The Abyss of Meaning: Disenchantment in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart

Abstract

Achebe’s magnum opus, Things Fall Apart, circles around a Nigerian community and the life of the Ibo people. It illustrates the life of local people before and after the British colonisation. The novel gives an account of Okonkwo’s life as a highly valued member of an Ibo clan, during the colonisation period. In this article, I intend to argue that the life of this clan was enchanted before colonisation. Later, I seek to elaborate on how this enchanted life is affected by Western civilisation and Christianity and how these elements disenchanted the Ibo people’s worldview. The liveliness of matter for Ibo people and the immateriality of objects for Christians contributed to two opposing ontologies. While Western ontology seeks to define, limit, and measure everything, the Ibo tradition gives space to the elements of magic, wonder, and fear. The sheer forces of Western rationality and Christianity served as potent elements that drained the Ibo culture of meaning. Furthermore, I posit that the emergence of Western tradition within Ibo culture caused Okonkwo’s suicide and identity crises.

Keywords

• things fall apart
• chinua achebe
• enchantment
• disenchantment
• christianity
• rationality