Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

Things Fall Apart deals with issues of cultural change, and the loss of cultural identity.  Currently in the Northern Territory many young aboriginal people also experience this struggle with their community culture against the white man’s culture.  The newly converted people of Igbo wrestle to understand a religion/culture whose values and practices are very different from their own, no longer confident in their cultural heritage.  Much like these people from Igbo, the ongoing loss of traditional culture of aboriginal people and a strong western influence is leaving many young aboriginals between cultures. 

One of the main complications in this is that Australians do not have an easily definable culture.  There is such a high diversity of people groups that the resultant culture is so generalised that it becomes unnoticed.  ‘The destruction of Indigenous Australian culture has resulted in ongoing grief, despair and confusion including the disruption of traditional gender roles (especially for men), cultural values and pride, disruption of kinship networks and support systems, and confusion of people forced to balance between two, often irreconcilable cultures.’- Culture and Closing the Gap ¹.  One report says that the ‘loss of cultural identity and cross-cultural confusion is prevalent among young Aboriginals,²’ and that ‘suicide occurs when young people find themselves in no-man's land’².  This response to loss of cultural identity as a major cause of increased suicide rate (of young Indigenous people in the north of Australia has been rising for the past 20 years and is now claimed to be the highest in the world²) is also seen in the novel as Okonkwo hangs himself after realising his tribes culture no longer has room for his personal one. 

The novel suggests that a solution to this is for there to be three cultures, the heritage culture, living culture and personal culture.  You should know your background and stay strong to it, but live with an open mind so that benefits from other cultures can be included into your personal culture that defines who you specifically are. 

¹ Culture and Closing the Gap - http://iaha.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/000214_cultureclosinggap.pdf

² Aboriginal elders lament loss of culture as Indigenous youth suicides rise - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-15/aboriginal-elders-report-on-youth-suicide/5390836

 

 

Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

“Mr Brown’s successor was the Reverand James Smith, and he was a very different kind of man.  He condemned openly Mr Brown’s policy of compromise and accommodation.  He saw things as black and white. And black was evil.  He saw the world as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal conflict with the sons of darkness.  He spoke in sermons about sheep and goats and about wheat and tears.  He believed in slaying the prophets of Baal. 

Mr Smith was greatly distressed by the ignorance which many of his flock showed even in such things as the trinity and the sacraments.  It only showed that they were seeds sown on a rocky soil.  Mr Brown had thought of nothing but numbers.  He should have known that the kingdom of God did not depend on large crowds.  Our Lord himself stressed the importance of fewness.  Narrow is the way and few the number.  To fill the Lords holy temple with an idolatrous crowd clamouring for signs was a folly of everlasting consequence.  Our Lord who used the whip only once in his life to drive the crowd away from his church.

Within a few weeks of his arrival in Umuofia Mr Smith suspended a young woman from the church for pouring new wine into old bottles.  This woman had allowed her heathen husband to mutilate her dead child….

Mr Smith was filled with wrath when he heard of this.  He disbelieved the story which even some of the most faithful confirmed, the story of really evil children who were not deterred by mutilation, but came back with all the scars.  He replied that such stories were spread in the world by the Devil to lead men astray.  Those who believed such stories were unworthy of the Lords table.” pg 135

This is the passage from  Things Fall Apart that I found most annoying and sickening. As a missionary kid in Iran Jaya surrounded by pioneer missionaries and their successors, the appalling way Mr Smith handled the new Christians of Igbo makes me mad. The dutiful and persistent work, and the patience and collaborative evangelism of pioneer missionary Mr Brown is lost the instance his replacement Mr Smith arrives.  With his fancy words, daunting metaphors, and deep theology this man clearly needs to revisit his missiology textbook.  These people are just starting to learn about God where their beliefs and culture are being flipped over, before they are scared away or banished by Mr Smith.  I have some compassion for Okonkwo, he is violent and abusive but so is his culture, to a lesser extent.  Mr Smith however does not represent Christianity at all.  How dare he banish the young woman? How dare he turn people away from God by telling them the lie that God doesn’t want them if they aren’t perfect?  ‘They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.’ 1 Timothy 1:7 NIV

 What motifs, symbols and / or imagery are evident in this Things Fall Apart and how do they develop characterisation, convey theme, as well as, the author's intention?
Chinua Achebe uses the motif of fire juxtaposed by ash to develop the characters, convey theme, and deepen his intentions.  Fire is feared and respected.  It is a necessity for the people of Igbo, for cooking, warmth and burning off for the next farming season.  It is only helpful when it is contained otherwise it can quickly become powerful, brutal and destructive. 

In Chapter One Achebe shows us what kind of fire Okonkwo is by likening the growth of his fame to a bush-fire, he is out of control.   Okonkwo is known as the Roaring Flame, always displaying ferocious, relentless and violent qualities.  He is always on the verge of breaking out and burning everything.

The remnants and counterpoise of fire is ash.  It is a dead memory of a once burning fire, no longer dangerous, no longer powerful.  The Umuofia’s call the court messengers ‘ashy buttocks’ pg 128 a very demeaning name, as it suggests the messengers are emasculated.  Ashes are used to convey the theme where the culture of Igbo wrestles with change.  In Chapter 17 they find old ashes in the shrines, symbolic of the fire of the culture dying out. 

Majority of the tribe are able to control their fire, ‘as though cold water had been poured on a roaring flame’ pg 149 and always hope for a peaceful resolution.  The problem with Okonkwo is that he does not allow other emotions to surface and has no control over his fiery temper and violent nature.  As he realised himself ‘living fire begets cold, impotent ash’ pg 115, the burning fire within him reeks actions that turn against him to destroy him, to a cold and impotent corpse.

What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2014? What can we learn or gain from the author's message?

The message and story of the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe revolve around the major theme of the struggle with change of culture.  In Okonkwo’s village Igbo the traditional structure and systems of the culture are there for survival, peace before violence, dowries, food, religion, and social status.   Okonkwo made his name in a ‘male’ culture where bravery, shows of strength and superior masculinity is valued.  When he is exiled he struggles with the ‘womanly’ nature of the culture of Mbantu and lives there anxious to return to his ‘manly’ tribe.  The new influences of the Christians and Western culture on the villages of Umuofia bring new techniques and understandings that make survival easier and some traditions obsolete.  Okonkwo is shocked to discover that his own ‘manly’ village has been influenced by the Westerners and become ‘womanly’.  He is fears the shift and commits suicide as he is the only one who understands the old culture and ways.  Accepting the new culture means that his actions, beatings and especially the killing of his foster child will no longer be justified.

As teenagers in 2014 the opportunity for globalisation and thus exposure to many cultures is more accessible than ever.  As a new adult the doors are open for change of a personal culture and being stuck in a monocultured world may not be sufficient anymore.

The message Achebe is trying to tell us is that as cultures mix there will always be complications, it will be a battle to adjust, especially if the culture is old and engrained.  Cultures change, sometimes dramatically as new technologies are invented or slowly over time as new challenges enter the culture.  A culture must be able to grow and adapt to survive, if not it would be like an Elizabethan speaking Shakespearean amongst our modern English, it wouldn’t last.