Things Fall Apart begins with the story of the brave Okonkwo who was ‘well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond’. He is famed for defeating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling match. However, it’s not only his story the author intends to tell.
It is the story of people who exist in history, be it Umuofia or Mbaino, with different characters and unique cultures. It is a story of parallels; Okonkwo who grew brave out of spite for Unoka his father a known loafer, and Okoye who though has a passion for music just as Unoka, is also a successful farmer unlike his debtor.
The debt story is what I find funniest in this chapter. When Okoye requests for his money Unoka owed him, the debtor points him to the wall.
“Look at those lines of chalk; each group there represents a debt to someone and each stroke is one hundred cowries. I owe that man a thousand cowries. But he has not come to wake me up in the morning for it”. And that is the end of it.
In chapter one, we see Achebe’s mastery of didactic storytelling. He introduces us to many musical instruments used by the Igbo community: drums, flute, udu, ekwe, ogene; and their dancing, egwugwu and wrestling.
However, it is the author’s use of words that propably makes the work stand out. Achebe doesn’t mind using phrases such as “mind’s ear” for he intends ‘to do great things with [English] language’. Also Proverbs stand out as he has asserted, ‘among the [Igbo] the art of conversation is regarded very highly and proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten’.
The chapter ends with introduction of Ikemefuna, ‘the doomed lad who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia’.
©Sig
2 comments
Good
OFA is doing well.
Thank you Jude for leading #OFABookClub