Things Fall Apart Summary: Plot, Characters and Ending
Okonkwo's rise, Ikemefuna, exile, the newcomers and the end
Things Fall Apart follows Okonkwo, a proud, powerful man in the Igbo village of Umuofia in what is now Nigeria, in the late 1800s. Determined never to be weak like his father, he builds wealth and fame, but his fear of seeming soft drives him to terrible acts. After seven years in exile he returns to find European newcomers and their government changing everything he knows.
His final defiance ends in tragedy, and his story becomes one paragraph in a colonial officer's book.
Who is Okonkwo?
As a young man Okonkwo became famous across the nine villages by throwing an unbeaten wrestler called Amalinze the Cat. His father Unoka was a lazy, music-loving man who died in debt, and Okonkwo has built his whole life on being his opposite: hard-working, rich in yams and wives, feared in war. Inside, his deepest fear is of being thought weak.
↑ Back to the topWhat happens to Ikemefuna?
After a dispute with a neighbouring village, a boy named Ikemefuna is given to Umuofia as compensation and placed in Okonkwo's household. For three years he lives as one of the family and becomes like an older brother to Nwoye. Then the village elders announce that the boy must die. Okonkwo is warned to take no part, but when the moment comes, afraid of looking weak, he strikes the blow himself. Nwoye is changed forever.
↑ Back to the topWhy is Okonkwo exiled?
At the funeral of a respected elder, Okonkwo's gun goes off by accident and kills the dead man's son. Under the clan's law, this is a crime against the earth, and Okonkwo must leave for seven years. He takes his family to his mother's village, Mbanta. While he is away, white newcomers arrive in the region, bringing new beliefs, a school and, soon, a government and courts. Nwoye joins them, and Okonkwo disowns him.
↑ Back to the topWhat does Okonkwo find when he returns?
Back in Umuofia, the newcomers have built a following and a court. When one of their zealous converts unmasks an elder representing the ancestors, a terrible offence, the village burns the newcomers' building in reply. The District Commissioner invites the leaders to talk, then has them arrested, humiliated and fined.
↑ Back to the topHow does Things Fall Apart end?
At a great meeting to decide whether to fight, a court messenger arrives to order it to stop. Okonkwo kills him with his machete. But no one follows him; the people let the other messengers escape. Okonkwo realizes that Umuofia will not go to war. When the District Commissioner comes to arrest him, he finds that Okonkwo has taken his own life. The officer reflects that the story might make an interesting paragraph in the book he is writing about the region.
↑ Back to the topThe cast
| Character | Who they are |
|---|---|
| Okonkwo | A famous wrestler and warrior of Umuofia |
| Unoka | His gentle, debt-ridden father |
| Nwoye | Okonkwo's eldest son |
| Ezinma | His beloved daughter |
| Ekwefi | Ezinma's mother, one of Okonkwo's wives |
| Ikemefuna | A boy who lives with Okonkwo's family |
| Obierika | Okonkwo's thoughtful best friend |
| The District Commissioner | The colonial officer |
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