In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe tells the story of a prolific Igbo warrior, Okonkwo, as he journeys towards a tragic suicide due to the persistent spread of Christianity within his homeland. Written in 1958, the book is disapproving of colonialism and the abusive tendencies the British showed while on African soil. 

Already the greatest wrestler amongst nine Nigerian tribes at the age of 18, Okonkwo is a strong minded, stubborn man whose unwavering perseverance sees him rise to the pinnacle of leadership in his clan. Okonkwo’s father is a mentally weak alcoholic who accumulates a huge amount of debt, angering many people in the village of Umuofia. Ashamed and worried that his father’s reputation will lead his clansmen to view him in the same way, Okonkwo is dedicated from an early age to proving his own worth and honour.

With help of friendly neighbours, Okonkwo built a prosperous yam field, eventually allowing him to take on a family of his own.  As is the custom in his tribe, he marries three times to three different women. Seeing his determination, his clansmen treat him with immense respect and he slowly ascends to a leading position within Umuofia. 

Though the book is fiction, Achebe grounds Okonkwo’s life in references to Igbo culture and true events from Nigerian history. During the Week of Peace, for example, no violence is tolerated in order to show gratitude and humility to the Earth Goddess. Okonkwo, outspoken and proud, disobeys this tradition when he severely beats his wife for spoiling his dinner. This causes commotion amongst the clansmen, who force him to make hefty sacrifices to the gods. Through this scene Achebe shows Okonkwo’s faith in responsibility and masculinity rather than the gods and spirits that he doesn’t believe in.

We see how great Okonkwo has risen in stature when an enemy village sends a fifteen-year-old boy named Ikemefuna to Umofia as a sign of truce between themselves and Umuofia and the clansmen give the boy to Okonkwo to raise as a son. Nwoye, Okonkwo’s thirteen-year-old son, is delighted to have a brother. Okonkwo views Nwoye as being too similar to his own father,  having a weak mentality and overly reliant on other people, and doesn’t feel much love for him. In Ikemefuna, however, Okonkwo sees his own passionate nature, and he adores the boy. Ikemefuna quickly settles into the family, as Okonkwo passes on his knowledge of growing his own yam field to him, hoping that one day he would become a successful farmer just like himself 

As it is said, however, all beautiful relationships must come to an end. When Okonkwo is informed by the Oracle that the now eighteen-year-old Ikemefuna must be killed for the good of the village his heart is broken. He refuses to show weakness, though, and leads his son into the forest along with some of the other clansmen. Ikemefuna, sensing something wrong, tries to escape, but Okonkwo is quicker and murders him. Okonkwo is struck by grief on the return to Umuofia, and is astonished by what he has done. Unwilling to be seen as weak, he does not share these emotions with anyone. As he has done many times before he resolutely resumes his old life.

Unfortunately, though, fate isn’t done with Okonkwo. At the funeral of Ezeudu the warrior Okonkwo fires his gun with the other men to honour the warrior’s life, in Umuofia tradition. Amidst the commotion of the funeral, though, he shoots in the wrong direction and kills Ezeudu’s son with a stray bullet. Umuofia’s law insists that this accident must see him ostracised from the clan for seven years, and all of his house and yam pastures set on fire to cleanse him of the deadly sin. Okonkwo, who has never considered the possibility of needing to leave his boyhood clan like this, takes his family and seeks out his late mother’s original clan, hoping to be accepted, but the fire in his heart tells him that he will be back. 

Okonkwo’s uncle, Uchendu, welcomes him with open arms, saying that the village will help him settle down as soon as possible. And just like that, Okonkwo's stubborn determination fuels him to start his life anew–in a manner he knows all too well–from nothing. Okonkwo’s old friend, Obireika, offers a lot of help, scourging his old belongings and selling them in the market to raise money for the family. On one visit from Obierika appears extremely alarmed and tells Okonkwo about an entire village that was massacred because the inhabitants disobeyed some white settlers. Okonkwo brushes the information aside, though, focused on amassing wealth and seeing his family safely through the seven year exile. 

At the seven years’ end, the clansmen of Okonkwo’s mother village, Mbanta,  are sad to see the family go, and wish Okonkwo the best of luck. He is disgusted by the state of affairs in Umuofia, though. The white settlers have set up a Christian church in a nearby clearing and convinced many of his old clansmen to convert. Okonkwo is furious by the clan’s incompetent defense against these foreign intruders, but his son, Nwoye, sees it as an opportunity to escape from his father’s oppressive rule and flees the household to convert to Christianity. 

Despite the loss of his son and patronising behaviour of his fellow clansmen, Okonkwo uses his anger as motivation to start life anew in Umuofia. As more and more of the clansmen neglect their old traditions to convert to Christianity the white men are emboldened to encroach upon the ancestral lands. When a convert strips the face mask portraying the divine figure of an Egwugwu, or godly figure, from an idol in the middle of a festival, the clansmen are appalled and Okonkwo can take no more. He rallies his people to set fire to the church and abolish the white people from their midst, but the colonists have guns and do not back down easily. They arrest Okonkwo and the village elders, forcing families to pay huge sums of money to rescue their imprisoned men. 

After being bailed out, Okonkwo tries once more to rally up the clansmen in rebellion, but the people are indebted and broken, and do not respond. Seeing the weakness of the people he loves so much devastates Okonkwo’s, forcing him to consider his own weakness and the mask of strength that he cultivated throughout his life in an attempt to escape the truth. Achebe finally allows Okonkwo to show the depth of his pain at the losses he’s suffered, before he decides to take his own life. He says:

‘The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.’