Musings on "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

Here is a (hopefully-not-too-boring) character sketch of Ekwefi, the leading female in Achebe's novel...

Through the thoughts of the Commissioner at the end of the novel, Achebe illustrates how Euro-centric views of Africa reduce the complex life of its people to mere sketches of humanity. While Okonkwo is described by one of his own people as “one of the greatest men in Umuofia,” the Commissioner defines him only as a “man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself” (208). In response to reductive, insidious, and destructive Euro-views of African nations and their people, Achebe assigns incredible depth to his characters with minimal narrative. To me, the character of Okonkwo’s second wife, Ekwefi, is full of complexities. Although I am a white female living in an American post-modern world, and may lack much cultural capital that would most likely deepen my appreciation of her, I find Ekwefi’s character full of subtleties. She is not simple by any means.

To me, Ekwefi represents strength and courage as seen through the hardships she bears in clan life, and through the complex connections and choices of living within a society’s rituals, traditions, gender roles and laws. Although Ekwefi does not appear much in the second and third part of the novel except for preparing the feast to leave Mbanta, she and her daughter (who is portrayed to be so much like her) are strong characters and given more importance than other females in the novel, illustrating a less common patriarchal characterization of African society. Okonkwo’s first wife is always referred to as “Okonkwo’s first wife” or as “Nwoye’s mother” (40). “Of his three wives Ekwefi was the only one who would have the audacity to bang on [Okonkwo’s] door” (76). She has her own mind and does not always obey the rules of gender.

Ekwefi defies the traditional marriage ceremony by leaving her first husband “two years after her marriage” because “she could bear it no longer and…ran away to Okonkwo” who she fell in love with after watching his wrestling match (39). We might assume there was no bride-price or marriage ceremony, which meant that Okonkwo felt equally strong towards Ekwefi. But because Achebe does not inform us of the details of this situation, and there is no mention of any consequence, we might assume that “justified divorce” is a pardonable course of action in this society.

While we see Okonkwo as a character who displays a strong, hard, unemotional outer self hiding an inner more emotional side, we might see Ekwefi as his opposite; her emotions plainly displayed while at the same time strong enough to survive what might easily destroy others. Losing one child for many mothers would be enough to defeat them, but Ekwefi, who has “suffered a great deal in her time” (40) losing nine out of the ten children she bore, finds the strength to continue. Achebe allows the reader insight into her strength by describing the complex emotional and mental states of despair, resignation and bitterness that she passes through during this time of loss. These are all understandable emotions. Adding that “her bitterness did not flow outwards to others but inwards into her own soul; that she did not blame others for their good fortune but her own evil chi” (79) shows a depth of feeling in her character that connects her to tradition and responsibility.

For the most part, Ekwefi is motivated by the beliefs and traditions of her clan, but never seems to accept them passively. When Ezinma has lived longer than her other children, Ekwefi “believed deep inside her that Ezinma had come to stay. She believed because it was that faith alone that gave her own life any kind of meaning” (80). Her strength comes from this traditional belief that her god, her “chi,” will allow Ezinma to survive. When Ekwefi finally is assured of this after they find Enzima’s “iyi-uwa,” she allows herself to feel love again, but cannot relax. Ezinma is “the center of her mother’s world”…and Ekwefi has “put all her being into” taking care of her (79). The deaths of her previous children and her devotion to her only surviving child have engraved a mental and emotional state of constant anxiety and fear for Ezinma’s survival. Ekwefi cannot be completely assured that her “chi” will not take Ezinma. This fear and anxiety seems to motivate much of her actions.

Although Ekwefi does adhere to the traditional female role in this society by being part of a family with multiple wives expected to produce offspring and attend to those typical duties, in many further respects she does not comply with the traditional female gender role. Achebe describes her relationship with her daughter as both mother and contemporary: “Ezinma did not call her mother Nue like all children…the relationship between them was not only that of mother and child. There was something in it like the companionship of equals” (76). This is a multi-dimensional mother/daughter relationship that defies stereotype. In addition, Ekwefi questions the authority of the clan, Okonkwo, Chielo and the gods when she decides to follow Chielo who takes Ezinma into the forest. Chielo warns her not to go: “How dare you, woman, to go before the mighty Agbala of your own accord? Beware…lest he strike you in his anger” (101). But she does not heed this danger to herself and defies even an angry god who could kill her. Okonkwo does not stop her when she declares, “I am following Chielo” (103), which implies her own authority with Okonkwo and in the family. Nor is she punished for this, which Achebe may have utilized to indicate that questioning authority is allowed in this society. She does not think to ask for help from Okonkwo and takes on the responsibility of Ezinma alone. This action of Ekwefi, who is already constantly filled with fear and anxiety, shows immense strength and courage. She not only fears for her daughter’s safety, but she goes into a forest she believes to be filled with “evil essences…She would wait at the mouth, all alone in that fearful place. She thought of all the terrors of the night” (104). This certainly demonstrates determination, devotion, strength, defiance and courage. Ekwefi is ultimately a survivor, stronger than Okonkwo, who chooses death rather than fight for survival in the end.