Unoka was weak and lazy. He borrowed and appeared in a miserable light.
Okonkwo's patriarchal machismo was ultimately a sign of his rigidity and inability to adapt to new times.
The story was about the men, the adoption, the sacrifice, the takeover by christians and then whites. The struggle of the men to deal with the change was the story; one chapter had a wife telling a tale.
My answers are intended to capture the sense of the novel in the 1950s and how we came to teach it in the 70s and 80s. Chidi's questions reflect our times; and in a sense we can't help projecting our times back into a novel of the past.
We wouldn't have used the wording "cultural hero" back then.
Achebe was a humanist, a great figure who did not want to put his characters into absolute frames of black and white, good and evil etc, but humanized okonkwo who was a great wrestler and fighter, but a poor model for a husband and father, especially father; and as i said, someone who couldn't bend.
He was achebe's answer to the european views of africans as simple tools of their societies or cultures, not thinking, feeling human beings like the europeans. And most of all, achebe wanted to validate igbo culture, so we could learn to value it. For that he needed a flawed protagonist, a flawed hero, who could embody the values but also the weaknesses of a culture that overvalued manliness and strength.
I remember oedipus whose hubris, too, led to his downfall. His hubris was not his own personal failure but that of his culture that would enable him to rise up and become king, but who couldn't see his own weaknesses. Like okonkwo.
Ken
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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 10:47:47 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today
Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 10:47:47 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today
I dont recall if Unoka was presented as a failure but he was a man living ahead of the time where he could have been economically successful.
He was successful as a great flutist but since his services were not required on a regular basis and his payment at those times could not cover the intervals and he did not want to farm, so he was often broke and in debt.
It would take the colonial encounter, the creation of Nigeria and the expansion of her economy and social complexity for an entertainer such as Unoko to achieve economic viability.
He was successful as a great flutist but since his services were not required on a regular basis and his payment at those times could not cover the intervals and he did not want to farm, so he was often broke and in debt.
It would take the colonial encounter, the creation of Nigeria and the expansion of her economy and social complexity for an entertainer such as Unoko to achieve economic viability.
Today, singers and comedians are doing very well in Nigeria but its less likely to have been so in Unoka's time.
Unoka, Okonwo's father, if I recall correctly, is contrasted with Okonkwo by his own son, who strives not to be like him, and wonders why one of his sons seems to share his father's contemplative character.
I dont think Okonwo was presented as a failure. Okonwo and Ezeulu in Arrow of God are at the centre of Achebe's genius as an ironic narrative philosopher.
Both characters may be understood as projecting the Igbo expression, ''where one thing stands, another stands beside it'', a principle of the complementary of opposites, of relationships between constancy and flexibility.
They are both strong, unyielding men, great achievers. But did they discern correctly when to yield or not to yield?
Both of them were defeated by their approach to historical forces greater than themselves, forces that perhaps were better addressed through a degree of compromise.
I dont think Okonwo was presented as a failure. Okonwo and Ezeulu in Arrow of God are at the centre of Achebe's genius as an ironic narrative philosopher.
Both characters may be understood as projecting the Igbo expression, ''where one thing stands, another stands beside it'', a principle of the complementary of opposites, of relationships between constancy and flexibility.
They are both strong, unyielding men, great achievers. But did they discern correctly when to yield or not to yield?
Both of them were defeated by their approach to historical forces greater than themselves, forces that perhaps were better addressed through a degree of compromise.
Perhaps only Achebe can fully answer the last question. Female foregrounding Igbo novels had to wait for other writers, but Achebe seems to have moved in that direction with his short story Girls at War.
thanks
toyin
On Tue, 13 Jun 2023 at 13:26, Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM, CDOA <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:
It is 65 years this year since the publication of Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" in 1958, a good literary work no doubt. There are however a few questions:
(1)Why was Unoka the flutist who was said to handle the flute with dexterity, producing pleasant notes that made the people happy presented as a failure? Does this connect with the Igbo philosophy of "Ezi aha ka ego"(translated in English to "good name is better than wealth")?
(2)Why was Okonkwo, a radical cultural activist also presented as a failure and his docile kinsman Obierika presented as a hero? This belies the Igbo philosophy of "a brave son rather than a cowardly one, even if the brave son die young".
(3)Why were the enormous influences of the womenfolk in Igboland as recorded in the activities of Umuada(daughters)and Ndi Ndom(wives)not highlighted?
Thanks.
-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)
--
Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Editorial Adviser at News Updates (https://updatesonnews.substack.com)
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