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*Things Fall

ApartAchebe's Id u e n c e on i How the Ibo Governed

A hc an Writers i Unlike other ethnic groups in Nigeria, the Ibo did not have a kinqwho ruled

. over them. The Ibo governed by consensus. In village meetings such as

ThingsFall Apart was a ground- those described in the novel, men of title hashed out the issues

breakina work when it was ~ u b - i and made decisions. They were called the ndichie, or-lished i i 958. Some

Africans have criticized

Achebe for writing in 1English, claiming that Ahe is not promoting AAfrican literature

and culture. But

many critics have

praised him for

creating an

authentic lbo

prose style in

English. Indeed,

Achebe has influ-

enced the African

writers who came after

him; they have fashionedtheir own African prose styles

in English. Many Ibo novelists, in

particular, followed Achebe in writ-

ing about traditional society or

focusing on the conflict between

old and new values. Even some

established Nigerian writers were

highly influenced by Achebe. After

the publication of ThingsFallApart, they changed their prose

style and began to write fiction in

an African style.

izens: he-largestthe Ibo was a loc

unit

)se a.

of.gove

ff liation

rnr

of

nent

villaqes,

likethe nine villages of Umuofia. The Ibo also

.had an ingenious way of ensuring that no

, one in the clan gained too much wealth

and therefore too much power: In order

to take titles, men had to distribute their

- excess wealth. To receive the highest

title in the clan, a man had to pay the

debt of every member of the commu-

nity. Needless to say, few men accepted

this privilege.-

Women in th e TnbeIbo women were not without power, and- Achebe describes the umvada, or daughters of the

clan, who seem to exercise authority in certain arenas.

According to Rhonda Coleman, a critic who has studied the anthropologi-

cal literature on the Ibo, the umuada also regulated the markets in each

town and settled civic and marital disputes. The wives of the clan would

bring pressure to bear on a man guilty of wife abuse through public

humiliation. Women would harass him in front of clan members with

songs and gestures of a rude nature until he changed his behavior. In the

meantime, according to Coleman, kinswomen of the battered woman

who had married into the clan would pressure their own men to do

something about the abuse.



Chapters 1-1

Chi, The Spiritual DoubleAccordin'g to an Ibo proverb, "No thin g canstand alone; there m ust always be anotherthing standing beside it." So too, a humanbeing must have some company. Chi is aperson's spiritual "double," linkinghim or her to the ancestors, theunborn, and to Chukwu, the greatGod that created all the other

gods and hum ankind. While aman who says "yes" may get hischi to agree wi th him, that same

man may find himself in trouble if 1

world-view, chi gets the last word .

AN and AgbalaAccording to Kalu Ogbaa in Gods, Oracles and Divination, Ani is the earth

goddess in charge of morality; she also controls the fe rtility o f people,animals, and plants and serves as a symbolic wo mb for the dead be forethey are reborn. The Ibo, wh o traditionally were farmers, held Ani in highregard because they depended on her fo r food. Ani is the daughter of

Chukwu, the creator of the w orld and o f all other gods.

Agbala, the Oracle of th e Hills and Caves, is the voice or messenger ofAni. Alth ough Agbala is a male, he is strongly associated w it h the fem aleearth; his name can also mean "wom an," and he is served by a priestess.

I ~ g b a l aas an importan t role in the governing of Umuofia because hispronouncemenp are considered unquestionable and must be carried outby the clan.

African oral tradition is rich in folk tales, m yths, riddles, and proverbs.These forms are imaginative, but they also serve religious, social, and edu-cational functions. The Ibo, like other peoples thro ughout the wo rld, usefolk tales and proverbs to instill the clan's m orality in their ch ildren and t opass on their beliefs about spirituality and the nature of the universe.

Ibo CurrencyAmong the Ibo-as in many o t h gregions of Africa--cowrie shellswere formerly used as money. Thecow rie is a shiny, whit e and tanmollusk (snail), about a half-inchlong. The m ajor portion of thebride-price for Obierika's daughter(Akueke) is 20 bags of cowries. In

Achebe's World, Robert Wrenexplains that each bag wo uld havecontained about 24,000 cow riesand would have weighed ab out60 pounds.

Kola and ChalkThe chalk made of wh ite clay wasused by the lbo in rituals. It sym-bolizes peace. An Ibo custom was

t o break a kola nut w ith a guest.Together, ko la and cha lk symbolizean intimacy between host andguest. This ritual allows Okoye, inthe opening scenes of the novel,t o bring up the debt of Okonkwo'sfather, Unoka, in an atmosphereof good feeling.

r'-5-

Li terature Connect ions



m

Chapters 1-7 (continued)

The African Drum-'The African "talking drums" areused as musical instruments, but 'they can reproduce the rhythms andpitches of African languages. m e slitdrum, or ekwe, was used by theIbc-a hollowed log about a foot indiameter and three feet long. It

could be struck to create varyingtones corresponding o the pitchesof spoken language. Thus, the drumcould "talk" with a limited vocabu-lary about a subject.

i Agricultural Staplesi Amo ng the most impo rtant crops cultivated by the

i Ibo are the yam and the oil palm. The African yami is a large tuber w ith a thick, dark o uter skin cover-. .i Inq white meat. Yams can be bo iled, mashed, fried,-i or roasted like potatoes. The oil pa lm tree reachesi heights of 30 feet or more. Small oval fruit grows. .i In large clusters at the base of the leaves. Oil fro m

!the fruit'sso ft shell is used to make soap and can-i dles. Palm-kernel oil squeezed from the hard nu t

i inside the fr uit is used in margarine.

! Edema: The S w e h g Diseasei Okonkwo's father, Unoka, has the mis fortune of con-! tracting edema, the condition that condemned him t o a dishonorable death. .i In the Evil Forest. Edema, also called dropsy or hydrops, is swelling causedf when to o much fluid is stored in body tissues and cavities. It can be sym pto-i matic of a wide range of disorders, including heart and kidney disease.

I V O C A B U L A R Y

C h a p t e r s 1 , 3 . 5 alligator pepper sometimes called wild ginger or rnalegveta (Portuguese). This

Ibo Edibles spice grows well on land newly cleared and b urnt fo r farming.

foo-foo (also spelled fufu) a dough made from mashed yams or fr omanother tuber, ca lled cassava. Foo-foo m igh t be served in a cal-abash,' a container made from the hollow shells of the gourd-likefru it of the calabash tree. Foo-foo, usually eaten wit h a tastysauce, is a staple foo d in m any regions of West Africa.

palm wine a sweet wine made from the sap of t he raff ia palm tree.

kola nut a n ut inside the kola, which looks like a green grapefruit. Nuts aresilver or pink an3 their ju~ ce ontains caffeine.

coco-yam a large-leafed ptant with round u nderground tubers, called taro inAsia, and kn ow n in the United States as the base for Hawaiian poi.

cassava root vegetable, also called manioc . Its leaves are rich in nu trients .

. .

SourceBook 27



Chapters 8-1 3

Ibo TitlesOzo was the title an Ibo man took as.soon as his wea lth and prestige weregreat enough to warrant that hisvoice be attended in comm unal deci-sion-making. The next title was idernillwi th the man taking it called"Ogbue fi" from that po int on. Two

more titles cou ld also be taken, as we llas a very rare fift h title, which carried theconnotation of "king." However, this titlewas ceremonial; a kin g was never anactual ruler.

Mmo: Community of the Living a nd DeadThe first title taken by a man was also an in itiation into rnrno, the spiritwo rld in which the ancestors lived. The spirits ruled along with the livingmen, sometimes revealing themselves through oracles, priests, and theegwugwu. The egw ugw u were a select group of men initiated in to the spir-itual know ledge of the clan. During festivals and ceremonies, men dressedas egw ugw u became the spirits or ancestors of the clan. 'The egwugwucould also func tion as a council of elders to settle tribal disputes.

V O C A B U L A R Y

C h a p t e r s 10. 1 1 Achebe describes the egwugwu's body asbeing one of "smoked raffia." The long,Whafts Tha l plumelike leaves of the raffia palm were used

You're Weariig? for tying up plants and making mats, baskets,masks, hats, and even for the costume thatOkonkwo wore.

The r ed cam w ood tree provided a dye thatthe Ibo wom en used in the decorative pant -ing of the ir bodies, much the way henqa i s

used in the Midd le East.

Ezinma the Night RiderAchebe never explains Chielo's-,mysterious night ride with Ezinmaon her back, bu t according toRobert Wren i n Achebe's World,this could have been her way ofintroduc ing the family to the ideatha t the girl had been chosen by

Agbala to eventually succeedChlelo as high priestess.

Iba, the Fever of Malarialba, the sickness that visits Ezinmain Chapter 9, usually refers to thefever tha t accompanies a malarialattack. Malaria is caused by a para-sitic in fection of red blood cells.Human beings get the parasitewhen they are bitten by an infected

Anopheles mosquito.

Marriage, Ibo StyleBride-price helped -ensurea mar-riage's stability. If a man turnedout be a bad husband, his wifecould return home and the familycould deny him the return of thebride-price. If she left him with outa good cause, he could demand

the bride-price back.After the bride-price was settled, asecond ceremony called ur i tookplace, after which the bride paid along visit to th e groom's family.The isa-ifi ceremony was the fo r-mal acceptance of the bride intoher husband's family. A girl wasnormally married at 16 .

28 Literature Connections



@=+

Chapters 14-19

Missionaries Among the Ibo,Christian missionaries arrived inNigeria as early as the 16th century,along with the Portuguese explor-ers. Their stay was brief, however,since deadly malaria and othertropical diseases made missionarywork too dangerous. By the mid-19th century, quinine had been dis-covered as a malaria remedy, andmissionary activities increased. Thefirst wave of missions was estab-lished on or near the Niger River.

By the turn of the century, most ofthe violent opposition toChristianity had subsided or hadbeen stamped out. The RomanCatholic Holy Ghost Fathers werethe second Christian Missionarygroup to arrive in West Africa. Theearlier group was the Church

Missionary Society (C.M.S.) of theAnglican Church of England. Themissionaries moved further intothe Ibo hinterland of southeasternNigeria, right behind the colonis?,as "pacification of the natives"continued.

The missionaries establishedschools and trainedmany Africanconverts to tech and preach. Oneof themwas Chinua Achebe'sfather, who worked, for the C.M.S.

Achebe's great-grandfather wasfriendly with the missionaries, andhe did not object when his wardand grandson, Isaiah Achebe,became a Christian.

Iron HorseThe Europeans came among the Ibo with their"iron horsesn--i.e., bicycles.

Outcast horn the Clan:

The OsuNo one knows the origin of theosu, but Robert Wren points out inAchebe's World that they may represent a "living sacrifice" to the gods.That is, instead of being killed they were made to suffer by living as socialoutcasts. As Achebe tells us, these outcasts were among the earlyChristian converts. Osu were the lowest class in Ibo society. Above themwere slaves (ohu) and the free born (amadi). An osu could never changehis or her status. The osu formed their own farming communities and,when they were large enough, even instituted their own title system.

~ - - -V O C A B U L A R Y

C h a p t e r s 1 6 , 1 7 vile

Nigerian miscreant

des~icale

Name C a h geffeminate

degenerate

impudent

loathsome; disgusting

villain; infidel; heretic

worthy of contempt orscorn

characterized by weaknessor excessive refinement

having fallen to an undesir-able or lower state

insolent; offensively bold

SourceBook 29



Chapters 20-25

Colonialism in IbolandThings FA11 Apart is set near the beg~nning f the 20th century, at the time ! The British ruled Nigeria for less

when the British colonial authority, missions, and trade had penetrated ; than 60 years (1 903-1 960). but''

lboland (now southeastern Nigerta). The British term for their activit~es i the colonial legacy was still far

from about 1900 to 1920 was "pacification." African resistance to pacifi- reaching. The rules of various trib-

cat~on as met by the British policy of "collective punishment." No effort i al peoples were replaced by a

was made to identify guilty rebels; instead, a whole village, or even more version of Western constitutionalI

ithan one village, would be punished. British soldiers would shoot people i government over a federation that I

and destroy their homes. However, some communities did not resist the i presently consists of 19 states. !

colonists and even welcomed them and traded with them. i After Nigeria gained indepen-

i dence in 1960, regional politics

based on traditional tribes domi-

Court Messengers j nated the country. In a mil~tary

I takeover in 1966, many lbo wereI

Court Messengers, named kotma by the Ibo, were usually Africans from j killed. In 1967, the lbo declaredfamilies of aliens or ex-slaves-people who had no stake in the existing i their homeland in the southeast asocial order. Kotma were employed by the District Commissioner. They j new country-Biafra. They foughtwere the lowest people on the governmental otem pole, but they still i a bloody three-year war of in&-

@A

represented colonial authority. It was their job to bring messages, sum- j pendence, which they lost. Sincemonses, and warrants from the Brit~sh ourts. The kotma soon took on a j then, the national government haspolice function, bringing people to trial and guarding the prison. Many j been held alternately by military

kotma abused their power. Since the Ibo had no kings, the Commissioner and civilian leaders. Nigeria contin-had no way of indirectly imposing his laws on them ues to struggle with sustaining athrough native rulers, and so the kotma became successful democracy in a huge

an integral part of British colonial rule. country with a population of over

100 million people of many ethnic

groups, with different languages,

V O C A B U L A R Y customs, and lifestyles.

C h a p t e r 22 -

Religious Righteousness-

Mortal r

ZJ-The Reverend James Smith a

fully prepared to slay (kill)t iThis is a reference to the Book

SBBible. The Hebrew prophet El b,

i C"of Baal (a nature god) to call o o

Ehave him show his power. W

-cn

so, Elijah has Baal's prophets put to death.a

S

Literature Connections

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