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Loyalty in Things Fall Apart

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a book that involves how a villager and his people live and react when an outside force disrupts their lives. Many important themes come up in the book as it goes on. For example, the main character, Okonkwo is constantly afraid that he might be unsuccessful like his father, Unoka. The basic foundation for all these themes is that there is a sense of community in all of them. This sense of community holds the characters together in one way or another. In this book there is one theme that is more important than the others and that is loyalty. A tribe is a community, so a community has to be connected through something and that something is the loyalty. The tribesmen, like Okonkwo, need to know that they can trust their friends and fellow tribesmen. Loyalty is what helps the villagers in the tribe function. The villagers run their daily lives knowing they have loyal friends and village leaders. The villagers are loyal to the gods but at the same time they fear them too. Women and children are expected to be loyal to their husbands and fathers. The citizens of the village trust the decisions of their elders. The Oracle tells the leaders if it is a good time to go to ware or not, the leaders are loyal to the Oracle. Everyone in the village is interconnected by a string of loyalty. Elders are the men in the village with some of the highest titles. Most of the men with titles are men that have fought in wares for Umuofia and were thought of as war heroes in their day. As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten, from Umuofia to Mbaino, (3). Okonkwo is a man with a title that many people value because he beat the Cat in

a wrestling match. The fact that Okonkwo is younger than many of the other men just adds to his ego and how the village views him. Since his village accepts him Okonkwo was always deeply loyal to his village. His father, Unoka, was not accepted by the village. So dose that mean that he was not loyal to the village? No, it means that there has to be a give-receive relationship between groups of people who are loyal to each other. Unoka was loyal to the village but the other villagers did not receive that loyalty because he never did anything that benefitted the village or its people. In contrast, everyone in the village receive and gives back Okonkwos sense of loyalty because he proved himself to be worthy for the village. The church had come and led many astray. Not only had the low-born and the outcast but some times a worthy man joined it. Christian missionaries come into the village from Europe in order to occupy the village and convert many of the villagers to Christianity. The idea of these white men, as the villagers call them, coming into the village and disrespecting the gods of Umuofia angers many of the villagers. When the missionaries come into the village some villagers leave for the church but many stay behind. The reason they stayed behind is because the people that joined the church are people that have been looked down upon by the village leaders. These low-born and outcasts lost the reason to even try to gain loyalty from their peers in the village. In the white mans religion the low-born are allowed to have a feeling of loyalty even they have been labeled something disrespectful in their village. Okonkwo has 3 wives and 9 children throughout the book, but one of them, Nwoye, runs away from Okonkwo and becomes a Christian. Okonkwos wives and children are loyal to him. All his children, except Nwoye, respect him and obey all his orders. The reason Nwoye dose not

like his father is because of Ikemefuna, who was sort of a big brother to Nwoye. He was like an elder brother to Nwoye and from the very first seemed to have kindled a new fire in the younger boy. He made him feel grown-up; and they no longer spent the evenings in mothers hut while she cooked, but now sat with Okonkwo in his obi (52). Ikemefuna was brought in from another village as an exchange to keep peace. Okonkwo took Ikemefuna in and so after a while Nwoye and Ikemefuna shared a bond of loyalty as the best of friends. Good things dont last, one day the village Oracle announces that Ikemefuna must be killed. One of the elders in the village advices Okonkwo not get involved in Ikemefunas death. Okonkwo, being the supposedly fearless man that he is, goes with the group that is supposed to kill Ikemefuna. The surprising part is when Ikemefuna ask Okonkwo to save him and Okonkwo actually gives Ikemefuna the final blow which kills him. Nwoye cannot understand why a father would want to kill someone that was practically like his own son. When the missionaries explain how Christianity works, Nwoye is interested in it not because of the spiritual aspect of it but because Christianity lets Nwoye know that Ikemefuna is in a better place. Ezinma took the dish in one hand and the empty water bowl in the other had and went back to her mothers hut. She should have been a boy, Okonkwo said to himself again. His mind went back to Ikemefuna and he shivered (64). Ezinma was the daughter of Okonkwos second wife. The reason he wishes that she were a boy is because they seems to understand what his feelings were at any given moment. She knows when to talk about what with her father, meaning she knows how to act around people. Okonkwo thinks that with all those qualities she would have succeeded in life as a boy rather than a girl. Ezinma and Okonkwo have the best example of loyalty throughout the whole book. Their loyalty

is more than what Okonkwo shares with his other children. Unlike his other children who are pretty much scared of him, Ezinma isnt afraid and will speak when she knows it is necessary. Okonkwo had special bond with 2 people in this book, Ikemefuna and Ezinma; he regrets that both of them cannot be what he wished for them to be. Tribal customs and gods are very important in Umuofias culture and to the people of Umuofia. The Oracle is regarded highly, for example, the Oracle tells the warriors if they should go to war or not. This represents sort of a military commander of the village. Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and The Caves has pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father, (57). Obviously Okonkwos loyalty to the village customs is shown here. Just to see how far Okonkwo would go to keep his sense of manhood is tested to the limits. He has to agree to have his son killed; his son who he considered would succeed him. Not only that to show his pride of manliness and loyalty he decides to go and kill Ikemefuna with his own hands. By deciding to kill Ikemefuna, Okonkwo not only upset himself later but also set Nwoye on a life long path to finding out why his father decided to kill his brother. Deep inside Okonkwo himself questioned his loyalty when he decided to go with the village instead of supporting his son. In the end that is what leads to his downfall. In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwos machete descended twice and the mans head lay beside his uniformed body, (204). Killing someone knowingly in the village of Umuofia is crime that will banish the murderer from Umuofia for life. Considering the situation what Okonkwo did is not sensible but it seemed justifiable. The messenger and all the

other white men have taken over his village and are destroying its customs and values day by day. This would anger anyone not just Okonkwo. It is an attack on Okonkwos loyalty to his village. In his mind he was probably not thinking about what he was doing, because if he did he would have thought if it was worth it to get revenge by giving up his loyalty to his village. Many times in the book Okonkwo chooses to act on how his manliness is shown. This time Okonkwo acted truly based on his loyalty to the village. Loyalty plays a big part in the life of Okonkwo and the people around him. They have to decide whether they want to take the side of their loyalty or the side of doing what is right and sensible. The villagers choose to take the advice of the village elders even if it means to destroy something they love. Okonkwo choose to take the side of his loyalty to the village and kills Ikemefuna. The most important way loyalty is played out is the tribal customs and how the people do anything to keep the loyalty they have with the tribe and the gods. Loyalty makes all the characters have a deep conversation with their inner personalities.

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