Things Fall Apart - Part 3

Struggle between Change and Tradition
Mr. Brown
  - Makes a lot of mistakes due to lack of cultural knowledge
  - Tries to understand the Igbos, their religion and traditions
  - Takes time in discussions with the people in order to learn more
Reverend Smith
  - Condemned openly Mr. Brown's policy of compromise and accommodation
  - Saw things as black and white; black being evil
*Brown and Smith are symbols of different kinds of Christian mission

Okonkwo
Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. His fame rested on solid personal achievements. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by through Amalinze the Cat. BEGINNING

-Starts to fall apart as a person, starting with his seven years in exile
-Starts to lose his personality; lost the future he thought he was going to create for himself


Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women
- when he's back from exile and the tribe has changed

Seven years was a long time to be away from one's clan. A man's place was not always there, waiting for him. As soon as he left, someone else rose and filled it. The clan was like a lizard; if it lost its tail it soon grew another.
- white missionaries took over the authority

Why did O wish Enzima was a boy?
She was strong willed compared to her brothers and understood everything O was thinking and trying to say. They really understood each other.

Why do you think after his exile O had hopes to return to U and gain authority over the people of his tribe?
He assumed upon his return that everything would be the same.

Differences between Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith.
Mr. Brown compromises and understands
- gradual process that helped the clan get used to the idea
- subtle and gradual takeover
Mr. Smith is forceful and sly (not trustworthy) and aggressive
*different leaderships effect U: understanding approach made real followers

Who was more deceptive?
English government will enter the triodes either way. The nice missionaries will distract the tribes and get them used to the idea of Christianity so that when the powerful enforcers come they are already briefed with the idea and don't try and automatically kill them since they already have supporters from within the tribe.

Enoch's crime of unmasking an egwuwu
- Damaged the foundations of their beliefs taking the magic away from their religion
- No one expected it - "in your face" type of action

O didn't say anything to the white men while imprisoned because he has a lot of pride and didn't want to be like his father. Wanted to stay strong as the face of the tribe.

O was so determined to fight the white men back (even alone) because he felt so strongly about their traditions.

O's hanging
- he knew where the tribe was headed under the white missionaries and couldn't live with it
- ultimate sacrifice vs. cop out - big taboo in the Igbo culture
- Couldn't fight alone
- Same bad reputation as his father (what he has been trying to avoid the whole time)

Igbo Downfall caused by their own people! The converts inside the society began to break down the culture and beliefs from the inside! NO longer united -> things fall apart

Things Fall Apart can refer to the tribe and Okonkwo himself.
... They were just a paragraph in the book about the Pacification of Africa