Sunday, May 12, 2013

What are the themes of protests and revolution in Things Fall Apart?

In Part I of Things Fall Apart,
Okonkwo generally protests and revolts against femininity and religion (the Oracle of
the Hills and Caves governed by the priestess Agbala).  Okonkwo equates femininity and
domesticity with weakness and laziness because of his father's legacy.  In short,
Okonkwo would rather work his yam fields than sit around the feast talking.  As such, he
expresses his anger toward his family: Okonkwo beats his wife during Peace Week, nearly
shoots his wife, and kills Ikemefuna all as protests against being told what to do by
the feminine subculture which controls the feasts and
oracles.


In Parts II and III of the novel, Okonkwo protests
and revolts inwardly against his mother's tribe in their passivity, inwardly against his
own tribe in their acceptance of Christianity, and violently against the British
colonists.  Okonkwo wants to re-establish himself as a warrior in the tribe, but his
people have become too institutionalized to wage warfare; instead, they acquiesce to the
colonists' demands.  Okonkwo, seeing his people as weak, asserts himself by organizing
the burning of the Church, beheading the messenger, and--sadly--by hanging himself.  All
of these acts serve as individual protests against a social problem out of his control.
 In the end, Okonkwo serves as a tragic hero of his people's culture falling
apart.

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