[Music] in the introduction of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart readers meet the main character okonkwo who gained fame and respect by winning a wrestling match against an undefeated champion since then Okonkwo has became wealthy marrying three wives and fathering ten children in whom ophea one of the nine villages of his clan his successes contrast with the failures of his father a gentle musician in debt to his entire community ashamed of his father Okonkwo was driven to be the opposite of him fierce and hyper masculine in the rising action clan elders choose Okonkwo as guardian of akima funa a boy who arrives in the village has payment from a neighboring clan whose members murdered a woman from a wolf iya akima funa adjusts to life in a mafia and comes to view Okonkwo as his father nui o Kenko son grows fond of akiima funa but when the priestess chielo orders EK mo funa to be killed a village elder as a you do warns okonkwo not to take part in the killing he does so anyway fearing that if he doesn't obey the Oracle he will lose respect Mui in particular is devastated a Z Maha daughter of Okonkwo second wife a quiff II becomes extremely ill with a fever and equi fee is terrified the child will die later as a you do dies and during his funeral men beat ceremonial drums and fire their guns Okonkwo's gun explodes accidentally killing as a you do son the punishment for killing a Klansman is seven years of exile Okonkwo and his family settle with his mother's clansmen in an Bonta when Okonkwo's friend OB Rika visits he describes the destruction of the album a clan at the hands of the white man the Oracle had said that white men would descend like devouring locusts and destroy them when missionaries arrived in in Bonta and other villages and request land to build a church villagers begin attending services including Moyet who leaves his father to join the missionaries Okonkwo decides it's natural for him to have a weak son as he puts it living fire beget scold impotent ash oak on coal returns to elope eeeh after seven years but he finds that much has changed the missionaries are now well established he wants to fight them but obey Rica warns it is too late the white man's presence extends further than the church as British officials have set up a government with a judicial process led by a district commissioner Enoch as Ellis Christian convert commits the crime of unmasking a blue goo Klan leader in the climax of the novel the egg woohoo and village leaders respond by destroying enix compound and the church in the falling action the district commissioner jails six leaders including Okonkwo they're humiliated and tortured in jail once released Okonkwo vows vengeance and he killed a court messenger for trying to stop a Klan meeting in the resolution of things fall apart Okonkwo has hanged himself the district commissioner reflects that Okonkwo story might be worth including in his book called the pacification of the primitive tribes of the lower Niger there are many characters in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart key among them are Okonkwo's family and his closest friend the novel's main character Okonkwo is a respected leader who has overcome his father's reputation to achieve great success as a warrior and farmer hyper-masculine and fearful of feminine weakness Okonkwo is quick to anger it's often violent and ruled by one passion to hate everything his father had loved this rigidity harms his family and society he's ultimately unable to adapt to the changes brought by Europeans and he commits suicide rather than endure colonized society though a gentle and gifted musician Okonkwo's father única is judged by the clan as lazy his crops were poor because he preferred playing his flute and drinking wine to farming he was also seen as a coward because he was afraid of war when Annika died he was in debt to all of his neighbor's his son Okonkwo is driven to hate everything about him akima funa comes to the clan as payment for a murder committed by one of his tribesmen the elders place him with okonkwo who puts his first wife in charge of the boy EK mucuna eventually comes to feel at home in a mafia and Okonkwo and his family grow to love him as a son and brother Okonkwo's oldest son nuo yi develops an especially close bond with Akuma funa Okonkwo betrays this love by delivering the fatal blow in akiima Funes murder Okonkwo's oldest son Mui experiences the full brunt of his father's discipline Okonkwo fears that Moyet will grow up weak and feminine like Annika so he is particularly hard on him Noah develops a close bond with ek mucuna but when Akuma funa is killed nuoyi cuts himself off from his father with the arrival of European missionaries no brakes entirely from his father's influence and converts to Christianity equi fee is Okonkwo second wife she was attracted to him when she saw his legendary wrestling victory she couldn't marry him then because he was too poor but once he achieves success she left her husband for Okonkwo the loss of her first nine children forged a close connection to him and okonkwo shows more care and concern for her than his other wives equi fee is particularly close to her only child a Z MA and treats her daughter like an equal a Zenith is Okonkwo's only child with his second wife equi fille she's close to her mother and Okonkwo's favorite he shows a special connection to her and respects her boldness often wishing she were a son Oba Rica is a conquest closest friend like Okonkwo he has achieved great status within the clan he too has multiple wives and children during Okonkwo's exile from moi via OB Rika cares for his land and property Oba Rica is more nuanced in his thinking than Okonkwo and able to express himself he rebukes Okonkwo for participating in ek mo Funes murder tells him to have patience with his children and cautions him about the power of the missionaries let's talk about some of the symbols of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart referring to his rage Okonkwo's nickname roaring flame symbolizes the incendiary nature of his masculinity Okonkwo's rage is never far from the surface and often takes the place of dialog whenever he could not get his words out quickly enough he would use his fists the narrator describes okonkwo as living fire distinct from his son Louie who is cold impotent ash a question raised by the novel is whether Okonkwo's kind of living roaring flame ought to survive and whether it's a positive model of passion or masculinity the principle crop of ebo farmers and a staple of feasts yams symbolize wealth and status as well as masculinity we learn in chapter 3 that okonkwo first begins to earn respect in the clan when he borrows and plants some 800 yam seeds growing yams is thought of as a man's job because it is so challenging in Chapter four we're told yam the king of crops was a very exacting King a Klansman who succeeds at growing yams proves himself and earns the respect of those around him locusts represent the devastating effects of European contact and Christian missionaries in chapter 15 the Oracle states directly that the white men are locusts consuming everything in their path this is a turn in the novel in Chapter 7 the arrival of actual locusts brings joy as a dietary delicacy but in Chapter 15 Evo culture represents all that is consumed by British rule and Christianity in Chapter 15 one white missionary comes to the area told by the Oracle that the white man will spread destruction the people kill him he is soon followed by many more foreigners until their presence is felt in all the villages like locusts they bring some benefits education and medicine but at the same time they also devour the clans traditions and culture let's talk about some principal themes of Chinua Achebe's things fall apart the title of the novel nods to the destructive effects of European colonization as well as to more general pressures put on a changing culture over the course of the novel we see how things fall apart both before and after the arrival of the missionaries culture and change are those key themes the colonizers bring new religion new justice and new government with little thought to how ebo society functioned previously the British assume arrogantly that they're bringing culture and enlightenment to primitive people but the novel works hard to show a fully functioning ebo society that includes elaborate belief systems thriving agricultural communal justice and many other markings of well-established social organization in parts 1 & 2 especially we come to know a culture rich in celebration ritual music dance and storytelling changes come about rapidly when the white men and missionaries arrive the impact is negligible at first rumours stories but soon materializes into churches schools and new government institutions the outcasts are the first to abandon ebo tradition to them the cultural changes seem to offer new status and recognition equalizing society Okonkwo refuses to shift his beliefs and behaviors particularly because the British do not see the ebo as their equals he falls apart literally in the end his power and status reduced to suicide fate versus free will in the evil religion an individual's Chi or personal God is said to predetermine that person's fate a person's failures and successes are thus attributed to that person's Chi and yet this fate is not all-powerful as an ebow proverb puts it when a man says yes his Chi says yes also this shows the belief that a person's will can influence their Chi Okonkwo works hard to become a wealthy respected leader of the clan with his drive to dissociate himself from his father he said to have overcome his Chi but when he accidentally kills as a you do son and is forced into exile he curses his fate he now believes that fate rather than his own Drive rules his destiny betrayal Okonkwo believes the men of the clan should resist the incursions of the white man and used their warrior skills to drive the missionaries from their territory in Okonkwo's eyes the clan responds to these foreigners with passivity rather than strength he sees the clans acceptance of the missionaries as a betrayal of the clans tradition and of their warlike ancestors although II came of Funes execution is demanded by the Oracle and therefore an accepted part of ebo tradition whole conquest participation can be seen as a personal act of betrayal Okonkwo helps kill the boy who called him father noise departure from the clan makes Okonkwo wonder how any man could abandon the gods of his father this for okonkwo is the ultimate betrayal