Analysis of Things Fall Apart

In the novel Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe includes a fable about a tortoise and his fatal demise. I feel that Achebe included this tale in order to foreshadow the fate of the novel's main character Okonkow. This fable is also used as a tool in order to display Okonkow's character to the reader, showing his tragic flaws which will eventually lead to his demise. Although Okonkow is seen as a "superman" among his tribe, his fear of failure becomes his driving force behind his tragic heroicness.

I feel that there are many similarities between the tortoise in the fable and Okonkow. "Tortoise saw all these preparations and soon discovered what it all meant…he was full of cunning" (Achebe, 96). This shows how the tortoise, like Okonkow, noticed that there was great importance to accomplishment, that the praise of others and inclusion in their activities was one of the most important achievements to strive for during his life.

Another display of Okonkow's character comes when Achebe states: "I am a changed man. I have learned that a man who makes trouble for others is also making it for himself" (97). This statement, made by the tortoise, is a direct reflection of the character of Okonkow, and also, in many ways, a direct reflection of the fear he holds with in him. Okonkow is haunted by the idleness and irresponsibility of his father. He dreads becoming what he viewed as a child, he is terrified that he will die an Agbala. This statement also shows that dispite his fear of becoming like his father, Okonkow is also trying to show everyone else that he is not destined for the same fate his father had. Okonkow strives to be the best in everything that he does, in wrestling, farming, village titles, and also in his family.

In the fable, the tortoise is admired by all of the birds flying with him to the feast. They have great respect for him just as Okonkow's peers do for him. The birds flying with tortoise agree and support him as he offers his custom of taking on a new name for the feast, just as Okonkow's villagers support him, especially when he commits a wrongdoing during times like the "Week of Peace." The birds soon realize that the tortoise was only concerned with himself, and had no real ideals of community, just as villagers begin to notice that Okonkow is selfish and has no respect for the community in which he lives.

Just as the tortoise is repaired by the medicine man, Okonkow is given new life by the refuge that his mother's village provides for him. Also, like the tortoise, Okonkow may have survived his hardships, but he returned damaged. The tortoise did not die from his fall from the sky, and Okonkow was not physically harmed by his exile, but both would remain forever changed by the experience of falling from grace.

The tortoise and Okonkow are, in my opinion, a direct reflection of one another. They each have the cunning ability to become great members of the community in which they live, but they also posess the capability to have that quality become their greatest downfall. They have the opportunities presented to them, but their greed, and fear, consume them and eventually become a fatal quality.