Things Fall Apart Summary and Analysis

Part 1: Chapter One Summary

Okonkwo was a famous man in his village and surrounding areas, for having defeated the most popular wrestler Amalinze the Cat, at the age of eighteen. Their fight was considered the fiercest since one of the village men had engaged a spirit in a duel for seven nights and days. Amalinze was crafty and deft as a cat but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish; Okonkwo had won the fight easily and now, twenty years later, he was still famous and respected. He was a tall man with bushy eyebrows and a severe look on his face. He had a spring in his step and a slight stutter; if angered, he used his fists more than his words and had no patience for unsuccessful men, such as his father.

Okonkwo’s father Unoka was a lazy man who had many debts and only indulged in merrymaking and wine-drinking. He was a musician who played the flute beautifully and was only truly happy in the midst of music or when he was drinking. Unlike his son, Unoka had a stoop and a haggard, tired look.

Unoka was happiest during the harvest season, when his music band was invited to play for several villages. The weather was perfect—neither too hot nor too cold and the sun would shine benevolently over the fields. At such times, Unoka would look at the sky and remember his childhood—singing when he spotted a kite flying. He was a romantic man, very much in tune with nature. However, as an adult, Unoka was a failure who could barely provide square meals to his family and was perennially in debt.

He was once visited by a neighbor called Okoye. The two men exchanged formalities over the breaking of the kola nut and alligator pepper. This was a traditional greeting in the Igbo society—to share a kola nut with a visiting guest. They spoke of the season’s harvest, heavy rains, and an impending local war. These topics depressed Unoka who began talking of music; it swelled his heart with joy to discuss music. Okoye was a musician too but he knew how to provide for his family and was going to take on the idemili title—the third highest in the land. This was an expensive ceremony and Okoye had come to collect his debts from Unoka.

However, the Igbo people never spoke directly of delicate matters—such things were discussed in proverbs. Unoka responded to his neighbor’s request with bursts of laughter, saying he could not return the money to him yet as he would pay his bigger debts before he came to his smaller ones.

Unoka died in debt and this was a source of great misery to his son, Okonkwo. Fortunately, Igbo society judged the worth of a man on his own merit and not his ancestors. Okonkwo had risen to the ranks of a great man by being a famous wrestler, having shown his prowess in two intertribal wars, and a successful farmer, with three wives and two titles.

On account of his early fame and respect, Okonkwo was given the responsibility of a young, ill-fated boy called Ikemefuna who was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia (Okonkwo’s village) by the neighboring clan to avoid war and bloodshed.

Chapter One Analysis

In the village of Umuofia, lives Unoka the musician and his ambitious son Okonkwo. Unoka is a dreamer who is respectful yet cowardly and he dies in debt. His son Okonkwo cannot be more different from his father—he is ambitious, competitive, and clearly has a plan for life. As a young man, Okonkwo is already very successful and is counted amongst the clan’s most respected men.

While Unoka is fun-loving and simpleminded, Okonkwo is sharp and impatient. And on account of his position, Okonkwo is given the responsibility of the boy Ikemefuna.