at least seven times looking for her in the night
As a result of questions from Jackie, we spent a fair amount of time discussing the paganism of the culture, the tribal nature, what type of government they had, how they ruled themselves, and what their policy was toward punishment when crimes were committed. We all agreed that their way was not the way that western civilization works. We discussed how political actions required collaboration with the elders of the tribe or else there was risk of severe punishment such as exile or being labeled an outcast. This requirement for collaboration with other tribal members was the main reason, we thought Okonkow's violent action against a messenger at the end of the book was so taboo. Not the killing itself but that he did it as a result of his own decision and not one agreed to in collaboration with other tribe members.
The reason I liked the book so much was because I thought the character of Okonkwo was very well developed especially in light of the book being a relatively short book. The seriousness he felt in undertaking his first experience at growing yams, the disappointment he suffered such as the timing of his return from exile causing him not to achieve the status within the tribe that he was seeking, the disappointment he suffered with the killing of his adopted son Ikemefuna, the disappointment he suffered when his oldest son Nwoye converted to Christianity and abandoned Okonkwo and the rest of his family, the fear he felt when his favorite daughter was ill, the joy he felt when he was visited by his best friend Obierika while in exile, the seriousness he felt in carrying out his duties as an egwugwu in the tribal ceremonies all formed a vivid picture of a decent man subject to flaws but doing the best he could trying to adhere to what he valued most in life, that being the customs and traditions of his heritage.
We also discussed at some length (among other things),
- the difference between the evangelical leaders - first Mr. Brown and then the more aggressive Reverend Smith.
- the existence or not of sexism and misogyny in the tribal culture, the phrase "Mother is Supreme" and how it was used
- the problems in the tribal culture in dealing with members with low status that led to the Christians having a base to develop their converts from
- The mistakes such as the tribe allowing the Christians to build in the Evil Forest
- the appeal of some results of the cultural exchange with the evangelicals such as the stores with palm oil for sale
- what was lost by the collonialization of the Nigerian tribes by the Europeans
- the writing style of the author which to several seemed in tune with an oral tradition rather than a written one
Our final comments centered on Okonkwo's death. Why did he have to die? What rings most true to me is that Okonkwo and the traditions of his culture were one and the same. Because the traditions were being destroyed and because other tribal members were not willing to fight as Okonkwo thought necessary as evidenced by the other messengers besides the one that Okonkwo killed being allowed to escape, he saw the end of the tribal traditions and thus because he identified so strongly with these, the end of his own life.
Looking forward to next months discussion on June 8th, 2009 of WATER FOR ELEPHANTS by Sara Gruen. For more info, check out http://www.houstonbookclubs.org/CentralMarket/
