Part One
Part One of Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, was interesting to say the least. The first half of this story gives background information on the main character, Okonkwo, and tells about his family and friends. Okonkwo is a very hard working individual, his greatest fear is becoming like his father who happened to be a lazy, untrustworthy debtor. Okonkwo is very strict and holds everybody, especially his family, to extraordinarily high standards. From what I have learned through internet research and from reading the book, Okonkwo’s hard-working personality type is a strong representation of the majority of Nigerians. They all must work hard in order to survive.
Part Two
Part two of this story is when the "white man" came into the picture. Word began to spread about some missionaries arriving in a nearby village to spread the word about a new, strange religion known as Christianity. Eventually Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, began to take an interest in this new religion. When Okonkwo found out about his son's betrayal, he violently beat him. At this point Nwoye left home and started his own life, never speaking to his father again.
Part Three
I think the most interesting part of the story took place in Chapter 23. In this chapter, Okonkwo and five other men were invited to a meeting with the District Commissioner. Little did they know this was a set up to trick them in to turning themselves in to the missionaries for previously setting fire to one of their churches. All six men were arrested upon their arrival to the meeting and were ordered to pay a fine of 250 bags of cowries. This situation is a great example of foreshadowing because I found, through my research on historyofnations.net, that when the British were looking for what they defined as “criminals,” they would often times spread the word throughout the villages that they wanted to have a meeting with certain individuals. As a result, those individuals would seek out the British and unintentionally turn themselves in.
