Things Fall Apart

A culture is only as strong as its most faithful and devoted follower. Okonkwo, the main character in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, can easily be argued as the most devoted follower within his culture of the Umuofia civilization. Okonkwo disowned his own son upon discovery that his child had chosen to follow another religion. However, by observing Okonkwo throughout the novel, we continually detect many indications of Okonkwo disregarding the culture’s …

…laws we can eventually relate the disrespect for the culture to the inevitable downfall of the culture. This great man, the only man willing to shed blood for his culture continually disrespected the culture. He did not loose his life fighting for what he believed in so much but, died disrespecting it. If this was the action of the last great defender of the culture then downfall of the culture was to surly be expected.