Things Fall Apart

The novel Things Fall Apart is about a warrior named Okonkwo who lives in a village in Africa. His community of the Nine Village has a great respect for him. He has been able to buy two titles. He has three wives and many children. His farm is a good producing farm and he has overcome his poverty as a youth to become quite wealthy. As a man, Okonkwo does not show his feelings. He refused to be as weak as his father was. He doesn’t want to be lazy or anything of that sort. Even when he is proud of someone, he cannot tell that. Because his main characteristics are too stand strong.
Things Fall Apart follows his life. As Okonkwo strive to rise from obscurity to importance, he brings along with him the tradition that his village requires of him. Even though Okonkwo faces hardship throughout the novel, the author shows us that the cultural expectation and belief of this region are complex. The novel takes an interesting turn when Okonkwo returns to Umuofia and he finds a village changed by outside forces. British missionaries have set up a Christian church in the village. Many of the villagers are starting to convert to Christianity. Okonkwo character starts to change as he no longer is strong but rather lost with all the changes. Okonkwo cannot handle all these outside forces.
In the end, he doesn’t face them with honor. The author is showing how complicated Colonial Africa had become and how this was going to last for years to come. Things Fall Apart then becomes an important novel that shows the complexity of colonialism. Although the novel seems simple, it shows how difficult it is to overcome colonial rule and how many customs begin to get lost.