Things Fall Apart

        Things Fall Apart was an interesting story written by Chinua Achebe, a well-known Nigerian writer. His novel focused mostly on the impact of westernization and western colonization on an eastern, African tribe or community. The main character in the novel was a native named Okonkwo, a tragic hero in the sense that he was masculine to a fault. Affected psychologically by his father's laziness and desire to relax and play music instead of work to feed his family, Okonkwo denied himself any gentle qualities and worked hard to become the opposite of his father. While this made him a warrior and man of great respect, it kept him from understanding his son, Nwoye. Because of this lack of communication, Nwoye left his family and converted to the Christian beliefs of the western colonists, an act that brought shame to Okonkwo. 

        Gender is very prevalent in this novel, and Achebe uses the faults of the protagonist to further the plot. Because of Okonkwo's masculinity, he causes unrest in his family. He accidentally kills Ezeudu's son at Ezeudu's funeral and must leave town for seven years for committing a "female," or inadvertent crime. While living temporarily in the land where his mother's family lived, Okonkwo constantly thought about how he would regain his respect when he was allowed to live with his clan again. Achebe peppers the plot with masculine and feminine actions: he killed a man when his cannon shot off in an unlucky direction, a phallic symbol, he was charged with a feminine crime and forced to live in the land of his mother. The novel ended with the clan's general acceptance of the colonists. Okonkwo decided to take a stand by killing the colonist's head messenger, thinking his fellow brothers would follow suit. When they reacted poorly to the death, Okonkwo couldn't take their "femininity" and killed himself instead of conforming with the western influences. In a way, his death was not weak or a sign of submission- I think he died along with his ancient clan's beliefs and values.