BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS, MOTHERFUCKERS. BECAUSE IN EIGHT SHORT PAGES I AM GOING TO TEACH U A THING THAT I ONLY LEARNED MYSELF ABOUT TWO HOURS AGO. SO SIT DOWN, SHUT UP, AND ENJOY THE EXPERIENCE OF MY FOUR AM REDBULL INDUCED, SELF HATRED FUELED WRITING EXTRAVAGANZA (some meme). Achebe shows how things fall apart at the end of Things Fall Apart, by depicting crumbling families, destroyed societies, and changing religious beliefs, suggesting that change can be dangerous if people are unprepared.
Achebe deconstructs Okonkwo's family to prove how harmful tradition can be. During chapter seven, Ikemefuna is walking in front of a large group of Umuofian men, including Okonkwo. Once they have reached the outskirts of the forest, one of the men stabs Ikemefuna. He responds “My father, they have killed me!” (7.21), as he runs towards Okonkwo. Trying to appear strong, Okonkwo stabs him with his machete. This moment is compelling regarding tradition. Since the oracle said that the boy must die, they had to kill the boy. However, it never specified that Okonkwo had to go and kill his son, and instead, he could've let everybody else do so. Nobody would have questioned his manliness if he decided not to kill Ikemefuna. His decision to kill the boy was a poor
one, and it resulted in Okonkwo losing an important figure in his life. Another way that families crumble in Things Fall Apart occurs when Enzima is taken in the middle of the night by Chielo. Okonkwo begins to question where his wife is going, and she says; “‘I am following Chielo,’ she replied and disappeared in the darkness,” (11.53). When Ekwefi makes such a bold statement, it has a bit of disloyalty to it. According to Umuofia tradition, the wife needs to listen to everything the husband needs. However, Ekwefi feels so strongly about protecting her child, that she disobeys both her husband and a god.
Crippling of societies is a significant factor that leads to things falling apart. When the Christians first arrived in Umuofia, they begin to inflict their way of government, their way of thinking, and they did not approve of other methods. The Christians did not understand the current customs.The local traditions made no sense to them, so they wanted to change it to what they understood. The Christians message was so powerful that even Okonkwo’s son Nwoye converted. When Obierika finally gets a chance to talk to Nwoye, he feels so disconnected from his dad, that when Obierika asks him how his father has been doing, Nwoye says, “I don’t know. He is not my father,”(16.6). With such a firm response like that, Nwoye is standing his ground and making sure that everybody realizes that he can make his own choices now.
The final reason that things fall apart at the end of the book is that Umuofia was introduced to a new religion, and forced to follow it. Since all of the people in Umuofia were from the Ibo belief, it was extraordinary and challenging to have a new group of people march in, and declare the town as their own. As previously mentioned, an
example of religions changing occurs with the conversation between Nwoye and Obierika. Nwoye has been swept aside by the faith of Christianity. He even goes to a school to learn how to read and write. Okonkwo dislikes the thought of this and feels that he was “cursed with such a son,”(17.25). The anger that Okonkwo feels is so extravagant that he feels cursed.
As highlighted by the above evidence, change can be a devastating matter if not handled correctly. Things genuinely do fall apart, at the end of Things Fall Apart.