Things Fall Apart Critique


I would like to say that I like this story so much better than Beowulf. It was easier to comprehend and I enjoyed it. I learned more about the roles of men and women in society where the man is always in charge and women are treated as second-class citizens. In some parts of the U.S. that is still in affect, but it is more likely in small poverty stricken countries. I found it ironic that I was studying Gender Inequality in Social Problems while we were reading this. This book concentrates on Okonkwo and how he tries so hard to be better than his own father because he was basically a nobody. The fear of resembling his father haunts him. When Chapter five was talking about masculinity and how the man must control his women and children, you start to  think about how that still happens in today's society. The man is afraid of being weak. When he finds out that Ikemefuna must die, he finishes the job in fear that he would become weak and the other villagers would kill him.

Learning about the culture was actually interesting because hey I know what an obi is and an ozo is.  When you understand the culture, you figure out why the people are the way they are. For example why they have so many wrestling matches? Physical Strength is greatly admired by the Ibo people . This shows that one must have physical strength and power to take the big step in winning matches and gaining wealth. The book explains how there are things in your life that you can't change or control no matter how much you try. Okonkwo is living large with a big family and titles, but when a few bad event affect his life everything changes. When he leaves for seven years, he comes back a stranger, feeling out of place in his home village. He is furious about the villages lack of rebellion against the Christians.

What Okonkwo doesn't know is that this conversion to Christianity and change is inevitable. It has to happen because its pure destiny. Not everything can be fixed or changed, sometimes you just have to learn to live with it. Sadly, Okonkwo takes his life not thinking about how his family will cope after his death. I would like to say that the  Literature circles really gave us the chance to express what was happening in the story in our own words, and talk about other information that could be relevant to the discussion. For example that Wrestling could be a theme and a symbol.  Overall this was a great book! I would recommend it to anyone.