Each tribe has a specific métier. The one our protagonist, Okonkwo, belongs to is the warrior tribe. All nine tribes with their different occupation make up one of the villages of Nigeria. Okonkwo is so obsessed with his rank and stance in the tribe after his father always fell under debt and was very weak. If you don't imply the tribe's criteria, you're out-casted. Okonkwo's father was artistic and not at all a warrior, he created music and so, he was cast out of the tribe. Okonkwo had to build up his own life by borrowing some seeds and planting them. There was a good harvest season so he paid back his debts and bought more seeds of his own. He created his own image in his own hands and gained respect from the tribe. The story is of Oknonkwo falling apart, the tribe falling apart and eventually Nigeria. All due to colonialism. In the Igbo tribes, they believe in good and bad spirits, in personal gods and bad omens. They also have some men who dress up and represent the good spirits of the gods called Egwugwu. This cannot be gained but rather one is born into this position. They also believe that twins are born as one is a good spirit while the other is evil, they don't know which is which so they cast them both out into the evil forest just on the outskirts of the tribe. Additionally, they have an Agbla, which is an oracle or prophet represented by Chielo.
Okonkwo has respect for the religious affiliation of his tribe and aspires to become part of the Egwugwu, even though he was not born into it. Throughout the story, we learn the ways and daily life of the tribe. As a reader, you get attached to the characters as you learn about them.
Okonkwo is so insisted on being unlike his father, he disobeys his Chi, or his personal god. He refuses his god's wishes of not going to harvest this season, since it won't be successful, and instead takes it as a challenge, and sure enough collects his harvest. Moreover, in this patriarchal society, Oknokwo is very fond of his daughter, Ezinma, and wishes she was a boy. As is he would lose some of his manliness for loving her. Ezinma has suffered illness her whole life and so Oknokwo knows she won't marry. Chielo wants her to become the next oracle, but Okonkwo disagrees as he thinks she would turn into an instrument.
There is so much more that happens but I will move along to the second part of the novel when the white man commences his intruding. The white man asks for a piece of land to build his church and the tribe gives them part of the evil forest, thinking the bad omen will drive them out. After a while they realise nothing changes and the white man takes in a lot of people who think the church might be the true religion, since the omens didn't knock it down. They also took in all of the out-casted. Okonkwo is surprised no one is fighting or saying anything and eventually understands that the tribe is giving up and thus, falls apart. This, in turn, causes Okonkwo to fall apart. A story of the utter destructive and disruptive effect of colonialism. Such a sad, tragic read :( Achebe wrote this novel in response to critics who said that Conrad's Heart of Darkness is not racist at all.
I will definitely be reading this again and I cannot recommend it enough!
Happy reading :)
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