Toyosi Salvador

Resistance is one form of social anti-conformity; it is evident in modern day society from the clothes people wear, to how they live their lives. Prime figure heads that seem to headline this social movement include Aung San Suu etc. However there is one important act of resistance that society sometimes ignores and disregards the resistance of our forefathers. The African men and women who stood to resist social and political reform. In his highly accredited novel Things Fall Apart Achebe explores the journey of the Igbo tribe before and during colonisation. Tales which had been tainted by the ignorance of many. Achebe challenges the western fantasies of Africa when he paints a picture of a clan whose daily lives are impeccably structured, similar to the western but with a distinctive originality that outsiders struggle to understand. The complete antithesis of Jan Mohammed description, of an unattainable, uncontrollable and chaotic world. In this tale of a tragic hero Achebe illustrates the concept of resistance through Okonkwo a character who appeared to battle through colonialism like he did life. However his steely determination to be the antithesis of his fathers feminine and lazy ways leave him with the inability to balance the his masculinity and his femininity, creating a series of foreboding events that led to his down fall. He is shown to be a man whose greatness is widely known and accepted by all nine villages of Umofia evidenced in the opening line, in-fact his greatness is further emphasised in the same paragraph where it says in the end Okonkwo threw the cat. Early on Okonkwo is distinguished from the clan. Achebe describes him as a man whose fame rested on solid personal achievement, immediately establishing his individualism and foreboding that the novel will be based on his struggle to assert himself as an individual amongst a communal society. Particularly the use of the word Personal illustrates a reclusive being and though this does not scream out resistance it differentiates him from the clan. This imagery is continually built up in the first chapter as the simile slippery as a fish in water describes Okonkwos character as one which refuses to be subject to change. Connoting that just like a fish in his own habitat the missionaries and white men couldnt force Okonkwo to conform to their own lifestyle and tradition. After reading the novel it becomes apparent how fitting this simile is. Just like a fish taken out of water would fight, suffocate then die, resisting the change, Okonkwos actions were also similar. Firstly he resists the missionaries and encourages the clan to fight but after realizing that the western influences were far greater than his own, the changes they bring and the betrayal of his own son suffocates him and rather than conforming to their traditions he commits suicide also an act of resistance to the clan. On the contrary colonialism isnt the only thing Okonkwo resists. As a being whose conflict is to reject all that his father stood for and create an identity for himself .He struggles to achieve this, constantly leaving himself disenfranchised from the communal life of his clan. Okonkwos sudden need to self-express shown as a burden on the clan whose lifestyles are intertwined to achieve communal balance. For instance when Okonkwo hits his third wife during the week of peace, he is condemned by his peers and even mocked by women who, unfortunately, play a substantially low role in their society. This exemplifies that Okonkwo accepts that he has emotions and sub-consciously refuses to allow society to dictate how he reacts to what he feels. On the other hand one could argue that Okonkwos resistance to his community is solemnly based on his own foolishness and inability to communicate properly. This is evidenced in the description of him that says he had a slight stammer and whenever he was angry and couldnt get his words out he would use his fist, this implies that Okonkwo used actions as opposed to words and common sense to hide his physical flaw so he fits in within the village. A foolish act one might say but also one that draws the readers sympathy. By pointing out his physical flaw Achebe makes Okonkwo personable so he doesnt become the villain in the novel, a successful strategy. However this need to fit in with communal life disputes the dominant ideology that he is an anti-conformist. Something that critic Bruce King picked up on in his review. one cannot help but agree that Okonkwo role of resistance in the play is questionable due to the fact that it is the situations he finds himself in that are tragic and when Kings says tragic universe in which exceptional individuals are crushed by larger social forces he connotes that it is the clans need for communism that causes the tragedy because it is impossible to expect regularity and sameness from individuals with different personalities. So in fact the tragedy are inherent within the culture itself and all Okonkwo does is battle an already tragic situation. Other characters that defy societys ideal of their thoughts and actions are presented in a more passive aggressive form. Oberika, Okonkwo friend is an example of this, undoubtedly he is shown to be more intelligent but also weaker than Okonkwo. This is because he is shown to question some of the clans beliefs like throwing newly birthed twins into the evil forest because it resisted the balance of nature. One of the many ignorant beliefs that shape the tragic lifestyle of the clan. On a larger scale this portrayal of Oberika and contrast he creates with Okonkwo raises the all-important question of how strength and masculinity are viewed as concurrent themes within the novel. Evidently Oberikas strength lies within his mind and his ability to comprehend beyond the traditional beliefs of his clan, but what good is this mental strength when his actions conform to their belief because he is scared to be identified as an individual. On the other hand Okonkwo is the friend with more physical capability than mental. His internal being wants to fit in with the clan and become a respected member but his inability to control his emotions consequentially lead him to resist at wrong points in time I.e. the holy week. By creating this contrast, Achebe illustrates the act of resistance is a balancing act of internal will and physical bravery. And the act of resistance and social ant conformity cannot be done by just one of the two. Okonkwos lack of internal strength makes him and overall imbalance in life lead him to his downfall though he had the potential to be great. Whilst Oberikas lack of bravery make him a subalterned member of society who secretly detests the tradition Achebes realistic and unbiased portrayal of Africa and the Igbo culture has been praised by critics who deem it as an exceptional

representation of imperial literature told during the midst of colonialism before Nigeria gained its independence. The objective role he instills upon himself adds to his credibility as a writer and also an African man. By writing in second person Achebe resists the preferential method of imperial literature writers who have taken the side of their western culture and let their ignorance play a big role in their biased representation of Africa. Achebe unlike other writers accepts the flaws in his culture, as if to say in a society mistakes and wrong judgments are inevitable and instead of masking them like the westerns have done, embracing, learning and moving forward is indeed the most important part. When it says it is an abomination to die during the week of piece Achebe connotes that in an effort to structure their lives so that it falls within the rhythm of their gods and communal nature they have made a vital error of trying to resist nature. However the irony of the situation is that the very thing they resist in this quote is the very thing they carefully try to fall in alignment with it for assurance of peace. Achebe also introduces flaws such as the recurring patriarchy that are similar to the flaws in the western culture. By implying that women played paradoxical roles in society when he says there were many women but they looked on from the fringe like outsiders, he insists that the roles of women were vital in the cyclical communal life evidenced by Agbalas priestess but they were still reduced to playing objective roles shown by the word fringe, he hyperbolizes the point that perhaps women were more intelligent because they see what is going but this we would never know because just like the western world, Umofia refuses to accept or listen to the voice of a woman. Several ironies are also presented in the novel, Some in Okonkwos characterisation and others in the structural organisation of the clan. Okonkwos death is ironic because by killing himself he resists the culture and tradition he tries so hard to fit into and retain credibility in. Without further thought his death proves to be a damp squib in the face of change and conformity. It evokes no sympathy and some might go as far as to say he is not a tragic hero but like Hanna William agrees that it is the tragedy in his societys willingness to compliance which he cannot accept that causes his downfall. On the other hand when you look into the root of his need to resist and prove himself then maybe he could be seen as a tragic hero. That situation itself is ironic. Achebe describes Okonkwo as a man whose life was dominated by the fear of failure and weakness erupting from witnessing his father lazy attitude towards anything Umofia deemed as credible and masculine. The need for him to resist stems from the need for him to resist his father. At first in his younger days it proved to be his strength as he was able to withstand the calamitous harvesting season when other men had failed and alternatively killed themselves. He originally wanted to resist the failure and weakness of his father consequentially that turned into his weakness and perhaps it was his internal conflict with this two contrasting feelings that led to his downfall. Achebe adapts native proverbs into his novel for two reasons. The first to educate westerns on, and spread the African fables that he grew up with in an attempt to directly involve the readers with his culture, Secondly the way his novel is cluttered with proverbs to explain a certain scenario or to start out a conversation is similar to the way Shakespeare uses prose and poetry to explain some scenarios in his plays. Again Achebe resists the idea that Africa is an unintelligent country in desperate need of civilisation, in fact he suggests that some of the systems adopted were quite similar to the western and in fact Africans are in Western ideals intelligent and organised people. The level of description that goes into illustrating a character or an action is so colourful that it paints this vivid image of Africa thats intriguing yet not intimidating. One particular description that stands out is felt like a drunken giant with limbs of a mosquito. The Absurd imagery awkwardly paints a brief picture of what it would be like for Okonkwo to accept defeat. Just like he couldnt accept defeat from the westerners, Okonkwo refuses to accept defeat of the consequences of killing Ikemefuna. Achebe subliminally hints that without one man in society to resist there will be no catalyst for change or reform. The novel has an odd structure meaning there are stories intertwined with other stories overall it never goes straight to the point. The reason for Achebe doing this is quite ambiguous, on one hand he could be directly trying to mirror the complicated life of the Clan. When reading the novel you will find that it is vital to go through it accordingly if not you get confused and it all seems quite calamitous. Achebe points out that thats what the Westerners missed. By them not making an attempt to understand and peel the clans life, they failed to understand the bigger picture of what the clan does and tries to achieve within its community, hence why the westerns saw the Umofia as unreachable. On the other hand the odd structure could reflect the skirting around issues like Ive already pointed out they dont question obvious facts which again makes Okonkwos act of resistance seem like the tip of the iceberg. Also to hyperbolise the disruption caused by the westerns and their new ideal of living Achebe also structures the novel in a way that it changers perspective so swiftly and so effortlessly that the difference isnt noticed shown through the folk tales are mixed with present tales . This obviously emphasises the obscuring identity of each individual of their communal life and makes Okonkwos resistance appear even more exceptional and unexpected. But ultimately it shows how big of a disruption and commotion the Westerners have caused. Again this is ironic because the Westerners go into Africa trying to cure what they view as a society dominated by calamitous and disorganised traditions instead they cause more chaos and eventually dont teach anything. By implying this Achebe highlights the problem in trying to cure or trying to solve a problem you are not well informed of or a problem you do not understand. Conclusively Achebe presents the different types of resistance occur within society and he also highlights that resistance doesnt only happen amongst change or reform. There could be resistance to oneself like Okonkwo does.