i

TITLE PAGE

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APARTAND NWANA’S OMENUKO

BY

IDOKO, FLORENCE NGOZIKAPG/MA/07/42924

A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OFTHE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER

OF ARTS (M.A) DEGREE IN THE DEPARTMENT OFLINGUISTICS, IGBO AND OTHER NIGERIAN LANGUAGES (WRITTEN LITERATURE STRESS)

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

MAY, 2009

ii.

APPROVAL PAGE

This project has been approved on behalf of the

Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other Nigerian

Languages, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

_________________________ ______________________________Prof. Inno. Uzoma Nwadike Dr. B.M. Mba

Supervisor Head, Department of Linguistics,

Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages

_____________________External Examiner

iii.

DEDICATION

TO

My Husband, Alex

ivACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My special thanks goes to the Almighty God,

who in His infinite mercy, made it possible for

me to start this programme, strengthened me all

through and above all, brought the programme to a

successful end.

To produce this work, I have had much

encouragement and help from various persons. Most

prominent among them is Professor Inno. Uzoma

Nwadike (KSM), my supervisor, who untiringly

directed me with great patience and tolerance.

Prof., you are a father indeed. My unreserved

gratitude goes to my husband, Chief Alex C.

Idoko, who has sacrificed ALL in his life, human

and material, to keep me moving forward. Daddy,

may God bless you in a special way. My special

thanks and appreciation goes to Chief J.M.U. &

Dr. (Mrs.) Oby Omeje (KSM) whose love and

encouragement has inspired me throughout the

course of my study. I wish to express my

indebtedness to my children, Ifeanyi and Chidera,

whose love and encouragement continued to give me

strength all through the period. My sincere

regards also goes to my foster son, Hon. F.C.

Ozioko, for his moral and financial support.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to the Head,

Department of Linguistics, Igbo and Other

Nigerian Languages, Dr. B.M. Mba, and all the

Lecturers in the Department for the quality

lectures we received from

v.

them which has gone a long way in giving this

work its present appearance of perfection.

I am very grateful to all the teachers of

Modern Primary School, Ezzi Iheakpu-Awka, for

their encouragement and support. I am looking

forward to seeing you join me in the academic

pursuit. I wish to appreciate here, the advice

and encouragement of my mother, my late father,

my brothers and sisters and my good friends. With

all due respect, I thank you all.

vi

.

ABSTRACT

“Comparative Analysis of Achebe’s Things Fall

Apart and Nwana’s Omenuko” is a critical study of

the relationship between the two classical novels

in the areas of setting, theme, character and

characterization.

Both Achebe and Nwana use the same pattern of

settings. Two categories of setting are

identifiable in both Things Fall Apart and Omenuko:-

a pre-colonial society, free from any external

influence and fully democratic: and, a society

dominated by European values.

The theme of Omenuko is offence and

expiation while that of Things Fall Apart is the

disintegration of the traditional society

resulting from the influence of the colonial

religion and government. The authors also use

other powerful sub-themes to bring home their

stories. Such sub-themes include love, manliness

and survival, colonization, sojourn and return.

The authors thus succeeded in showing us the

social changes in the traditional Igbo society

brought about by colonization.

These authors present protagonists that rise

from a humble beginning. Their lives are ruled by

the same passion – to become successful, powerful

and rich. In the case of Achebe’s hero, the very

gods

vii.

whom Okonkwo strives to obey and serve drives him

out of his fatherland because of the inadvertent

killing of a clansman; just when he is ready to

acquire the highest title in the land, marry his

daughters off to deserving suitors and initiate

his sons into their first manhood groups. Okonkwo

goes into exile in his maternal home, Mbanta. All

the sins he commits are against the Earth

goddess: the killing of the son of Ogbuefi Ezeudu

and the final abomination of taking his own life.

On the other hand, Nwana’s hero sells his

clansmen into slavery for his own selfish

interest. He goes into exile in Ndi Mgborogwu.

Omenuko is made to suffer remorse for his crime,

then appeases the gods, his land and people. Like

the prodigal son, he realizes the enormity of his

sin and goes home penitent. He is reconciled with

his people and there is general jubilation.

Through the novelist’s method of

characterization, one is able to gain insight

into a great variety of human behaviour and

problems.

viii.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::i.

APPROVAL PAGE ::::::::::::::::::::::::ii

DEDICATION ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ::::::::::::::::::::iv

ABSTRACT ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS::::::::::::::::::::

viii

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION ::::::::::::::::::::1

1.1 Background of the Study ::::::::::::1

1.2 Significance of the Study ::::::::::::1

1.3 Background of the Authors ::::::::::::2

1.4 The Novels and their Backgrounds::::::::5

1.5 Scheme of Organization ::::::::::::7

1.6 Methodology ::::::::::::::::::::81.7 Analysis of Data ::::::::::::::::

::::9

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW::::::::::::::::10

CHAPER THREE

RELATIONSHIP OF THINGS FALL APART ANDOMENUKO: SETTING, THEME, CHARACTER

AND CHARACTERIZATION ::::::::::::20

Setting ::::::::::::::::::::::::20Theme ::::::::::::::::::::::::28Character and Characterization

::::::::33

ix.

CHAPTER FOUR

SOCIAL PROBLEMS ::::::::::::::::::::39

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION ::::::::::::::::::::::::51

BIBLIOGRAPHY ::::::::::::::::::::54

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

The purpose of this study is to examine

the response of African Novelists to the social

instability which necessarily came in the wake

of colonialism. I have selected Things Fall Apart

and Omenuko, by Chinua Achebe and Pita Nwana

respectively because both novels are in one way

or the other concerned with societies in

transition.

Transition is used in the context of this

essay to define the historical period and

phenomenon of a society in an ambivalent

conflict between two radically different

cultures. For the society depicted in Achebe’s

novel, transition involves a change from

independence within a traditional, self

regulating order to subordination to an

imperial Britain. Historically, this

phenomenon occurred in the first two decades

in the nineteenth century. For Nwana’s

society, transition involves a change from the

Igbo political system to the complete control

of Igboland by the British colonial

administration. This change also comes in the

first decade of the nineteenth century.

1.2 Significance of the study

The reason why I selected Things Fall

Apart and Omenuko is that a comparative study

will help me to evaluate the two novels in

order to establish their respective literary

merits. Secondly, it will enable me to

highlight the similarities and differences

between these two works, although the authors

share a common colonial experience. I will be

able to demonstrate the contributions –

national and individual – made by each author

to the central tradition of the novel.

My method will be essentially analogical.

This means the investigation of similar

settings, themes, character and

characterization between the two works under

study.

1.3 Background of the Authors

Things Fall Apart and Omenuko are separated

only by space, not by age. In a way, they

belong to the same generation following the

similarities of their cultural background and

the periods of their stories.

Achebe hails from Ogidi in Anambra State of

Nigeria. He had his secondary school education

at the Government College, Umuahia, and later

went to the University Collge, Ibadan, where he

intended to read Medicine, but became attracted

to literature. His literary studies included

the major classical and modern authors and

essayists. Distorted presentation of Africa by

some writers like Joseph Conrad, Graham Green

and Joyce Carry generated in him the desire to

“set the records straight” and to paint an

African portrait of Mister Johnson:

I know around ‘51’, ‘52’, I was quite certain that I was going to try my hand at writing, and one ofthe things that set me thinking was Joyce Carry’snovels set in Nigeria, Mr. Johnson, which waspraised so much, and it was clear to me that it wasa most superficial picture of not only of the country – but even of the Nigerian character, andso I thought, if this was famous, then perhaps someone ought to try and look at things from the

inside.

Achebe worked with the Nigerian

Broadcasting Service, where he came in contact

with the whitemen whose patronizing attitude

he depicted in some of his novels.

Taken together, Achebe’s five novels

encompass the entire socio-historical

experience of Nigeria from pre-colonial times

to the present. His first novel, Things Fall Apart

(1958), deals with the impact of tribal life

by the Western ethos. The novel is set partly

in the pre-colonial days and partly at the

moment of contact of Igbo culture with Western

culture. Achebe recreates and interprets for

his people their past before the coming of the

British. His second novel, No Longer At Ease,

(1960), is set partly in Lagos and partly in

the village of Umuofia. The novel is about the

temptations that confront a young Nigerian

with a Western education, when he is given

responsibility in his own country. Its drama

is the oppressive demands made on the

individual in a transitional society, or

settling society in which old values are

crumbling under the pressures of new ones. In

his third novel, Arrow of God (1964), Achebe

returns to the theme of the conflicts of

western and Igbo traditional world views. A

Man of the people, (1966), the author’s fourth

novel, is set in the city and deals with

politics. The abuses that the novel describes

show the problems of imposing an alien socio-

political system on collection of different

ethnic groups each of which has its own

peculiar socio-political culture. Anthills of The

Savannah (1988) his fifth novel, is where the

issue that exercises thought is the exercise

of power.

Apart from novels, Achebe has written

short stories: the Sacrificial Egg and other Stories,

(1962); Girls At War, (1972). His children’s

stories include, Chike and the River, (1966), How

the Leopard Got His Claws, (1972). There are, in

addition, collections of poems and essays:

Beware Soul Brother and other Poems, (1971). Morning

Yet on Creation Day, (1975), is a collection of his

essays, on a variety of subjects: literature,

literary criticism, language, war, personal

travels and Igbo cosmology.

On a very wide contrast, not much is known

about the author of Omenuko. Like Chinua

Achebe, Pita Nwana was not an Igbo scholar. In

the 33rd Inaugural Lecture of the University of

Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Inno Uzoma Nwadike

states thus:

He was a foreman at the Uzuakoli Institute.He

only attained Sunday School education at theCMS on the Niger at Onitsha. Mr. Pita Nwanatrained as a carpenter.

He published no further books. According to

Erenest Emenyonu in The Rise of the Igbo Novel

(1978), “He seems, therefore, to have been the

reporter of the pioneer generation of Igbo

literature and not its creative genius”.

However, Omenuko is very special in the sense

that the author, Mr. Pita Nwana is the first

Igbo to write fiction in Igbo. His novel,

Omenuko, was published in 1933 after it had

won an all-African literary contest in

indigenous languages organized by the

International Institute of African Languages

and Culture. It is a biographical novel based

on the actual events in the life of the hero,

Igwegbe Odum.

1.4 The Novels and their Backgrounds

Pita Nwana’s Omenuko and Achebe’s Things Fall

Apart, deal with transitional periods when two

different colonial societies are trying to move

from a settled way of life to a new unknown one.

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart describes a society’s

response to contact with a colonizing cultural

force. The traumatic impact of this force on

indigenous culture becomes the background against

which Achebe exposes the harmful effects of the

period on the minds and lives of the indigenes.

This is a starting point in the evaluation of the

social problems of Things Fall Apart.

In the case of Nwana’s Omenuko, the impact

the contact with a colonizing cultural force had

on the indigenes was even more devastating.

Before the era of the colonial administration,

there was a kind of autonomy in Igbo behaviour.

Individuals were free to act as they chose to as

long as they did not break popular village

sanctions or mores. If they did, they were not in

danger of the whiteman’s retribution but the

judgment of the elders in their local villages.

But with the changing times and the point of

transition highlighted in the novel, everybody is

now accountable to the courts of law and the

whiteman.

As mentioned earlier, Achebe and Nwana share a

common culture derived from colonial experience –

an experience which left an indelible mark on the

psyche of the Africans. It involves the imposition

of new political, economic and religious cultures

on the colonized. More importantly, the imposition

of political control also involves conscious or

unconscious deviation of the people’s culture and

distortion of their past. In Africa, loss of

political freedom was attended by loss of cultural

confidence. The work of European anthropologists,

who placed the African culture at the bottom and

the European at the top of cultural evolution,

undermined, to a large extent, the Africa’s

confidence in himself, making him accept the

European-created image of him as primitive.

The colonizers, however, persuaded themselves

that they were on a humane and philanthropic

mission of civilizing and Christianizing of the

‘primitive’ and ‘benighted’ natives. Colonialism,

however, produced a

counter movement or cultural nationalism which

functioned to inspire artists. From the 1930s to

the 1960s, educated West Africans attempted to

revive authentic West African values. Obiechina

rightly points out that:

Like similar movements in Latin America,Ireland and dependent states of nineteenthcentury Europe, African cultural nationalismtook the form of the rehabilitation of the oldcultural tradition and its values, including are-awakening of interest in the folklore, arts,music and cultural habits of the local peoplewhich most distinguished them from the metropolitan culture.

The African learned to take pride in his

values which he had but almost lost due to

colonial denigration. The myth of the African

inferiority was gradually eroding. Obiechina’s

comments are particularly relevant to Achebe, in

whose novels one notes a sustained attempt to

express and affirm his people’s past.

1.5 Scheme of Organization

For easier analysis, this essay is divided

into five chapters. While the first chapter

introduces the work, the second chapter reviews

the existing literatures. The third chapter

illustrates the relationship between literary

vehicles in Things Fall Apart and Omenuko in the

areas of setting, theme, character and

characterization. The fourth chapter deals with

the social problems highlighted in the two

novels under study. These factors are

essentially destabilizing agents which make the

period a transitional one, and hence their

relevance to the theme of this essay.

1.6

Methodology

In this study, data were obtained through

two major sources namely, primary and secondary

sources.

(a) Primary sources

(1) The novels under study: Things Fall Apart

and Omenuko.

(2) Visits were made to the National

Archives where relevant

materials were obtained and

utilized.

(3) Oral interviews were held with

knowledgeable artists in the

area of literature. Literary critics and

comparatists were also consulted.

(4) Through personal observations: The

researcher equipped herself

with first-hand knowledge of certain

aspects of the study. Being a scholar of

oral and written literature, a teacher of

Igbo Literature and a literary critic, she

is so to say, an insider.

(b) Secondary Sources:

An extensive review of existing

literature was made. These include books,

dissertations, theses, journals, seminar

papers and newspaper articles.

1.7

Analysis of Data

Data collected from the variety of sources

were subjected to a very careful scrutiny and

all possible bias and subjective judgments were

neglected.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Comparative Literature means giving a

comparative approach to the study of literature.

It is the discovery of cultural relativity in

the field of literature. According to Willfried

Feuser (2001) in Essays in Comparative African Literature,

The main direction of comparative scholarship inNigeria should, therefore, be inward. Genre studyand thematology could, for example, be appliedto selected “ethnic” literatures viewed both in their traditional art forms and their adaptationsof imported, western models like the novel.

Nigerian literature in whatever form of

linguistic expression relates to the literatures

of other African countries and to the other

continents. Comparative analysis is therefore

very necessary to measure relativity. For

instance, the concept of ‘ogbanje’, as mentioned

in Things Fall Apart are used by Yoruba as ‘Abiku’,

by Edos as ‘orinmin’, by the Housas as

‘damwabi’, and by the Ghanaian Fanti as

‘kossamah’. Moreover, the concept of ‘chi’ in

Igbo corresponds to ‘ori’ in Yoruba. Quoting

Feuser (2001) in the same essay,

You cannot read a single page of Fafunwa, Tutuolaor Amaku without stumbling over some archetype

or other, and if it is true, as Roger Bastide (p.77 in Negritude: Essays and Studies, Albert H. Berrianand Richard A. Long, eds. Hampton, Va, Hampton Institute Press, 1967) assures us that “Jung re-discovered all of Greek mythology in the sub-consciousof his Swiss patients”, then so much the better for theuniversality of African thought and imagery.

Apart from literature, other fields of

human endeavour also enter the orbit of

comparative literature if we are to adopt its

definition by Henry H.H. Remak (1961) which

posits that:

Comparative literature is the study of literature beyond the confines of one particular country, and the study of the relationship between literature on the one hand and other areas of knowledge and belief, such as the arts … philosophy, history, the social sciences, the sciences, religion, etc. on the other. In brief, it is the comparison of one literature with another or others, and the comparison of literature with other spheres of human expression.

National Literatures are not islands unto

themselves. There are bound to be border

violations between the various national domains.

Those are beneficial in the sense of a greater

intellectual and aesthetic openness and an

enhanced possibility of mutual understanding.

With reference to the texts under

review namely, Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Nwana’s

Omenuko, a lot of references were made as it

concerns comparative literature. Commenting on

the heroes of Chinua Achebe and Thomas Hardy,

David Carroll observes in Critical Perspective on Chinua

Achebe,

As Okonkwo’s life moves quickly to its tragic end,one is

reminded forcibly of another impressive butwrongheaded

hero, Henchard in The Mayor of Casterbridge.They share in obsessive need for success andstatus, they subordinate all their private relations tothis end, and both have an inability to understandthe tolerant, skeptical societies in which their novelsingle mindedness succeeds … Viewed in theperspective of the Wessex, rustic way of life,Henchard is crass, brutal, and dangerous; but whenthis way of life as a whole is threatened withimminent

destruction, then his fierce resistance takes on acertain

grandeur. The reader’s sympathy describes asimilar

trajectory as it follows Okonkwo’s career. By thevalues

of Umuofia, his inadequacies are very apparent; butwhen the alien religion begins to question and

underminethese values, Okonkwo, untroubled by the heart-searching of the community, springs to its defense

and acts. (Chinua Achebe 62 – 63).

In comparison of the character of the heroes

of Achebe and Hardy,

Eustace Palmer, in An Introduction to the

African Novel (1981), states thus:

Things Fall Apart is a novel of character and environment but in a slightly different sense thanthe novels of Hardy. In Hardy’s novels a character’sdestiny depends on social circumstances. But in Achebe’s

case, environment is character. Okonkwo is what his society made him, for his most conspicuous qualities are

aresponse to the demands of his society: if he is plagued byfear of failure and of weakness, it is because his societyputs such a premium on success; if he is obsessed with

status

it is because his society is preoccupied with rank andprestige;

if he is always itching to demonstrate his prowess in war,it is

because his society reveres bravery and courage, andmeasures success by the number of human heads a manhas won; if heis contemptuous of weaker men it is because his societyhas conditioned him into despising cowards. Okonkwois the personification of his society’s values and isdetermined to succeed in this rat race.

Early reviews of Things Fall Apart tended

to stress the simplicity

of its narrative plots, themes and

anthropological details. But later critics have

shown that the apparent simplicity of the novel

is deceptive as there are complex and subtle

interplay of values and attitudes artistically

embedded in the work. Such complexity has been,

in fact, identified and analyzed by various

critics. Solomon O. Iyasere, talking about the

complexity of themes of Things Fall Apart, write in

Critical Perspectives on Chinua Achebe (1979), where

he states:

Things Fall Apart seems a simple novel, but it isdeceptively so. On closer inspection, we see that It is provocatively complex, interweaving significant themes: love,compassion, colonialism, achievement, honor, andindividualism.

As recorded in the Breast of the Earth, Kofi

Awoonor (1975), contributing on the theme of

Things Fall Apart asserts that on the question of

theme, Achebe’s preoccupation is to recreate

out of the despised history of Africa the story

of its dignity and integrity:

African people did not hear of culture for the first timefrom Europeans; their societies were not mindless but frequently had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, they had poetry and, above all, they had dignity. It is this dignity that many African people all but lost during the colonial period and it is this they must regain.

Consequently, Things Fall Apart is a novel

which attempts to recapture Igbo traditional

life in its unpolluted state. The author

recreates a settled past when the people

enjoyed a tranquil life without contrasts with

the instability brought about by British

colonialism.

Ejikeme Alua (1976), writing on the theme

of Omenuko, records his own contribution in an

article in the Journal of the Igbo Studies Association,

Volume 2, titled Odenigbo. According to him:

The contemporary view is that Pita Nwana has, may be inadvertently, explored two themes in thebook. Basing their argument on what the authorstated in his preface, one school of thoughtholds that the book is woven round the conceptand acknowledged philosophy of the African that astranger must always feel the urge to go home nomatter his achievements in his place of sojournoutside his home. The reason for this is that eventswhich regulate his life in another land must invariablyremind him that he is a stranger who is not wanted by his hosts. Instances are then cited from the book to support this view.

As a critic, I do not agree with this

school of thought. That a stranger should

always feel the urge to go home is a philosophy

in different parts of the world. Such a

philosophy must not be regarded as a theme. It

is the punishment of the sin he committed that

led him to sojourn to Mgborogwu. What disturbed

Omenuko at Mgborogwu much was not the urge to

go home but the urgency of cleansing himself

from the sin he committed. He had started

getting worried even before the first secret

meeting of the people of Mgborogwu against him.

Omenuko needed peace of mind and got something

close to that as soon as he retrieved the

people he sold and offered sacrifices for the

sins he committed and not when he finally

returned.

The other school of thought holds that the

theme of the work is “sin and its expiation”.

This concept was just muted by Ernest Emenyonu

in his article in Research in African Literature,

Volume 4, number 1 (1973). Those who support

this view also advance evidences from the work.

Ejikeme Alua also gave detailed expositions

to settle this academic tussle by weighing the

views expressed by the two parties on the basis

of the facts emerging from the work. A close

observation of the detailed discussion on the

issue reveals that he tried to convince the

reader to arrive at an acceptable conclusion as

he comments:

In conclusion, it is evident that “Sin and expiation”is the theme of the book. It was sin that sent Omenuko out of his home and caused him the emotional disturbances and other awful experiences abroad; it was the expiation and adequate restitutionfor the sin that brought him back home. It puts a stopto the emotional booby-traps which had bedeviledOmenuko since after his crime. Ejikeme Alua (1976).

The setting of Omenuko is discussed

extensively by Ernest Emenyonu in The Rise of Igbo

Novel (page 33). The setting is important to the

actions in the novel as it helps to bring out

the conflict in which the hero is trapped. He

writes:

Omenuko is set in Okigwi, one of the densely populatedareas in Imo State. The action takes place in the rural communities around busy market places,where commercial activities go side by side with serious matters, such as settling disputes and planningcommunity projects. The market is more than a meeting place for local affairs. People drink palm wine,pour libations, as haggling and bargaining go on over their agricultural product. Families live within walled

compoundswhere the head of the family supervises his immediate

andextended families from his obi.

For the setting of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart,

Innes (1986: p.47)

writes:

Each of Achebe’s novels shed light on a different era inthe recent history of Nigeria. Things Fall Apart(1958) is set in a traditional Ibo village community at the

turn of the century when the first European missionariesand administrative officers were beginning to penetrateinland.

Many other works of different literary

artists have been compared to prove certain

similarities among different cultures.

Kofi Awoonor (1975: p.225) who compares

Achebe and Tutuola as artists observes:

Achebe is a more conscious artist than Tutuola. Hispreoccupation with creating an “authentic” African

voiceis more deliberate and studied than Tutuola’s

felicitous accidents of language. If Tutuola’s work is described

whollyfrom the African tradition, Achebe is the direct

articulateproduct of the European presence in Africa.

In their comparative study, Ernest N.

Emenyonu and Benaiah E.C. Oguzie (1958)

tried to compare the poor relationship that

exist between the foreigners and their

hosts. According to them:

We also see the lack of social interaction between the foreigners (the whiteman, the court messengers and theinterpreter) and the people. There was complete lack oftrust between the two groups. The whiteman was said tobe ignorant and did not speak the native language and sowas unable to understand or learn the culture of the people.The messengers were ridiculed as well. The special

prejudice is clearly seen in the song by the prisoners:

Kotma of the ash buttoksHe is fit to be a slaveThe whiteman had no senseHe is fit to be a slave(Things Fall Apart, Chap. 20, pg. 123)

This attitude of the ‘new Africans’ is

also shown in other works by African

writers which goes to confirm that the

issues which Chinua Achebe wrote about in

Things Falls Apart were not peculiar to Igbo

people alone. They were also common to

other parts of Africa. In his Song of Lawino

Okot P. Bitek from Uganda showed how Lawino

pleaded with her husband, Ocol, not to cast

away the ways of his ancestors in favour of

a new culture. She pleads:

… Listen Ocol, my old friend

The ways of your ancestors

Are good

Their customs are solid

And not hollow

They are not thin, not easily breakable

They cannot be blown away

By winds

Because their roots reach deep into the soil

(Okot P’Bitek, Song of Lawino, pg. 29)

The same people writing about the views of

arts from Kenya in reference to the whiteman’s

presence, quote Ngugi Wa Thiong’os from Kenya,

in his Weep Not Child (Heinemann 1964) who

shows the whiteman’s presence in Africa also as

unwelcome to the people when he said: “We made

the roads and cleared the forest to make it

possible for the warring whiteman to move more

quickly”.

Talking about the concept of the

Hero in The Rise of the Igbo Novels, Ernest

Emenyonu (1978: p.157) compares:

It is interesting to compare Achebe’s concept of the hero tothat of Pita Nwana in Omenuko. Both novels have

historicalperspectives and deal with the same people although

they are set a generation or two apart from each other. In

both novels success is the aspiration of every member of the society and achievement is greatly applauded and

honoured.Both novelists show how the pursuit of success can lead

to a cunning wrestling with the forces of nature, causing alopsided development of the individual, which, in turn,ultimately, affects his society. In both novels popularexpectations produce tragic consequences in the lives of

theheroes. The Rise of the Igbo Novel (1978: P.57).

In summary literatures reviewed show

that comparative studies had existed long

ago. This means that a lot have been

compared; ranging from literary artists to

works in other fields of study. Studies

indicate that there are relativity among

cultures, themes, concepts, ideas, etc. as

well as differences. Many concepts found

in one culture surprisingly exist in other

cultures within a country and even beyond.

The study further indicates that

comparative study units have been

established in different universities

across the country. This goes to show that

there is even interdisciplinary comparison.

The literatures reviewed also show that the

novels Things Fall Apart and Omenuko have been studied and

compared by various critics over the years.

In the next chapter, we shall look at the

relationship between Things Fall Apart and Omenuko in

the areas of setting, theme, character and

characterization.

CHAPTER THREE

RELATIONSHIP OF THINGS FALL APART ANDOMENUKO: SETTING, THEME, CHARACTER

AND CHARACTERIZATION

The choice of an adequate literary form

for a story is of the most crucial choices

confronting any novelist who wishes to make a

faithful representation of life. The form of a

novel is as important as its content, and

indeed, constitutes the organizational

principle which renders the content

significant. In this chapter, therefore, the

intention is to analyze the similarities and

differences in Things Fall Apart and Omenuko based

on the following elements of literature –

setting, theme, character and characterization.

SETTING:

A close observation of Things Fall Apart and

Omenuko shows that their setting effectively

promotes the themes of transition. In these

texts, both authors deal with characters who

live in a native environment and culture. Both

Achebe and Nwana have adopted a similar pattern

in setting because both authors are concerned

with the theme of transition.

Two major categories of setting are

identifiable in both Things Fall Apart and Omenuko: a

pre-colonial society and a society dominated by

European values.

(1) Place of Setting:

Omenuko is set in Igboland in well

known places. All the towns mentioned are

familiar and still exist up till today. For

example, Mgborogwu where most of the events

take place is Mkpologwu in present day

Aguata Local Governsment Area of Anambra

State. Emenyonu (1978:34) is of the views

that:

Omenuko is set in Okigwi, one of the denselypopulated areas in Imo State. The action takes place in the rural communities around busy marketplaces where commercial activities go side by sidewith serious matters such as settling disputes andplanning community projects.

Other towns mentioned where Omenuko plassed

or stayed for the purpose of trading such as

Umuduru Nso Ofo (presently Umuduru, near

Arondizuogu); Umulolo, Bende, Ozuakoli and Ezi

Nnachi, are all familiar places in Abia and Imo

States and Awka, where Omenuko received his

warrant of office is the present Awka, capital

of Anambra State. In Things Fall Apart, the

events that take place occur equally in

Igboland specifically in Umuofia and Mbanta

(unknown places). Most of the activities

depicting family life take place in the various

compounds while others such as wrestling

competitions and clan meetings take place in

the village playground (Ilo). According to

Wren (1980;1) “Things Fall Apart is set in the land

where the author was born, raised and

educated”. He adds that “the land lies east of

the great Niger River and north of the Niger

Delta”.

(ii) Time of Setting

Both stories in Omenuko and Things Fall Apart

took place very many years ago when the Igbo

people were still stark illiterates and when

whitemen with their religion and colonial

government had just made their appearance. In

Things Fall Apart, for example, the whiteman’s

very existence and physical appearance still

belong to the realms of rumour and grim

humour. This emerges clearly in the discussion

of variation in customs during the marriage of

Obierika’s daughter. Obierika compares the

rumour of whiteman’s existence to “the story

of whitemen who, they say, are white like this

piece of chalk … and these whitemen, they say

have no toes” ( chapter 8, pp. 51 – 52). At

this point, no one from Umuofia had yet seen a

whiteman. Machi humorously associates white

with a local word for leprosy (“the white

skin”). This joke is to prove prophetic

eventually, for when the whiteman eventually

appears, he proves as destructive to the old

order as leprosy is to the skin. It could be

safely assumed that the events reported in

both novels took place when Christianity was

just appearing on the horizon because ritual

murder, killing of twins and slave trade were

still being practiced. At this point, Igbo

customs had not been tainted to a large extent

by European civilization and influence. About

Omenuko, Emenyonu (1978: 34) affirms:

The novel is set in the last few decades of thenineteenth

century, but the most important actions take place inthe

first two decades of the twentieth century. Omenuko issaid to have returned to his hometown (at the end of

thenovel) in 1918.

(iii) Social Setting:

The story of Things Fall Apart starts when

the Igbo society is unsoiled and virtually free

from any external influence. The political

structure is clearly defined and everybody is

subject to the law of the land and impartially

treated. Democracy at its best is practiced. On

this, Wren (1980:) has this to say:

Within the clan the political organization is democratic.There are no chiefs or kings … important decisions aremade by the clan assembled as a body … while majorinternal conflicts are dealt with by the ancestral egwugwu …Thus no one person has authority much in excess of hisfellows:

The overall picture is that of a peace loving

clan where nobody is unduly oppressed. At the

bottom of the social ladder, the osu (outcast)

would be found. These are people dedicated to the

gods of the land and who are not allowed the

freedom to enjoy the rights and privileges of the

free-born.

However, towards the end of the novel (from

chapter fifteen), there is a marked erosion of

this political structure by the colonial

authority.

Wren (1980:3) writes that:

The stability of the order among the eastern Igbowas profoundly shaken by the coming of the Europeancolonial power. The checks and balances which the communities had evolved over the centuries were rendered useless when the district commissioners –British political officers laid down the law withoutunderstanding the tradition and custom.

In Omenuko, the political life of the people

is more or less organized in the same manner as

in Things Fall Apart with everybody including men and

women, elders and priests participating in the

art of governance. (Emenyonu (1973:35) says that

The affairs of the village are decided by a generalassembly in which men and women can participate.However, effective control is in the hands of theelders, members of an age set whose turn it is, togovern the village at a particular period in their age grade circle.

Again, as in the case of Things Fall Apart, after

the first few chapters, European colonial

administration is ushered in with native courts,

warrant chiefs, court clerks and court messengers

and interpreters actively participating in

dispensing law and justice and maintaining order.

For instance, it is the white district

commissioner that issued the warrant of office to

Omenuko at the death of Eze Mgborogwu on behalf

of young Obiefula, the son and heir of Eze

Mgborogwu. It is the same District Commissioner

(Nwa D.C) that warned the people of Orumba na

Isii of the dire consequences of attacking

Omenuko and his people at Ikpa Oyi.

Religiously, the Igbo people at the early

beginning of Things Fall Apart are idol worshipers

although they have an unshakable belief in God

Almighty called Chukwu (Great God) or Chineke

(The Creator). The other deities which they

worship include Ani (the earth goddess),

Amadioha (god of thunder), Agbala, Idemili and

Ogwugwu. Prayers, libations and sacrifices are

consistently and carefully offered to these

gods, goddesses and ancestors through the

mouthpeace of the deities – the diviner, priests

and priestesses. Ezeani is the priest of the

earth goddess, Ani, while Chielo is the

priestess of Agbala. To a great extent, the life

of the individuals in the community and indeed

the life of the community is controlled by these

deities through their pronouncements and

sanctions. There is complete obedience to their

laws and commandments. Wren (1980: 2) notes that

“morality is enforced by the priest of the earth

goddess and the oracle of the Hills and caves

provides advice to individuals and guidance to

the clan”.

However, towards the later part of the story

(Chapter 16) Christian missionaries of blacks

led by a few white men started to make inroads

into the traditional religion and life of the

Igbo people. The people are told of All

Powerful God and His son Jesus Christ (who God

had without a wife) and that whoever worships

this God through His Son, the Christ, will go to

heaven. They are informed, to their chagrin and

bewilderment,

that the deities they worshiped are pieces of

wood and stone and are ineffective and impotent

and that persistent worship of these deities

will send them to hell fire that burns with

unquenchable fire. These two opposing teachings

led to very serious clashes between the clan and

the Christians backed by colonial power and

authority which finally led to the break-up of

the Igbo society.

Similarly, the Igbo community represented in

Omenuko worships the God Almighty (Obasi Di

n’Elu) and various other deities. These deities

wield enormous power and influence on the life

of the community and their commandments are

scrupulously obeyed. Hence, when Omenuko

committed an abomination against the gods and

the people of his land, he is punished by going

into exile and by being made to offer a very

costly propitiatory sacrifice to appease the

gods and the people. On the above, Emenyonu

(1978: 37) asserts:

Because of the enormity of his crime and his recalcitrant behaviour, Omenuko is required to

offer a sacrifice of atonement in the highest termsever prescribed by the chief priests of the twoangered deities. In the process, he learns self-discipline and comes to appreciate the true valuesof his society …

The two angered deities in question are

represented by Aniche and Iyiukwu. However,

later in the work, mention is made of Omenuko’s

children going to school without reference to

the influence of the missionaries as is the case

in Things Fall Apart.

The economic life of the Igbo people in

Omenuko revolves around farming and trading

although emphasis is placed on trading as

against Things Fall Apart where emphasis is placed on

farming. Unfortunately, at that period, slave

trade was still being practiced without

interference from the colonial masters. That is

why Omenuko is able to sell some of the young

men who are helping him in his business when he

loses all his goods in a river mishap. However,

by Igbo standards, Omenuko is respected for his

astuteness in life generally and in business in

particular. Due to the uncanny handling of his

business, he becomes extremely wealthy while in

exile in Mgborogwu. He was one of the richest

people in his clan on his return to his native

land.

In Things Fall Apart, economic activity of the

Igbo people revolves around farming; the main

crop being yam. The other crops planted by the

women are cassava and cocoyam. Apart from

farming, there is palm wine tapping by the men.

There is also local markets where goods are sold

with the aid of cowries. Later, with the coming

of the church which brings new form of worship

and education, there is trading in palm oil and

palm kernel. Again educated Igbo people serve as

court clerks and teachers. Life is such that

everybody struggles for himself to make both

ends meet and to carve out a name for himself,

economic prosperity being one of the hallmarks

of a great man and a great family.

THEME

The theme of Omenuko, according to Emenyonu

(1978: 34) is offence and expiation. It is a

story of the abomination committed by the

protagonist, Omenuko, and how he finally appeased

the gods of the land to enable him live in amity

with both the gods and the people of his land.

To Wren (1980: 45), the central theme in

Things Fall Apart is the disintegration of traditional

society resulting from the influence of the

colonial religion and government. The entire

story revolves around how the culture and

traditions of the Igbo society crumbled due to

the influence of the colonial masters ably backed

by their government.

Apart from these central themes, Chinua

Achebe and Pita Nwana brings out many sub-themes

in their texts – Things Fall Apart and Omenuko

respectively. These sub-themes include:

(i) Love

Achebe’s hero, Okonkwo, allows his buried

humanity to express itself only in private

unguarded moments. Publicly, especially among the

members of his own clan, he struggles to maintain

the image of an unusually calm and stalwart

individual, a man worthy to be a lord of the

clan. It is only in private, and often in the

dark, that Okonkwo spontaneously reveals the love

and warmth he feels for his family. In the dark,

he rushes to protect his daughter from harm by

Chielo; without thought, he rushes to save her

from iba. He had wished Ezinne had become a boy.

Okonkwo also loves Ikemefuna. It is the

closeness of this father-son relationship, being

expressed in the feasting of the locusts, that

Ezeudu interrupts to tell Okonkwo that Ikemefuna

must die. At the very moment of his violence

against Ikemefuna, we see love locked inside. “As

the man who had cleared his throat drew up and

raised his matchet, Okonkwo looked away”. Okonkwo

looked away not because he is a coward, not

because, like his father, he could not stand the

sight of blood; after all; “in Umuofia’s latest

war, he was the first to bring home a human head,

his fifth”. Okonkwo looks away because of his

buried love for Ikemefuna whom he has taken as

his own son.

Omenuko’s expression of love on the other

hand is outward. He loves his brothers and

confines in them when he was in trouble. He also

took their advice to run out of their homeland

after the sin he committed. Even the boys he sold

into slavery he felt for them and made sure that

he brings most of them back.

(ii) Manliness and survival

In Things Fall Apart, the thematic emphasis on

manliness and survival, becomes extended through

the yam, the “king of crops”, a “man’s crop”.

Okonkwo’s effort to assert himself through

success as a yam father is firmly based in an

ontology that insists on man’s masculine role as

the provider of support for the family.

Contrasted with this and illustrating the

society’s insistence on manly virtues is the

picture created of Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, a man

known “in all the clan for the weakness” of his

matchet and hoe. Okonkwo visits Nwakibie, an

elder, in order to borrow yam seedlings for his

new farm:

“I have come to you for help”, he said. “Perhaps you can already guess what it is. I have cleared a farm buthave no yams to sow. I know what it is to ask a manto trust another with his yams especially these dayswhen young men are afraid of hard work. I am notafraid of hard work. The lizard that jumped from the high iroko tree to the ground said he would praisehimself if no one else did. I began to fend for myselfat an early age when most people still sucked their mother’s breast. If you give me some yam seeds, Ishall not fail you”.

Moreover, Okonkwo’s desire to assert his

manliness is clearly dramatized in the killing of

Ikemefuna. The obsession with proving and preserving

his manliness dominates Okonkwo’s entire life, with

public and private: “He rules his household with a

heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, live

in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so do his

little children” (Things Fall Apart, Chapter 2, p.9).

Even in the informal relaxed story-telling sessions,

Okonkwo sees as threat to himself and his dynasty,

the boys sitting with their mothers, “for these

stories will make women of his sons, make them like

their grandfather rather than like their father”. So,

at those times, “Okonkwo encourages them to sit with

him in his obi and he tells them stories of the land-

masculine stories of violence and bloodshed”.

The hero of Pita Nwana, Omenuko, shows his own

manliness through his actions no matter the

consequences. His ambition to rise above his humble

beginnings seems to have produced an extreme reaction

in his character. Being a trader, profit becomes his

guide in most of his major actions in the novel;

humanness becomes a consideration only later when he

can afford it. Consequently, he is always on top of

things, scheming and grasping, the cool man and the

easy talking operator. Only few of the people he

meets recognize him truly for what he is, not even

the ‘white District ’Commissioner.

(iii) Colonization

Achebe, in Things Fall Apart, tries to show the

impact and the attendant consequences of the

colonial system on the Igbo traditional system.

Pita Nwana has also done that twenty years before

Achebe. The difference here would lie on the

different ways in which the different authors

mould their chief characters. While Okonkwo in

Things Fall Apart is more pronounced and more

uncompromising in his reaction to the changing

society, Omenuko is not only silent and non-

committing in his reaction, but he also tries to

utilize this new change to his own advantage.

Pita Nwana sees through his chief character that

the whiteman’s colonization is not what one can

fight against, but something one has to accept and

exploit to one’s own good. Pita Nwana, however,

is not as articulate as Achebe in showing

the social reaction and conflict generated by this

colonial system in Igbo society. It is natural to

expect that the two cultures could not have had such

a peaceful and uneventful fusion as Nwana presents

it. Achebe’s hero, Okonkwo, is very articulate in his

contempt of and opposition against the new culture.

Omenuko, on the other hand, is silent and

uncommitted in this war between the two cultures. He

does not believe in fighting or dying for any of the

systems. He would rather exploit to his advantage,

anything good he finds in any of the systems.

(iv) Sojourn and Return:

The chief characters, in Things Fall Apart and

Omenuko, have been made to undergo the same

fate with near identical consequences. Omenuko

as well as Okonkwo committed crimes and as a

result, both of them are made to go into exile

as punishment for their crimes. In the case of

Okonkwo, it is exile for a stipulated number of

years (for seven years), while in the case of

Omenuko, the number of years in exile is not

stipulated; it could go on for life. The

reasons are that while Okonkwo’s crime is non-

premeditated or accidental, Omenuko’s crime was

a premeditated one.

In the traditional Igbo society, almost

all crimes are atoned for. This usually is in

the form of sacrifice to be done by the

offender. Before Omenuko could go back to his

home town he had to offer some sacrifices to

atone for his crime. Nwana and Achebe record

that their heroes returned home as wealthy men.

Both came back to meet a changed society in

which the powers and innovations of the

whiteman have been firmly entrenched. After

considering the circumstances surrounding their

sojourn and return, Omenuko voluntarily retires

from public life while Okonkwo retires from

life itself.

CHARACTER AND CHARACTERIZATION

There are few similarities in the

characters mentioned in both Omenuko and Things

Fall Apart. First, only two characters are

outstanding in both works. In Things Fall Apart,

they are Okonkwo and his great friend,

Obierika; Okonkwo being the protagonist. In

Omenuko, it is the hero of the story, and again

his great friend, Igwe. This is not to say that

nothing can be said about other characters in

Things Fall Apart such as Uchendu, Nwoye, Mr. Brown

and Ezinne or about such characters in Omenuko

like Nwa D.C., Mazi Oji and Nwabueze.

Secondly, the two protagonists in the two

novels start life from a humble beginning. They

later grow very rich. Each committed an

abomination which led to their exile. Both

became wealthy again during their exile, from

where they now came back home.

Both Okonkwo and Omenuko are strong-

willed, ambitious and industrious and both are

determined to achieve greatness and fame. Both

are highly respected in their communities such

that Okonkwo is chosen as the imperial emissary

to Mbano and is given the custody of Ikemefuna

on behalf of his clan while Omenuko is so

respected and trusted that many parents entrust

their children to his care for their welfare

and progress in life. Also, Omenuko, a

stranger, is mandated to hold the warrant of

office of Eze Mgborogwu on behalf of his young

son, Obiefula.

The above notwithstanding, there are many

differences in the character of both Okonkwo

and Omenuko. Okonkwo is a hot tempered man who

strongly believes that might is right and the

only thing worth demonstrating is strength,

anger and brutality. He is a man of violence

who relishes in inflicting injury to others. In

anger, he soundly beats his wife, Ojiugo,

forgetting that it is during the week of peace.

In anger, he beats his second wife, Ekwefi,

just for cutting off few banana leaves and not

only that, he actually fires at her with his

dane gun when he heard her murmuring against

him. It is the constant nagging, bullying and

beating which his first son, Nwoye, receives

from him that makes him feel disenchanted with

life and with his father which eventually leads

him into the beckoning hands of the Church. On

the other hand, Omenuko is of cool temperance.

In fact, throughout his life time, there is no

act of violence he exhibited within his family.

He is always level-headed and strongly believes

in using his considerable wisdom in solving his

problems.

Okonkwo had an inflexible will and once he

starts something, he would neither budge nor stop

to reflect, but would go all out to fulfill his

wishes no matter the consequences. For instance,

after their humiliating imprisonment, he swears

revenge when they were eventually released. “If

they listen to him (Egonwanne), I shall leave

them and plan my own revenge”, he swore (Chapter

24). This, he fulfilled by butchering the head

messenger sent by the District Commissioner to

stop their clan meeting. This is an attribute of

a flat character. On the other hand, Omenuko is a

very flexible person and able to adapt to varying

conditions and situations. He always considers

his actions very carefully before doing anything.

For instance, when Ndi Mgborogwu start harassing

him by insisting that he should hand over the

warrant of office back to Obiefula, instead of

adamantly refusing, he accepts. After he

trickishly secures his own, he hands over

Obiefula’s own to him.

Okonkwo is an autocratic father who rules

his family with an iron fist. He takes decisions

unilaterally. He does not believe in consultations,

always believing that he is right in his decisions.

For instance, despite the warning he receives from

Ogbuefi Ezeudu not to participate in the killing of

Ikemefuna, he refuses and he is the very person who

kills the poor boy. He refuses to agree with his

wife, Ekwefi, that two goats would be enough for the

farewell feast for his mother’s kinsmen. He always

has contrary views on issues with his great friend,

Obierika. On the other hand, Omenuko is a democrat

to the core. He believes in persistent consultations

and out rightly seeks for advice and also accepts

suggestions from his people and abides by them. For

instance, after the sale of his kinsmen into

slavery, Omenuko calls a meeting of his family

members where he tells them of his heinous act and

of the mayhem he is envisaging. During the subdued

meeting, he is dissuaded from carrying out his evil

intention which he readily accepted. At the death of

Eze Mgborogwu, he called the elders of Mgborogwu

together to deliberate on how to meet the District

Commission at Awka. He always consults his great

friend, Igwe, on any important decision he wants to

take.

When the only course open to Achebe’s hero

was to go into exile, he fled to Mbanta, his

mother’s kinsmen. There, he was received, supported

and consoled. Achebe writes about the assurance of

protection given to Okonkwo by his mother’s younger

brother, Uchendu.

It’s true that a child belongs to its father. But whena father beats his child, it seeks sympathy in hismother’s hut. A man belongs to his fatherland whenthings are good and life is sweet. But when there issorrow and bitterness, he finds refuge in hismotherland. Your mother is there to protect you.She is buried there. And that is why we say that Mother is supreme. (Things Fall Apart Chapt. 14p.94).

In contrast to Pita Nwana’s hero, when

Omenuko fled his hometown, he did not seek

refuge among the kinsmen of his mother’s maiden

family, instead, he fled to Mgborogwu, where he

was without patrilineage and therefore without

citizenship either in the world of men or in the

domain of his ancestors. The people of Mgborogwu

seized upon this when they rose against him for

seeking to hold the highest office in their

land. They protest to the white District

Commissioner, “we shall never allow this to

happen in this our own land, that one who is,

afterall, a stranger should be our head and

chief executive”.

Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart, started preparing

for his return as soon as he entered his last

year in exile. Irrespective of the kindness

showed to him by his mother’s kinsmen, he

regretted everyday of his exile. He says, “The

seven wasted and weary years were at last

dragging to a close”. He is very happy as he

prepares to go.

Omenuko on the other hand, tries various

devices to prevent his return. He tries

exaggerated acts of charity, as well as other

diplomatic maneuvers but these only serve as

temporary tolerance. The evidence that Omenuko

is not happy going home is that he became very

willing only when the District Commissioner sees

the threat to his life and advises him to return

to his original homeland to avoid being

assassinated by his angry landlords.

In the heroes’ characterization, while

Okonkwo’s name hase nothing in relation to his

actions in the novel, Omenuko’s name shows his

actions in the novel. He gives out actually even

in the face of scarcity.

CHAPTER FOUR

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

In Things Fall Apart and Omenuko, the authors

tried to highlight many of the social problems

of the time. Some of these social problems still

rear their ugly heads in the present day society

while some are either carried out secretly in a

different way or not done at all. In this

chapter, effort will be made to look at the

striking social problems as contained in the two

novels to see their relatedness or otherwise.

They include

(i) Slave Trade:

In Pita Nwana’s novel, Omenuko, it is clear

that slave trade was practiced at that time,

though not openly. A merchant by profession,

when the novel opens, he had lost all his goods

on his way to the market following the collapse

of a rickety bridge. With amazing rapidity,

Omenuko sells his neighbours’ sons and relatives

who were apprenticed to him into slavery for the

sake of his own economic survival. Omenuko

arranges and sells those boys secretly in the

middle of the night, hence committing a criminal

act against his society. In the author’s own

words, we read:

N’ime abali ahu ha ruru Bende, o wee jekwurundi enyi ahia ya, ndi nke na-agba ya mmadu,si ha, “Bianu ugbu a n’abali, m jiri ihe ahia bia.”(Omenuko Isi mbu, p.6).

(In the night they arrive Bende, he (Omenuko)

went to his customers that buy slaves from him

and said, “come this night, I came with some

articles of trade”).

The author, however, disapproves and

severely condemns this practice of slave trade.

This we can see through the critical reactions

and condemnation which Omenuko receives on his

return from Bende where he sold his boys into

slavery. Even his brothers were not exempted in

the condemnation. When he initially solicits the

support of his brothers, they responded with

serious reproach.

His brothers told him that it (the selling of hisapprentices) is a thing unheard of and can neverplease the ear that hears it … They blamed himfor his rash act, because it is an event which can never be forgotten in life. They wondered how he could summon up courage to sell the childrenof his fellow men merely because his goods fellinto a river. “Was it the fault of your fellow manthat you lost your goods? (Emenyonu, 1978 p.39).

In the same way, Chinua Achebe makes us

notice the existence of slavery in Things Fall Apart.

He calls it ‘low born and outcasts’ (the slaves

and the osu). The traditional society of that

time excludes this group of people from

communicating socially, politically and

religiously with the free-born. When the free-

born who joined the church started mixing freely

with the outcasts who formed the bulk of the

congregation in those days, it was seen by the

elders as an abomination and they lamented that

“the church had come and led many astray. Not

only the lowly born and the outcast but

sometimes a worthy man had joined it”. A worthy

man here refers to the free-born of the village

and titled men as shown by Ogbuefi Ugonna, who

being a titled man and well respected in the

village, “had cut the anklet of his titles and

cast it away to join the Christians”. In trying

to convince the missionary why the outcasts

should not be allowed into the church, one of

the converts says,

He was a person dedicated to a god, a thing setapart – a taboo for ever, and his children after him.He could neither marry nor be married by the free-born. He was in fact an outcast, living in a specialarea of the village, close to the general shrine.Wherever he went he carried with him the mark

of his forbidden castle – long, tangled and dirtyhair. A razor was a taboo to him. (Things Fall Apart,Chapter 18, p.111).

The author, however, shows his disapproval of

the osu practice in the way the missionary

responds to the speech of the converts.

In our society today, we cannot say that

the practice of slavery is completely wiped out.

Where it is practiced however, it is done with

utmost secrecy and sometimes given another name,

for instance, when we listen to the media most

of the time, we hear government battling with

how to stop human trafficking and child labour.

(ii) Murder:

Chinua Achebe records many cases of murder

in Things Fall Apart as opposed to Pita Nwana who

records only one case of murder in Omenuko. In

Things Fall Apart, the wife of Ogbuefi Udo went

to the market at Mbano and had been killed. No

reason was given for her murder. In a gathering

of Umuofia people in the market square, Ogbuefi

Ezeugo had said through a gleaming white teeth,

“Those sons of wild animals have dared to murder

a daughter of Umuofia”. The woman was the wife

of Ogbuefi Udo.

During the second year of Okonkwo’s exile,

his friend, Obierika, visits him. In their

discussion, Obierika tells him the events that

had taken place in his absence. One of such

events is another case of murder as recorded by

the author. “Have you heard, asked Obierika,

‘that Abame is no more?”. Obierika narrated to

his friend how the first whiteman was seen in

Abame and on consultation with the Oracle, they

were told that the strange man would break their

clan and spread destruction among them;

And so they killed the whiteman and tied his iron horseto their sacred tree because it looked as if it would runaway to call the man’s friends. I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. It said that otherwhitemen were on their way. They were locusts, it said, and that first man was their harbinger sent toexplore the terrain. And so they killed him (ThingsFall Apart, Ch. 15, pp 97 – 98).

Continuing his story, Okonkwo’s friend,

Obierika, told him that on a market day, when the

market was full, the whitemen and their followers

surrounded the market and began to shoot.

According to the story, “Everybody was killed,

except the old and the sick who were at home and a

handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake

and brought them out of that market”.

Furthermore, at the gathering of the clan of

Umuofia, after they have ransomed the six elders

detained by the British Administration to plan

their next line of action, the District

Commissioner send his hated messengers to break up

the meeting. “Okonkwo confronts the head

messenger, trembling with hate and unable to utter

a word”. Achebe creates a powerful scene as he

writes,

In a flash Okonkwo drew his matchet. The messengercrouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’smatchet descended twice and the man’s head laybeside his uniformed body. (Things Fall ApartCh. 24, p.144).

In comparison with Omenuko, Pita Nwana did

not record any intentional murder in his novel.

This second social problem of murder is still

present in the society of today as assassins are

hired to kill people who are regarded as enemies.

(iii) Wars:

There are cases of wars recorded by the two

authors in review. Pita Nwana records that when

the people of Mgborogwu could not force Omenuko to

leave their home for them, they met and decided

to carry war to his house at Ikpa Oyi. During

this fight, two people; one from each side, were

killed. However, Chinua Achebe did not present

wars physically but in many occasions talked about

wars. For instance, when the sons of Mbaino

killed the daughter of Umuofia, Okonkwo was sent

to Mbaino as “the proud and imperious emissary of

war”. The people of Mbaino, however, out of fear

for the war-like people of Umuofia, opted for a

peaceful settlement by giving them a lad of

fifteen and a young virgin. We also hear stories

of wars in different parts of the world today.

(iv) Accidental Killing

During the funeral ceremony of a warrior,

Ogbuefi Ezeudu, Achebe, records Okonkwo’s

activities as well as other people’s activities to

give the great man a befitting burial. In his

words,

The drums and the dancing began again and reachedfever-heat. Darkness was around the corner, and the burial was near. Guns fired the last salute and the cannon rent the sky. And then from the centre of thedelirious fury came a cry of agony and shouts ofhorror. It was as if a spell has been cast. All wassilent. In the centre of the crowd a boy lay in a poolof blood. It was the dead man’s sixteen-year-old son,who with his brothers and half brothers had beendancing the traditional farewell to their father.Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of ironhad pierced the boy’s heart.

There is no record of such action in Nwana’sOmenuko.

It is a social problem as many people carry

guns in different ceremonies today either as a

way of respect, as in funeral ceremonies or as

show off in other parties.

(v) Bribery and Corruption

The social problem of bribery and corruption

is shown in the texts

under discussion – Things Fall Apart and Omenuko.

In Things Fall Apart, it is clear that

bribery and corruption is in vogue that time.

It is shown in the text where the court

messenger and interpreters take bribe in a land

dispute and decide the case in favour of the

wrong side. This act of bribery spread fast as

is shown in the speed with which the court

messenger demand a bribe for the release of the

elders who were detained by the whiteman. In

the same way, Pita Nwana also records a case of

bribery when Okoroafo and other men were

traveling to Aru Ulo to see Mazi Oji for a

discussion on how to get back the slaves sold

to him. When Okoroafo and his men got to

Ozuitem, they were caught by the people saying

that they have violated their ‘Ekpe’. In the

course of the argument, the people of Ozuitem

collected five shillings each from the four men

traveling with Okoroafo.

This case of bribery is present everywhere

these days - in the court, on the road, even in

offices. Government has, however, tried to

introduce many programmes to combat the issue of

bribery and corruption such as War Against

Indiscipline (WAI), Independent Corrupt

Practices and other related Offences Commission

(ICPC) etc. It is hoped that very soon it will

be a thing of the past. Even land dispute which

rear its head has also claimed many lives in our

society today.

(vi) Violence Against Women

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe records many

cases of violent acts exhibited by his hero,

Okonkwo. During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo’s

wife goes to plait her hair without either

cooking the afternoon meal or making adequate

arrangement for her children’s feeding. In the

words of Achebe, “Okonkwo was provoked to a

justifiable anger by his youngest wife, who went

to plait her hair at her friend’s house and did

not return early enough to cook the afternoon

meal”. Even though it was an abomination to beat

somebody during the Week of Peace and even

though Nwoye’s mother tried to cover her co-

wife, Okonkwo did not recognize it and Achebe

declares:

Okonkwo knew she was not speaking the truth. He walked back to his obi to wait Ojiugo’s return. And

when she returned he beat her very heavily. In his anger, he had forgotten that it was the Weak of Peace.His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleadingwith him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwowas not the man to stop beating somebody halfwaythrough, not even for fear of a goddess. (Things FallApart Ch. 14, p. 21).

On another occasion, Okonkwo’s second wife

cuts some leaves from a banana tree and

eventually the banana tree died. The New Yam

Festival is three days away. The women and

children are enthusiastic over the feast and are

preparing for it. Okonkwo hates being idle

waiting for a feast or getting over it, instead,

he prefers working in the farm. As Achebe puts

it,

And then the storm bursts. Okonkwo, who had beenwalking about aimlessly in his compound insuppressed anger, suddenly found an outlet. “Whokilled this banana tree”? he asked. A hush fell on the compound immediately. ‘Who killed this tree?’

Or are you all deaf and dumb? (Things Fall ApartChapter 5, p.27)

Even though the woman admitted that she had

merely cut a few leaves off it to wrap some food,

Okonkwo gives her a sound beating and leaves her

and her only daughter weeping.

In contrast, Pita Nwana did not portray such

violent acts against his hero in his Omenuko.

Violence against women is an extreme

manifestation of gender inequality and ranges

from domestic abuse, female genital mutilation,

to trafficking. Some types of violence are not

observed since they happen behind closed doors

and are treated as ‘private’ family matter.

Violence is one of the numerous mechanisms by

which women are forced into subordinate positions

by the society. In Igboland, violence against

women is an everyday occurrence and sometimes

even considered ‘normal’.

(vii) Human Sacrifice:

Another social problem recorded by Achebe

in Things Fall Apart is human sacrifice. This social

evil is however not present in Nwana’s Omenuko.

Ikemefuna, along with a young virgin girl,

was given to Umuofia in place of Ogbuefi Udo’s

wife who was murdered by the people of

Abame. Ikemefuna had grown in Okonkwo’s house

along with his own children. He has become so

used to the members of the family, especially

Nwoye, that he had almost forgotten his place of

birth. Eventually, one day, Umuofia decided to

kill him. Achebe reports that the oldest man in

the quarter of Umuofia, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, had

visited Okonkwo and had said to him:

“That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death”. Okonkwo was surprised, and was about to say something when the old man continued: “Yes,Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of The Hills and the Caves have pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom,and kill him there. But I want you to have nothingto do with it. He calls you father”.

And so Ikemefuna who had been thinking of

when to see his mother and three year old sister,

was sacrificed to the gods.

Though reduced to the barest minimum now

following the effort of government, the church

and the school authorities, human sacrifice is

still being practiced in different parts of our

society.

(viii) Suicide

Suicide as a social problem is highlighted by

Achebe but is not recorded by Pita Nwana.

In Things Fall Apart, after Okonkwo had killed

the chief messenger of the District Commissioner

who came to stop the great assembly of Umuofia,

he expected his people to react positively in

his support to wage war against the white

missionary. Contrary to his expectation, they

let the other messengers escape. As Achebe puts

it,

The waiting backcloth jumped into tumultuous lifeand the meeting stopped. Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken intotumult instead of action. He discerned fright inthat tumult. He heard voices asking: “Why didhe do it?”. He wiped his matchet on the sand andwent away. (Things Fall Apart Ch. 24, p. 143).

Okonkwo goes and hangs himself, committing

the final act of abomination against the gods, in

particular, the earth goddess, Ani, whom suicide

is a discretion. A man who commits suicide

cannot be buried by his clansmen.

This social problem however, does not obtain

in our society these days except in extreme

frustration.

(ix) Banishment:

In the traditional Igbo society, the

enactment and the preservation of the law is the

civic responsibility of everybody. Chinua

Achebe and Pita Nwana show clearly that

everybody knows the law and has to comply

with them. In Things Fall Apart, for instance, when

Okonkwo committed a crime, Achebe writes,

The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to

kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was of two kinds, maleand female. Okonkwo had committed the femalebecause it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years. (Things Fall ApartCh. 13, p. 87)

In the case of Omenuko, Nwana records that

his own crime is a premeditated crime. Its

own type of exile could go on for life.

Omenuko’s recovery of those he sold into slavery

made a change in terms of the number of years

he was in exile. The two authors clearly make it

clear that these crimes committed by their chief

characters must be atoned for before each could

be accepted back into the society.

In our society today, the modern judiciary

categorizes killing as either murder or

manslaughter respectively. As for going into

exile, it has ceased to exist in Igbo society.

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION

The pattern of history Achebe traces in

Things Fall Apart resembles Nwana’s vision in

Omenuko. A close examination of Things Fall Apart

and Omenuko reveals remarkable similarities in

patterns of events employed by both novelists

to reveal the nature and direction of the

transition occurring in the respective

traditional societies.

The change that takes place in Omenuko is

more subtle than the vision expounded in Achebe’s

pattern. It takes the nature of gradual

assimilation. Achebe’s pattern is symbolically

embodied in the severance of son from father,

with the son representing the new dispensation

which replaces the world of the father. Umuofia

finds itself caught up in a whirlwind of changes,

and as we move from the world of Unoka through

that of Okonkwo to the world of Christianized

Nwoye, we are dealing not only with the life of

an individual but also with the history of a

culture in transition. It is simultaneously the

unfolding of the history of Igbo culture.

It is clearly evidenced that in Things Fall

Apart and Omenuko the only terms for describing

inter-personal affinities are those like father,

mother, sister and brother. Hence, Okonkwo in

Things Fall Apart addresses Ogbuefi Nwakibie as “our

father” or “Nna anyi” (p. 15). The

employment of the term “uncle” for Okonkwo’s

mother’s brother, Uchendu, is Achebe’s modern

or European style rather than Umuofia’s. In

Omenuko, most of Omenuko’s life is spent

among relations who, though not members of his

nuclear family, still regard him as a member of

their family.

The subversion of the family institution is,

therefore, portrayed simultaneously as a major

cause as well as a major product of change. In

Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo repudiates his father,

only to be repudiated eventually by his own son,

Nwoye. The son, in effect, asserts a right to

pursue and serve his individual destiny rather

than the corporate destiny of the clan. In

Omenuko, Eze Mgborogwu directs that Omenuko

should hold his warrant for Obiefula, his young

son, till he grows up. Omenuko, through his

relationship with the District Commissioner,

secures for himself a warrant with which he rules

his large family at Ikpa Oyi.

Because the authors under study have the same

vision, they have themes and characters in

common. Both record societies in transition in

which adaptability has become necessary for

survival. In both novels, the characters are

ambitious, self-made social climber. The

similarities might be explained by saying that

both authors write out of a similar experience.

The technique of exhibiting the experience

differs in relation to each author’s vision of

life and the nature of environment.

Achebe adopts the tragic mode because of the

violent wrenching of the old by the new. The

events that surround Okonkwo’s fortune and

actions are all in keeping with the tragic

pattern of life and the tragic elements in human

nature. His character is of such monumental

magnitude that he dominates the drama of the

novel. As in all great tragedies, his death has

a tragic effect on his community. Omenuko as a

character also dominates the drama of the novel

but instead of being tragic, he always tries to

exploit to his advantages, any situation he

finds himself.

Omenuko is a biography of the life of a great

man called Igwegbe Odum while Things Fall Apart is a

fiction based on historical narratives. Both

novels are extensively used for reading for

pleasure and as textbooks for various

examinations.

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