Analyze the significance of the title “Things Fall Apart.”
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a post colonial novel and it represents the colonial experience from the perspective of the colonized. The title of the book is very appropriate and the whole meaning is condensed in it. With the coming of the white missionaries things began to fall apart, the falling apart of the Igbo tribe is documented, things also fell apart for Okonkwo, while things fell into places for others.
Umuofia has their own identity, customs and traditions but the clan gets disturbed and falls apart. The Igbo society, as depicted by Achebe is an organized society with its own special cultural heritage, religious beliefs, and social laws (Mohamed, 2012 ). People helped each other in times of need. For instance, after the death of Okonkwo’s father Nwakibie gave him yam seeds to start with. Oknonkwo’s uncle Uchendu also helped him restart his life in Mbanta on his exile. After the coming of the colonizers the whole clan is divided into two, the natives and the converts. People no longer acted together because of the new customs and religion instilled upon them. Some converted into Christians while others became interpreters and some also joined the court. Native such as Okonkwo and Oberieka stands firm and sticks to their long held customs but deep down they are hurt and grieves. It pained them to see their own people compromise their beliefs, religion, customs and traditions. Oberieka in one of the conversations with Okonkwo said, “We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (Achebe, 2001). The natives started to see faults in their beliefs and they started questioning it. People dared to commit crimes no one dared before. For instance, Enoch who became a religion fanatic unmasked an egwugwu in public which is considered...