Plot Summary

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about a man named Okonkwo. At an early age, Okonkwo knew that he didn't want to be anything like his father Unoka. As he grew up, Okonkwo became very popular in society because of his wrestling victory over an unbeaten man. Okonkwo is very wealthy and powerful in his society but is not the one to wear his emotions on his sleeve. He beats his three wives on occasion to make him feel like he still has some power. Because of his status he is picked to take care of Ikemefuna, a boy prisoner. Okonkwo views him as his own son but one day the elders of society tells him that the boy must be killed. From then on Okonkwo goes on a downward spiral towards self-destruction. One day the oldest man in the tribe dies. At the funeral Okonkwo accidentally kills the man's son and is exiled for seven years. At this poing Okonkwo feels like he is starting to lose some power. Okonkwo returns to his village after his exile to find it a changed place because of the presence of white men. He and other tribal leaders try to reclaim their hold on their native land by destroying a local Christian church that has insulted their gods and religion. In return the white men take them as prisonners and humiliate them. Okonkwo gets out of jail and is suprised to see that no one is going to help him go against the white men. The next day the white men go out looking for him only to find that Okonkwo had hung himself.