Stephanie R.

Things Fall Apart

In Things Fall Apart, the main ideas and events of the story are structured around the perspective of an African village and seen through the eyes of one man: Okonkwo. Because of this we begin to sympathize with the characters of the story who are all from Umuofia and our opinions are formed and influenced by our natural favoring of the people in the tribe. The point of this book it seems, is to tell a story of an African tribe being influenced by foreigners from the point of view of the Africans and allowing us to see beyond that of the views given in the kinds of books entitled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger (209). The book ends with a shocking though seemingly inevitable climax involving the suicide of Okonkwo and the diminishing of the importance of Umuofia as the district commissioner talks of the events in the village as ‘interesting reading’ rather than the sad demise of a people and culture. The end of the story introduces the idea of how another perspective, like one of an outsider, would differ from the villagers’ and Okonkwo’s. Though it was meant to stress the insignificance of the events of the village in the mind of Westerners and foreigners, it also shows the impact different perspectives have on what we believe to be right and where our sympathies lie after the story.

Books and literature can be used to shape a reader’s point of view and to suggest, using the writing and using examples, what is right and what is wrong according to the writer. An example of this is journalism, which usually has some sort of bias and nudges our opinions in the desired direction. Though not all our views are shaped by this, many times opinions on certain aspects can be formed from writing. Whether Things Fall Apart is biased or not, it still causes readers to form opinions, most likely ones that are sympathetic towards the people of Umuofia. Aspects of their culture like the deserting of twin babies, for example, may not be influenced by the point of view and may, whether from the perspective of the villagers or from the missionaries, still seem to be a cruel practice as it is neither the children’s nor the parents’ faults. However, aspects like whether the missionaries acted justly and whether it was right for them to try to force their beliefs on other people can sometimes be swayed in favor of one or the other, depending on the point of view. Though sometimes people form opinions, for example, thinking missionaries are wrong to impress their own religion on others, when reading something that is from the view of the missionaries and talks about what the writer believes to be the primitive nature and customs of the Africans and how they tried to help the people but were only met with hostility, those same people find themselves inevitably thinking in favor of the missionaries.

Had this book been written from the point of view of the missionaries and even these same events occurred, it would probably leave many people feeling empathy for the missionaries and their goal of converting and ‘improving’ the Africans. Even if the same events had occurred and the same people were involved, if it was written from the perspective of the missionaries, the events would have been interpreted differently and the view of Umuofia would have been intimating that they were an uncivilized and primitive culture. “The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul- the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed” (147). This quote shows Nwoye’s reaction to the missionary and doubts he had been harboring about his own religion. If the story come from the perspective of the missionary, customs and traditions like the twins in the forest and having to answer to the will of the gods like Ikemefuna’s death would have been stressed and shown as examples of the savage behavior of the tribes compared to the missionaries and their faith. The missionary point of view would talk about how they helped the people like Nwoye, by giving them a new religion and answered their doubts by showing them the ‘right’ path. When the villagers march to burn the church, the missionary, Mr. Smith, stands in front and tries to defy them. In Things Fall Apart, the readers are supposed to think of this event as something beneficial to the village that will help the clan and weaken the intruders, which shows the readers are in favor of the villagers, as the book most likely intended. If the book had been written from Mr. Smith’s point of view, however, this attack would have been a terrible thing and people would be made to feel worried about the welfare of the Christians in the village and the missionaries, while probably thinking about the uncivilized, savage behavior of the villagers like intended. Even if the facts and events were kept the same, just by the perspective it is written from, people are obliged to feel a certain way and think about it a certain way.

The effect a different perspective would have on the story is not only limited to the side of the foreigners, but would also change if it was from the point of view of another villager in Umuofia. If the story had been written, not from Okonkwo’s view but from a villager that had adopted the Christian faith and befriended the missionaries, readers thoughts would again be different and would probably feel, like in the case of the missionaries’ point of view, that the foreigners entering their village was a change for the better and Umuofia should leave their old, uncivilized ways behind. Villagers like Nwoye who entertained doubts about their own customs, would talk about, from their point of view, how Christianity saved and helped them, how they were brought out of the darkness of their false religion by Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith, and people reading it would feel that the Westerners going into Africa was good for the Africans themselves and hope the rest of Umuofia would leave their ‘primitive’ culture and embrace the new ‘civilized’ one. Reading Okonkwo’s thoughts and frustrations at the village for not taking action and going to war with the missionaries, causes people to be infected by his warring nature and want the same things to save the village, while feeling sympathy for him and understanding the want for battle that Okonkwo feels. However, reading another villager’s thoughts, especially from one that does not wish to fight, would make Okonkwo and his views seem too radical and extreme. It would make his desperation for action and for Umuofia to not let themselves be taken over and their beliefs suppressed as it is portrayed in Things Fall Apart, seem too drastic and reckless, causing readers to disapprove of characters like Okonkwo, though from a different point of view they may have agreed with his ideas. Although it may be still the same person, like events, from a change of perspective comes a change of opinion and in one instance the character may seem noble and courageous and in another, rash and impulsive.

Often what makes certain literature great is that it gives the side of the underdog, it shows the story not told by the victors, like Things Fall Apart does. In Chinua Achebe’s book, he gives another perspective, one completely different from the missionaries’ and people reading may decide assumptions they made before were not accurate because they did not have the side of the victims. Although Things Fall Apart can be used to show how the position you are in can change your way of thinking, it seems that China Achebe is also trying to show how much people did not know about the other side of the story of the ‘pacification of the primitive tribes’ in Africa. In Chinua Achebe’s interview with Moyers, he says many times how other countries like Britain and America are making decisions for Africans that are not right.

You would not be able to sit back here and suggest that you know, for instance, what should be done in South Africa. When the majority of the people in South Africa are saying, “This is what we think will bring apartheid to an end, somebody sits here and says, ‘No, no, that will not do it. We know what will work.” Margaret Thatcher sits in Britain and says, “Although the whole of Africa may think that this works, I know that what will work is something else.” (Moyers, 335).

From this interview it is clear that Chinua Achebe felt strongly that decisions about Africa should not be made by someone who is miles away and has not witnessed or experienced life as the people experience it, that their views and opinions are different because they are witnessing it from a different point of view. It shows he feels, and may have used Things Fall Apart to show, that most people do not know the story apart from the ones told by the conquerors, and therefore now cannot make assumptions or decisions without having been in Africa, knowing the views of the people, and experiencing it themselves.

Another book besides Things Fall Apart that shows the shift in point of view resulting in a changing of opinions is Grendel. In Beowulf, we have the usual story of the good hero defeating the evil, wicked monster that terrorizes and kills men in the hall. This automatically makes readers assume just that: Beowulf is good and Grendel is bad. John Gardner, however, tells the story of the victim, the story of Grendel, and shows the same story of Beowulf from a different perspective. The effect on our opinions of the characters and what is right is tremendous. Not only does it make us feel sympathetic towards the misunderstood Grendel, but it causes us to question whether Beowulf and the men were really the exemplary heroes they were portrayed as in the original story. This is like Things Fall Apart because they are both versions of a story or history that told from a different perspective, gives off a different impression and produces different opinions in the reader. Like Grendel, Things Fall Apart also makes us feel sympathy for the people of Umuofia who are being taken over, and makes us question whether what the missionaries did was right or whether they acted fairly.

Perspective and the lens through which people see the world changes the way things are thought of. Even when writing about something that is meant to be only informative and not opinionated, the mere fact that you are writing it and not someone else will affect many aspects, like what kinds of things you decide to include or how you write it. Almost everything about us, how we live, what social class we are in, what our background is, what ethnicity we are, affects our opinions and the opinions people extract from us. Things Fall Apart portrays this idea of the effects of a change in views and one of the most striking things about the ending and the story itself is that our way of thinking of the story would be completely different had it been from a different point of view. It shows that everything we think or feel comes from our own point of view and therefore it is nearly impossible for someone to say what is right or wrong and try to impose it on others since if they were in someone else’s place, like that of the other side’s, they would think differently.