The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger

I happened to be at my cousin's house reading Things Fall Apart. Again. I don't know why. Not the entire book mind you, just the part where the tribal men brings the white man to the already dead Okonkwo. For some reason, that has such a HUGE impact on me that I'm left speechless. And the ironic part of this entire scene is that the Commissioner is walking away from the scene and is thinking about how this story is going to be part of his book. He even has the nerve to name the title: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.

I don't know about you but when I read this sentence, I actually had the urge to smack the Commissioner (even though he's in the book). Just the name makes me think of the Discovery channel. It's like he's observing uncouth animals in the wild. It seems that he has no respect for the Ibo people and you might very well think that he's making a documentary on the wilderness. He forgets that these tribal men are humans as is he. Although I knew what the word primitive meant, I decided to look it up. According to Webster, two synonyms that I found were: CRUDE, RUDIMENTARY. Those two words sums up what the Commissioner thought about Okonkwo and his kin.

It's sad really what people must put up with. A great man committing suicide because of these invaders- these white missionaries who believe that all land and power belong to them and them alone. They are the same men who came to the Americas and washed nearly 3/4 of the Native Indian population. They are the same men who captured innocent beings from Africa and forced them into slave labor. (Note: Please do not misinterpret my feelings- I do not think that Caucasians are all bad)

I cannot even tell you how much this book has impacted me and though I felt some parts were irrelevant to the story, Things Fall Apart is a compelling story of a strong man and that even the powerful cannot control the drama and turmoil that will inevitably plague someone's life.

Closer Observations

Since I've been taking notes on the Things Fall Apart, I found that I take notice to the smallest details. It's amazing! I also found that I had a lot of questions because of this. Most of them had to do with the Ibo culture. I always wanted to know how their sculptures or even how they looked like. Although Blogger won't allow me to upload this picture, you can see the a group of Ibo people clicking this link. You can also see the sculpture.

The other thing that I noticed is that after doing the essay on Father/Son relationships, I realized that there were father/son relationships. I know that sounds as if I had not read the book but I noticed that there are more evidence to the relationship's status.

In Things Fall Apart, it is evident that Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, has made a strong affect on Okonkwo. Most boys would look up to their father and hope to be like them one day but the same could not be said of Okonkwo. Being thought vain and lazy throughout the village, Unoka was hardly that of a role model and Okonkwo made it his goal to be nothing like his father that he had grown to despise. He put his goals at an all time high and set out to reach them by being the complete opposite of his father- strong and great.

In chapter 14, Achebe says “His life had been ruled by a great passion- to become…the lords of the clan… [it] had been his life-spring” What Okonkwo does instead of being the superior being that he wants above all, he is not true to himself and forces things against his chi’s destiny. Achebe continues to say “…he had all but achieved it.” Because of this, Okonkwo becomes heartless, bitter and cold. He fears nothing as seen in chapter four: “…when she [his wife] returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger he had forgotten that it was the Week of the Peace…but Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of a goddess.”

Reading about Unoka going to Agbala made me think that Unoka desperately attempted to try to do what the other men did but failed miserably. Unoka’s words suddenly turn to wise proverbs at the end of his death and I think that it was not until Unoka was in his parting days that he noticed that all the mistakes he had made and the suffering he had laid on his son. Okonkwo’s moral being has greatly been influenced by his father because of his father’s “contemptible life and shamed death” and it has shaped him into the man that he is.

Maybe Okonkwo would've been a different man if his father had been a different man. But as they say, you cannot choose your parents.