

Essay by Anonymous UserCollege, UndergraduateA+, January 1994

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The culture of the Umuofia society before the colonial

infiltration, may be hard to understand but we are forced by

Achebe to realize it has traditions and customs that make it

work. Although, looking at it from our Judaeo-Christian point of

view we may be appalled by some of their practices. We also have

to realize that they have strengths.

Things Fall apart is the idea of balance and

interdependence, earth and sky, individual and community, man and

woman or different perspectives on the same situation. The

central image of this balance is contained in the Ibo concept of

'chi,' which occurs throughout the novel. A persons 'chi' is

their destiny, his inner self, 'you wouldn't challenge your 'chi'

to a wrestling match,' as did Okonkwo when he assisted in the

killing of Ikemefuna, whom he loved and who called him father.

Okonkwo sins not only against the earth goddess, protector of

family relations, but also against his inner most feelings or his

'chi.' Any bad luck that occurs, people of this culture would

say that you have a bad 'chi.'

Okonkwo's destiny is marked by bad luck, one reason may be

that he is so driven by the fear of resembling his father that he

struggles to repress part of his personality with predictably

afflicted results.

This was a society where a man was judged by his own

achievement and not that of his fathers. Yams were the primary

crop of Umuofia. A sign of manliness was if you could farm yams

to feed your family. Okonkwo is respected because of his hard


The complex patterns of Umuofia's economic and social

customs materialize throughout this novel as we see Okonkwo

compelled to rid himself of any similarities that his father had.

Unoka had no titles, was...