PORTRAYAL AND CRITICISM OF CULTURE AND SOCIETAL INSTITUTIONS IN CHINUA ACHEBE?S THINGS FALL APART Victor S. Alumona Introduction Chinua Achebe's famous novel, Things Fall Apart (TFA), is an extended reductio ad absurdum predicated on a premise derived from an ironic twist on the name of the novel's dominant clan called Umuofia. In short, the argument is that this is Umuofia, whose socio-political and economic institutions are so well developed that they can compare favorably with those of any other societies in the same epoch and level of development, anywhere in the world. Thus, Achebe concludes, any society so well developed and organized like that of his people cannot be legitimately called Umuofia. From this perspective, this paper argues, contra the traditional interpreters of TFA,1 that the novel is neither a portraiture of the ideal Igboman as seen in Okonkwo,2 nor is Achebe in the novel concerned mainly with the obsession with power and its repercussions among his people even before, or at the inception of colonialism.3 Rather, the novel is an indigenous portrayal and criticism of the culture and institutions of a denigrated people with a view to highlighting both their strengths and weaknesses, and without any tinge of apology at all. I intend to show subsequently that Achebe achieves this by building an argument and persuasive rhetoric around the lives and careers of some dominant individuals and the operations or failures of societal institutions; for instance, the family, government, morality, law and order, diplomacy etc. The Irony of the Name Umuofia The dominant impression of an average African society in tile literature inspired by tile prejudiced theories of the early ethnologists and social anthropologists manifests in Joyce Cary's "Mr. Johnson?.4 In describing a western Sudanese town Cary says, ?Its people would not know tile change of time jumped 50 thousand years. They live like mice . . . on a palace floor; all the magnificence and veracity of the arts, the learning and battles of civilization go over their heads and they do not even imagine them?.5 A people so described would easily be called Umuofia, which literally means ?bushmen? in Igbo, with all the primitivity that that connotes and conveys. Given that in Arabic, bilad al Sudan means "the land of the blacks", the description in Mr. Johnson appears to be representative of all the black nations. Normally, in Igbo, the prefix, ?Umu?, to the name of a town, clan, or village shows that the indigenes of the town in question either believe themselves to have one progenitor or that they owe allegiance to one central idea or concept. Hence, the name ?Umu-Odeju? shows that indigenes of such a village believe themselves to be descendants of ?Odeju?. Similarly, a village or town called ?Umudo? could mean either descendants of a progenitor called ?Udo?, or one whose inhabitants regard themselves as 'peace-makers', for ?Udo? also means ?peace? in Igbo. In view of this, the name ?Umuofia? has two parts?a prefix ?Umu? and a suffix ?Ofia?. The prefix can mean, ?people from?, indicating nativity, i.e., a place of origin, or it could mean ?people showing collective subscription to one ideology? which the suffix connotes. In the present case, the suffix ?Ofia? means 'bush' in Igbo. So, in essence, Umuofia means ?people from the bush? or ?bush people?. Hence, Achebe consciously6 adopts the pejorative stance of tile western anthropologists: he describes his people as ?Umuofia?, and subsequently reduces that appellation to absurdity by weaving description, exposition, rhetoric and argument, around interrelated plots in the novel under consideration. How he does this is what I endeavor to show in the remaining parts of the paper. Cosmology and Rebellion in Things Fall Apart One cherished attribute among the people of Umuofia is cohesive community life. It is actually the destruction of this cohesion by an ?abominable religion?,7 and an external government that gave the novel its title. The overt expression of this cohesion is the ?week of peace? which Okonkwo broke and was punished by Ezeani. This social cohesion is predicated on a world-view and religion according to which Chukwu is the creator of ?heaven?, i.e., the sky or the sublunary world, and the earth. Chukwu is worshipped through other lesser gods such as Amadiora, Ogwugwu, and Idemili, etc. These are really, to my mind, deified natural forces that could either be benevolent or malevolent depending on circumstances.8 Apart from these, there is also ancestor worship. The deceased elders of the family or the community are regarded as yet alive but in the underworld or the spirit world from which they oversee the affairs of their erstwhile families or community. There is a communion between the living and the departed members of the family or community through sacrifices by the former, and through oracles and divination by the latter. On special occasions, the ancestors re-visit the members of their community as masquerades. Moreover, it is also believed in this worldview that there are other contending forces and spirits in nature and society: fortunes and misfortunes, ?ogbanje?, wars and pestilence. There are also such other violent emotions among men in society, as love and hate, fear and envy, intrigues and treachery etc. It is believed that an individual endeavors to succeed in life by actualizing his destiny, or a community strives to realize its goals and aspirations by contending with other communities or individuals. In order, therefore, to enhance one?s or a community?s chances of success, supernatural forces are either invoked or appeased by using equally mysterious forces in the forms of charms or amulets called Ogwu which sometimes can be deified and propitiated as a god or goddess. Oracles can also be consulted to unravel a mystery or the future as seen in the oracle of the ?Hills and Caves?.9 However, in the gregarious efforts to succeed either as a person or a community, positive morality of intentions and actions must be ensured. The custodian of morality is the Earth goddess?Ani. It ensures that no indigene of a community takes the life of another for whatever reason. Thus, Okonkwo had to be exiled for seven years after killing Ezeudu?s son accidentally, at his father?s funeral, in order to propitiate the land. In addition, this world view and religion sanctioned and maintained such other beliefs and practices as, payment of ransom?two persons for one life taken?human sacrifice, disposal of twin babies in the belief that they were evil,10 the Osu Caste system, and the ogbanje phenomenon, etc. How these beliefs and practices were justified within the cosmology and religion of the fiction bothered Achebe a great deal. Oftentimes, he makes his characters question the rationale behind certain beliefs and practices. That way Achebe is able to show that the people of Umuofia had critical dispositions necessary for philosophical reflection as seen in other apparently civilized cultures of the world. How the author does this in the novel we shall see later. Economy and Economic Relations In the novel, Umuofia is depicted as having an economy in which economic activities and relations have advanced far beyond the itinerant, fruit-gathering type that the early ethnologists and anthropologists attributed to Africans. The Umuofia economy is a monetary one in which trade-by-barter has been greatly reduced. As such loans could be obtained and repaid as exhibited in the Unoka-Okoye episode in the fiction. Commerce has developed to such an extent that there are markets and expectedly, the existence of traders or merchants as a social class. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of Umuofia, and thus the people have a symbiotic relationship with both land and environment. This then explains the religious importance of Ani (Earth), which is regarded and worshipped as a goddess that has regenerative potency. The agriculture is mainly of the shifting, sedentary compound cultivation type, which is practiced with some rudimentary scientific knowledge. This is evident in the ways and manners the weather is watched, the time farms are cleared and cultivated, and also the ways Okonkwo endeavored to care for his yam tendrils during a prolonged drought. Moreover, the agricultural economy is such that a determined farmer does not need to have inherited barns of yams from his father; he could succeed as well by being a sharecropper. This is what Okonkwo did when he approached Ogbuefi Nwakibie to borrow seed yams. Now, the terms and phrases as well as the complexity with which a particular language renders economic relations and their overt expressions in the lives of individuals in society usually indicate the level of development of the society whose language it is. The economy of the community depicted in TFA is not only a developed one; it is inscribed in a complex web of socio-economic relationships. It is apt to point out that the Igbo society described in the novel is a shame culture and a contest society.11 In a shame culture, ?the important tiling is to be successful in one?s enterprise and to be judged so by others, rather than having a good conscience.?12 It is a culture in which the cliché: ?Success has parents, brothers and sisters; failure is an orphan,? is apt and relevant. In other words, ?merit and excellence are reckoned less by intentions than by results.? 13 In such a culture, success is noble and failure shameful irrespective of the circumstances. Achebe captures the essence of this culture by informing us that ?? among this people (the Igbo) a man was (is) judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father,?14 and that ?age was respected among his (Okonkwo) people, but achievement was (is) revered.?15 In other words, ?If a child washed his hands, he could eat with Kings?.?16 It is shameful in such a culture as the Igbo one to be an ?agbala? ? a man who had taken no title ? like Unoka (Okonkwo?s father whom he detests down to his marrow) and Osugo whom Okonkwo slighted in a kindred meeting with the comment ?this meeting is for men..? In a shame culture, failure is bearable when it is the lot of many more persons. Otherwise, in Unoka?s words, ?it is more difficult and bitter when a man fails alone.?17 By virtue of being a shame culture, the Igbo society of the TFA and even nowadays is also a contest society. In principle it is an open society18 as seen in the economic structures and institutions for decision-making. Individuals in the society are in obvious competition with one another to get to and remain at the top of the socio-economic hierarchy of the community.19 Personal success in a society like this one attracts intense envy from the lowly and unsuccessful. This explains why it is a social norm in the society of the TFA for a man never to take the life of his compatriot whether deliberately or otherwise. This norm forestalls indiscriminate hauling down of achievers in a contest society by non-achievers like Unoka and Osugo. Thus, the society depicted in TFA is both a shame culture and a contest society. It is then not quite surprising that Okonkwo's ?whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and of weakness.?20 Family Values and Societal Morality Achebe takes great care, and goes to great lengths, to show that, although Okonkwo is polygamous, the family is nevertheless cohesive.21 Even the structural layout of huts in the compound shows that power, protection, leadership and prestige emanate from the Obi and radiates toward the other members of the family. It is a family in which any of the wives could take care and charge of the children of another in her absence, and commensurately, any of the wives or elders of the family can send a child on an errand without taking prior permission from the mother. These values are exemplified by the fact that Nwoye's mother fed Ojiugo's children, as she did hers, when the latter went to plait her hair and could not cook the afternoon meal for her children and husband. Similarly, Ezinma, Ekwefi?s only surviving child, took fire across to Nwoye's mother, and offered to make it for her before returning to her own mother's kitchen to resume her chores. It is also noteworthy that as he matured Nwoye could be sent for to perform some of the difficult chores for any of his father's wives, and not necessarily his own mother. When Okonkwo wanted to pass his feelings regarding his daughters' suitors, he talked to Ezinma who in turn talked to Obiageli, her half- sister, and secured her consent not to marry any man in Mbanta. This is because the family cohesion affords her the chance to exert influence on the other children of the family. Furthermore, Nwakibie was a great man of rank in the society who had three wives. But only Anasi, the first wife, wore the anklets of her husband's titles.22 This shows the locus of.power and respectable authority among the women in the compound. In Okonkwo's compound, Nwoye's mother occupies a similar position. So in the absence of a man or any other male that could take charge, the women knew who should take immediate charge ? showing the cohesive nature of the average Igbo ?nuclear? family. Even adherence to etiquette ensures that this cherished family cohesion is maintained. For instance, when called to the Obi to be given palm-wine brought by visitors, the younger wives of Nwakibie had to stand aside waiting for the first wife to arrive and drink first. It is also noteworthy that in a gathering of people, not just anyone shares things out among them. The youngest in any gathering does so. Achebe also carefully shows the premium placed on marital bond and life-long mutual dependence between husband and wife in the story told of Ogbuefi Ndulue and his wife Ozoemena.23 In the words of the perceptive Obierika, ?it was always said that Ndulue and Ozoemena had one mind . . . I remember when I was a boy; there was a song about them. He could not do anything without telling her.?24 Even though this extolling of strong mutual marital bond draws skepticism from a conservative like Okonkwo regarding the manliness of Ndulue, the author has made his point?family cohesion and life long mutual bond and dependence is a cherished Igbo family value. Now, moving away from family life into the village and even across the clans, there are ceremonies, feasts and events used by this people to maintain family ties. An example is the Uri ceremony at which a suitor entertains the villagers of his bride. Apart from this, Uri is used to draw in other families, especially women, to share in the joy of a family that has successfully raised a maiden fit for marriage. Women and children are invited to help in cooking and rendering other services relevant to the ceremony. Secondly, feasts like the new yam festival are used to maintain not only village or clan unity, but also healthy relations and mutual bonds between in-laws as related by the hyperbole of the yam foo-foo set before in-laws.25 Daughters of a village married away to other villages or clans have an avenue to meet as a group through the institution called Umuada in order to perform some vital duties like settling quarrels or mourning in their families of origin. Moreover, Achebe also endeavors to show that even though the Igbo are predominantly patrilineal, maternity is not only sacred but also very important in the life of an Igbo. It is as if a son is raised by his father to be a worthy participant in the life of the society, but is rehabilitated by his mother or mother?s family when danger or misfortunes strike. This is the whole point of Okonkwo spending seven years of exile among his mother?s kinsmen. He was not tried for homicide, convicted and sent to jail for seven years. Rather he was given an opportunity to re-evaluate his life, make amends while still living a normal life with the full complements of his family.26 However, this cohesive family so much extolled in the novel had to thrive in the community, and the community in the clan, in accordance with established morality. Some principles of this morality are highlighted in the novel. The first among these is the principle of accommodation: ?Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break.?27 This principle justifies my claim that the Igbo society of the TFA as well as today?s Igbo society is a ?shame culture? in which visible success is revered, and individuals go to any length to achieve it nowadays. This principle is therefore primarily important in order to discourage unfair and virulent competition especially as a shame culture is normally a contest society. Complementary to this moral principle is a taboo according to which a clansman cannot take the life of another in any way; hence, Okonkwo's ostracization for inadvertently killing his clansman. This taboo is also very important in a shame culture in order to prevent feigned accidents through which a person can eliminate his competitor. In addition, there is the etiquette which demands that one who sets an edible item before another taste it first. When Okonkwo took wine to Nwakibie to solicit his help, ?the first cup went to Okonkwo, who must taste his wine before anyone else.?28 This is to assure others that what is set before them, be it palm-wine, kola-nut, or tobacco snuff, etc., has not been poisoned. In certain conservative settings, even wives taste food set before their husbands, especially in a polygamous family. Allied to the above is the principle of teleology or purposive action: every action has a purpose given that ?a toad does not run in the day time for nothing?29 (it is either that it is pursuing something or something is pursuing it). Since every action leads to an end, the intention behind which is not always obvious, caution is enjoined on all and sundry: ?Eneke the bird says that since men have learnt to shoot without missing, he has learnt to fly without perching.?30 This I call the principle of caution or cautionary action. In the novel there are glimpses of the people's sexual morality. For instance, the Isa-ifi ceremony31 performed on behalf of Umuada (council of daughters) by the eldest of them is used to ascertain the fidelity of a bride to her suitor since betrothal. Similarly, premarital sex seems not to have been encouraged given the description given of Akueke who was being married-off.32 However, Ezeani, who upbraids Okonkwo for violating the ?week of peace? by beating his wife said: ?Your wife was at fault but even if you came into your Obi and found her lover on top of her, you would still have committed a great evil to beat her.?33 Reading the lips of Ezeani one is at a loss about how to view the statement. It could be a way of stressing the enormity of Okonkwo's action.34 But at the same time, it could also be a reflection of a subdued practice that allows married women to have lovers. One's suspicion that this could have been the case is heightened by the story of how Okonkwo married Ekwefi eventually: she ran away from Anene, her first husband, to Okonkwo in circumstances that seem to permit a kind of sexual permissiveness for married women.35 This view does not, however, cohere with the isa-ifi ceremony and the premium placed on sexual abstinence before marriage. Neither does it fit into contemporary Igbo life in many places. Perhaps it is one of those liberties an artist takes in creating a work of fiction! There is also a set of moral rules used to protect farm crops from wilful destruction. For instance, anyone who carelessly lets loose his hoofed domestic animals on another's farm pays a fine.36 The purpose of all these rules is to produce a society in which a man can maximize his abilities without let or hindrance in pursuance of some obvious goods: wealth, health, children, social relations and prestige, long life, etc. Rites of Passage One mark of an advanced culture or civilization is the way it celebrates the human life cycle: birth, growth and death. Apart from birth, Achebe, in the novel, gives details of the Igbo account and celebration of maturation and death. At maturity, a maiden is given into marriage through an established process, as seen in the case of Akueke, that dignifies the bride and groom's families, involves the whole immediate community and consequently validates the marriage. It is clear that marriage among this people was not by capture or seizure of the bride as some primitive tribes are wont to do.37 At marriage, a woman not only becomes a wife in her husband's homestead, but also automatically joins the council of daughters, Umuada, of her kindred. On the other hand, a young man at marriage inaugurates his own compound and Obi as well as his own ancestral shrine. He carves out his own farmlands from which proceeds he creates his own barn. Thus, he ceases to be an ?agbala? and can subsequently initiate himself into the Ozo society and masquerade cults. Death is undesirable; but without it, there would not be ancestral worship, which is a vital aspect of Igbo cosmology. So, the death of a successful man like Ezeudu, who lived to a ripe old age, and thus passes as a model of a fulfilled life, is announced carefully but steadily by different connotations of the ekwe sound. Thereafter, there is a dignified celebration of his passage from earthly life to the life of the world beyond. In essence, therefore, there is no absolute death. 38 The efficacy of this belief is shown in the fact that it was at Ezeudu's funeral that Okonkwo tactlessly violated a taboo that sent him into exile for seven years, in much the same way as he tactlessly disregarded Ezeudu's advice and warning not to have a hand in Ikemefuna's sacrifice because the boy called him father. So, whether alive or dead, the words of a virtuous wise man abide, and one disregards them to his utter peril. Similarly, there is the tacit passage from ?the dead? or spirit world to healthy earthly life as described in the digging up from the bowels of the earth of Ezinma?s iyi-uwa, i.e., the string that linked her to the kindred Qgbanje spirit. Having broken that cord, she ceases to be a tormentor child to her parents by her hitherto unbroken cycle of reincarnation.39 Government. Judicial System and Diplomacy One other aspect of Igbo culture highlighted in the novel through interlocking plots is its republicanism anchored on an egalitarian spirit. This republicanism works through certain organs of governance. The highest of the popular organs of governance is the clan assembly, which is the apex decision-making body. It declares wars and makes peace. However, the inner caucus of this assembly is the body of ?ndichie? literally, the ancients: men who have taken the highest titles in the land, priests of various categories and lineage heads.40 On his return from his embassy to Mbaino, it was to this body that Okonkwo reported and delivered for appropriate disposition the ransom he collected (Ikemefuna and a virgin girl). Below the clan assembly and ndichie comes the Umunna-kindred meeting at which family matters were discussed. It was at such a meeting to decide the next ancestral feast that Okonkwo committed hubris41 by insulting Osugo who contradicted him with the condescending remark: ?This meeting is for men.?42 Even at the height of his power and fame the kindred meeting could force Okonkwo to apologize to Osugo, and the eldest man had to forcefully remind him: ?those whose palm-kernels were cracked for them by a benevolent spirit should not forget to be humble.? This remark, in my opinion, brings out the significance of Okonkwo?s hubris. Hence, in Umuofia, decisions on important matters are not taken capriciously. However, Achebe hints that such an assembly, like the clan?s, which works like the ecclesia of typical Greek city state say, Athens, could be swayed this way or that way by the power of oratory into hasty or wrong decisions on sensitive issues like declaring a war or making peace. This explains Okonkwo' s apprehension of Egonwane's rhetorical prowess and influence on the fateful day it was to decide on either war on the white man and his socio-political structures or benign acquiescence in the new religion and government. The decisions of the assembly, especially those pertaining to declaring war on another town or making peace with it, were moderated by a transcendental religious authority?the oracle of the Hills and Caves. It always ensured that Umuofia never went to war unless its case was clear and just.43 Given this kind of check on the decisions of the clan assembly pertaining to such important matters as war and peace, the type of rash decision taken by the Athenian assembly in 428 B.C. on the fate of the male population of the revolting city of Mytilene,44 would be avoided easily. In diplomacy before war is fully declared, even after the oracle has sanctioned it, Umuofia would issue an ultimatum within which the offending clan or town was expected to choose war or peace. If the latter is chosen, then ransom must be paid for the unjustified provocation, or harm done to the community. Thus, the lad Ikemefuna and a virgin girl were collected by Okonkwo, the emissary of Umuofia, as ransom for the murder of Ogbuefi Udo' s wife. Overall, it was made clear in the novel that Umuofia had the principle of just war and when it was necessary, waged it in accordance with the notions of civilized behavior. It was also emphasized in the novel that Umuofia had a judicial system in which the Egwugwu, masquerade cult, was the highest judicial body. In the case between Odukwe and others, a person in the crowd wondered why ?such a trifle? as the dispute between husband and wife, ?should be brought before the Egwugwu?. This suggests that there were lower levels of adjudication that could have handled the litigation. However, the masquerade cult, in administering justice, does so in accordance with the principle of fair hearing. ?Your words are good,? said the leader of the Egwugwu. Let us hear Odukwe, his words may also be good. Similarly, in delivering judgment, the judicial systems aim at a balance or harmony and not at a bi-polar divisive declaration of innocent/guilty parties. Judgment aimed at what the Greeks called equipollence of arguments pro and contra on issues, especially family matters: ?We have heard both sides of the case... our duty is not to blame this man or to praise that, but to settle the dispute.?45 This equipollence of arguments is necessary for the attainment of balance or harmony, which is a principle of existence that this people valued and was guarded by Ani, the Earth goddess. In order to achieve this harmony in the society through the judicial process and pronouncements, the Egwugwu used a quasi-jury system: ?The nine egwugwu then went away to consult together in their house.?46 This manner of delivering judgment after hearing a case is quite congruent with the republican and democratic ideals of the culture and people as epitomized in the various levels of governmental structures, but especially the manner of decision-making in the clan assembly?by consensus after a reasonable debate on the matter, pro and contra. Entertainments and Leisure Even though the culture is one in which ?solid personal achievement? through dint of hard work is a leading ideal, the novel commences by showing a hilarious people agog with joy at watching a wrestling contest, which is a part of the greatest of their festivals -- the new yam festival. Soon after, we are introduced to a man given to music, play, leisure and story telling, although not the stories of violence, war and blood. Through him, we are told how various groups learn their music and dance. We also see that among this people most events have entertainment dimensions to them. This is evident in marriages, funerals and other rites of passage. Even ordinary welcome gesture to a visitor, and the rituals of breaking kola-nut presented to him, is suffused with proverbs and aphorisms that could cause bellyaching laughter. A mere request for a favor could be turned to merriment easily. It is worth recalling that when Okonkwo went to Nwakibie to borrow seed yams, he took palm wine. Soon after his arrival a jolly company was formed and an ordinary request was turned into a light-hearted session of jovial friends. Summary From the foregoing detailed commentary and discussions on the societal institutions and cultural values and ideals carefully portrayed in the novel, Things Fall Apart, it could be conveniently maintained that the Umuofia appellation, with its primitive connotations, used by Achebe to describe the Igbo people and culture of the time, is ironical, which when not understood as such, makes the surface meaning quite absurd. This is because the society so described and regarded has the social institutions, cultural ideals and values characteristic of civilized societies on common historical platform and economic development. The author endeavors to make just this point, for purposes of reasserting the unique identity of a misunderstood and thus erroneously denigrated people, but he nevertheless distances himself from his people's civilization. This he does in order to peer into it with a rational and critical insight that enabled him to raise questions about certain assumptions and fundamental beliefs of his people. How this was done with a kind of philosophical disposition and detachment is examined in the next section. Criticism of Culture and Societal Institutions in Things Fall Apart One super-structural dimension to the people's culture that is subjected to critical appraisal in the novel is the cosmology or world- view. Ancestral worship is the first to be rationally and critically weighed in the tale of Obiako and his deceased father: Obiako had gone to consult the oracle which said to him, ?Your dead father wants you to sacrifice a goat to him.? But Obiako retorted, ?ask my dead father if he ever had a fowl when he was alive.?47 The import of this challenge is far-reaching; it stresses the point that people should not require from others more than they deserve. Moreover, the belief that places excessive demand on the living in order to satisfy the dead is fundamentally challenged. Meanwhile, Obiako' s defiance raises the question about the powers of the ancestors over the living. Inasmuch as it cannot be conclusively proved that they have or have not powers over the living, Obiako stresses that reasonableness is a common attribute of man whether dead or alive. Assuming that his father is alive as an ancestor, he should be reasonable in making his demands. The belief and practice pertaining to the ?week of peace? are also critically assessed in the novel through the reflections of the wise Ezeudu. Erstwhile violators of the week of peace were dragged on the ground round the clan. This practice was dropped later as a form of punishment because it was pragmatically self-refuting. The whole principle and essence of the week of peace, i.e., harmonious neighborliness, was negated by the practice. Through that insight, it was highlighted that practices must be consistent with beliefs otherwise the rationality of such a belief is seriously doubted. In addition, the idea that a man could be blamed for events over which he has no control is criticized. ?In some clans, it is an abomination for a man to die during tile week of peace? They have that custom in Obodoani. If a man dies at this time, he is not buried but cast into the evil forest. It is a bad custom which these people observe because they lack understanding.?48 Apparently, why they lack understanding is because the person who dies within the ?week of peace? has no control over life or death. In view of this, he should then not bear the blame for his own misfortune. However, rather than draw this conclusion, Ezeudu, while reflecting on the matter, drew a startling one: because the corpses of people who die within the week of peace are thrown into the evil forest, the towns of these practitioners are filled with wandering spirits. This deduction is consistent with the general framework of the people's worldview, but deviates from the logic of the reflection. Furthermore, the cultural perception of the twin births as an abomination and their disposal after birth is criticized by Obierika's introspection after participating in the destruction of Okonkwo?s compound because of the homicide of a kinsman. Obierika asked himself: ?Why should a man suffer so grievously for an offence he had committed inadvertently?? This was a puzzle for him. Perhaps more puzzling is the killing of twins: ?He remembered his wife's twin children, whom he had thrown away. What crime had they committed?? The only answer to these questions for Obierika was a dogmatic one: ?The Earth had decreed that they were an offence on the land and must be destroyed.?49 The same Obierika in another context covertly questions this article of religious faith. In discussing the lkemefuna episode with Okonkwo after the latter had recovered from his stupor caused by pangs of conscience after killing a ?son?, Obierika raises the question whether all divine commands must be obeyed. His outright answer is no! Those that violate natural bonds and enjoin discomfort for humans should be tolerated, or at best one can be indifferent to them: ?But if the oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it.?50 The enormity of obeying such a command is seen against the background of the introspective questions asked by lkemefuna himself as to how he came to such an impasse. Was his father involved in the killing of a daughter of Umuofia? Even if he was involved, ?is it justified? he would have asked, ?for an innocent child to be used as a ransom?? He could not understand what was happening to him or what he had done.51 So, how did he come to merit his fate? At best it was an arbitrary decision and Achebe criticized it as such in the thoughts of the innocent boy. In like manner, the justification for the punishment meted out to Okonkwo for the inadvertent homicide is also raised in the novel. Achebe, speaking once more through Obierika, critically appraised the custom or rule that demands that a man suffer grievously for what obviously is not a premeditated murder. This is quite (rationally) inexplicable. The only justification was that the Earth goddess decreed it. An explanation for some of these obnoxious customs is that they provide and protect public good, but exactly how this is so is not clear. The belief in chi and its influence on the fortunes of an Igbo is also subjected to criticism in the novel. While at Mbaino on exile, Okonkwo had to reflect on his chi and destiny. It appeared to him that despite his vision to be a great man and his active pursuit of it through hard work, he had suffered grievously just at the point of achieving it. Perhaps, his chi is not cut out for great things, which if it is actually so, negates the wisdom of the elders that says, ?if a man says Yea, his chi affirms.? In his own case, he had said yea, and from all indications, his chi was saying no!52 Furthermore, the belief in the Ogbanje phenomenon and the practices it engenders like the mutilation of the corpse of a child suspected to be an Ogbanje, are all criticized in the fiction. In particular, the process of curing this Ogbanje by trying to break the wheel of incarnations by soliciting the child's cooperation in tracing his/her iyi-uwa is shown, one and all, to lack a scientific basis and thus a poor diagnosis of disease. The people's naiveté in relying on a mere child to lead the way in tracing the cause of his/her disease is highlighted by way of criticism in the novel. The idea of evil forest and the Osu Caste system especially are all given pragmatic refutation in the fiction. The one, by showing that humans stayed in the precincts of the evil forest for a month or so, without perishing contrary to the expectation and belief that they would perish in three days. The other, by showing that when they abandoned their gods and shrines, and then ran into the new Church, that they did not die and no further calamity befell them. Rather the only thing they lost was their bondage. Finally, the drive for material prosperity through solid personal achievement, to the utter neglect of the intangible aspects of human culture, is severely criticized. This is vividly achieved through the portraiture of Unoka who ordinarily should win some awards as a talented and ingenious musical artiste. Rather than this, he died a pauper and abominably too. Even at that, Unoka chided his society for neglecting what Achebe has called feminine values, music, story- telling, fellow-feeling, good neighborliness, piety, virtuous living etc, by taking along with him his flute while being taken away to the evil forest to die despicably. Okonkwo detested his father, and did everything in his power to deny everything he stood for, and in doing so determined for himself a new set of ethos for personal achievements, which sometimes ran contrary to accepted mode of behavior. He, however, moved steadily to perdition. His life is therefore a lesson and warning that no society or individual prospers and endures in its prosperity that neglects enabling virtues acquired through education and civilized behavior. This warning is still pertinent to contemporary Igbo society that has suddenly embraced acquisitive materialism at the expense of education. Conclusion In this paper, I have endeavored to show how Achebe went into great details to reconstruct the workings of the societal institutions of his people whose dignity colonials distorted and mortgaged. I also showed how he used authorial criticism through words put in the mouths of his major characters to criticize his people?s culture and way of life. Overall, it can be concluded that the name of the dominant clan in the novel, Umuofia, as a pseudonym for the Igbo, or African peoples for that matter, is essentially a misnomer. For Umuofia?s import has been reduced to absurdity by showing that the people to whom it was supposed to apply possess all the societal institutions, culture, and reflective intellectual tradition and disposition that should make it qualify as a civilized society in the modern mold. Notes and References 1This is the view of Umelo Ojimah (1999) in his book, Chinua Achebe: New Perspectives (Ibadan: Spectrum Books). 2 On the BBC programme, ?Book Choice? of 30th August, 1996, Achebe himself declared that ?Okonkwo was not an Igbo paragon. He was in many ways a misfit. He was a one-sided man, neglecting the feminine aspects of culture. He was too anxious to succeed.? 3 Some scholars believe that given Achebe's perception of the writer or artist as a seer and teacher in his society he, Achebe, had been concerned with the incidence of power: who has it, how he acquired it, and how he uses it. Achebe is then considered to be pre-occupied with this phenomenon in his fictions set in history like TFA, as he is concerned with it in his near sociological exegesis, The Trouble with Nigeria (Nairobi: Heinemann, 1983). 4 See the exposition on this book in ?The World of Chinua Achebe: making of Things Fall Apart? Newswatch 3(12) March, 1986,11-17. 5 Quoted. in Newswatch 3 (12) March, 1986, p.1. 6 This claim is justified first in the context of the colonial epoch in which the book Things Fall Apart was written, during which the educated elite was the vanguard for the restoration of a robust self- image, and the appreciation of the culture of the colonized people. Things Fall Apart was, surely, an intellectual contribution to that re- descriptive effort. Second, in the radio program alluded to in note 2 above, Achebe said, inter alia, that given the literature with which his generation was fed at schools exemplified in Joyce Cary's Mr. Jobnson, ?one had to tell his own story?. The story he told is Things Fall Apart, in the first instance, and in doing so, I contend that he appears to have consciously chosen the name ?Umuofia? to connote the perceived primitivity of the Igbo people, a view he reduces to absurdity by the civilization he reconstructs in the novel. This argument is supported by the title the District Officer chose for his new book after seeing the dangling body of Okonkwo. He entitled his proposed account of the fate of this man ?The Pacification of the primitive tribes of the Lower Niger?. Thus, I have not read the name ?Umuofia? literally as some may want to believe. 7 TFA, p. 118. 8 In much similar manner, the Stoics of the 4th/3rd century BC in the Graeco-Roman world, allegorized natural forces and in consequence identified them with the gods in the Greek Pantheon such that the whole world as a dynamic continuum in which natural laws, especially those of causal determinism, hold inexorably was called Zeus. Zeus was the greatest of Greek gods. 9 The Greeks used Apollo's oracle at Delphi for similar purposes. See Plato's Euthyphro where Socrates uses the revelation of this oracle to explain the origin of the perception of him as the wisest man. 10 One justification for this practice was that, in the eyes of the practitioners, wild and domestic animals only have their young ones in numbers at the same time. So that the bearing of twins by a woman brings her and her babies nearer to the class of beasts, debases humanity, which is evil and should not be allowed. 11 See Alvin W. Gouldner, Enter Plato: Classical Greece and the Origins of Social Theory (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963). 12 At least one strand of evidence supports my claim that the Igbo society of the fiction is a shame culture: when Ezeani had commanded Okonkwo to pay recompense to ani for violating the week of peace, his subsequent demeanor is a classic posture in a shame culture: ?Inwardly, he was repentant. But he was not the man to go about telling his neighbors that he was in error? (TFA, p. 22). In other words, his public image rather than the serenity of his conscience mattered to him so much. 13 Gouldner, Enter Plato, p. 83. 14 TFA, p. 6. Here, Achebe takes a swipe at (Victorian) England and contemporaneous European societies where a loafer like Unoka could suddenly come into economic prosperity and limelight through inheritance, but unlike Okonkwo who did through solid personal achievements. 15 TFA, p. 16 16 TFA, p. 18. 17 TFA, p. 18. 18 However, the existence of Osu, outcasts, in both the fictional and contemporary Igbo society, describes the limits of its egalitarianism and thus casts doubts on this claim to openness. 19 This is clearly evident in the fact that while in exile in Mbanta, Okonkwo was preoccupied with the thought of how to recapture his pre- eminent position in Umuofia, and in consequence, planned his return from ostracization in style: He would build bigger a compound than the one he had before his exile, initiate his sons into the prestigious Ozo society, and marry off his blooming daughters to worthy prosperous young men etc. 20 TFA, p. 9. 21 The same ideal cherished by the whole society at large. 22 TFA, p. 14. 23 TFA, p. 47. 24 TFA, p. 48. 25 TFA, p. 26. 26 The victim of this arrangement is apparently Ezeudu?s son who lost his life in the process of trying to accord his father his due last rites as an eminent man in his culture and society. Much as he counts as a person, the culture under consideration takes a collective view of the matter and the focus now is on the community and its continued survival. This has been endangered now by the manslaughter Okonkwo committed which in the thinking of the people has desecrated the land which must be cleansed. If the community continues after his unfortunate death, then the individual must not have died in vain, otherwise, both him, his name, that of his family, would have been lost. Banishing Okonkwo, the mighty, is the least that could be done to appease his (the victim) spirit. 27 TFA, p.14 28 TFA, p.14 29 TFA, p. 15 30 TFA, p. 16 31 TFA, p. 92 32 TFA, p. 49 33 TFA, p. 22, emphasis added. 34 TFA, p. 22 Even the oldest man can remember only one or two instances of such a violation. 35 TFA, p. 76 36 TFA, p. 80 37 See F. Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (Peking: Foreign Language Press, 1978). 38 cf. Socrates' defense of the immortality of the soul in Plato's Phaedo 39 TFA, p. 53. Cf., the religious side of Pythagoreanism and the other Pythagorean beliefs in transmigration and the wheel of reincarnation of souls. See G.S. Kirk and J.E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers: a Critical History with a Selection of Texts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1957). 40 Egalitarianism in this case should be viewed in terms of the public space available to members of a particular society in which to express themselves and actualize their potentialities. In this regard, using egalitarianism to qualify a society becomes, somehow, a relative term, such that given a gradation of openness, such societies as ancient Greek society, the ancient Roman Republic and today?s American society could each be described as egalitarian in its own epoch in the history of human development. In the Igbo society of Chinua Achebe?s Things fall Apart, women were quite visible in the very important affairs of the community. Consider the prominence given to femininity by the emphasis given to such a name as Nneka ?mother is supreme?. Also, when Okonkwo became a persona non grata in Umuofia, he was allowed to be rehabilitated by his mother?s clan. We should also bear in mind that the ogwu that leads Umuofia to successes in their battles is called, in a manner of endearment, agadi nwanyi (old woman). And in this regard, women were the priestesses of many of the important gods of the community. In connection with this we should recall the night the priestess to Agbala, Chielo, came to take Okonkwo?s daughter (regarded as an acolyte of Agbala) to visit the shrine, and Okonkwo as a man in that village where he was almost supreme, dared not disobey the priestess, but lamely trailed her at the back as she majestically proceeded to the shrine of Agbala in the dead of the night. So it is not correct to say that women were shut out in the society under consideration, neither should what obtained in favor of women be regarded as mere tokenism, for given the epoch under review, women were quite visible in the society, and that is a measure of egalitarianism 41 This is a Greek term which connotes, among other things, undeserved slight or careless disregard for a person by another usually more successful than the slighted. Hubris includes the maltreatment of a slave by a master, or a foreigner by an indigene. It is an offence which the gods avenge on behalf of the subject of abuse. As Okonkwo's life unfolded in the novel, he seems to have been punished by the gods for his hubris against Osugo and other things including his tactless killing of Ikemefuna. This interpretation is consistent with the public perception of Okonkwo in the novel: ?And so people said he had no respect for the gods of the clan. His enemies said his good fortune had gone to his head. They called him the little bird, nza, who so far forgot himself after a heavy meal that he challenged his chi.? See TFA, p. 22. 42 Osugo, like Unoka, Okonkwo's father, is an ?agbala? who had taken no titles and should really in consequence be classed among women. This is the essence of Okonkwo' s allusion, which the eldest man in the meeting caught and chided him for. 43 TFA, p. 9 44 J.B. Bury, A History of Greece: to the Death of Alexander the Great, 3rd ed. (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1966), pp. 413ff. 45 See TFA, pp. 64-66. 46 TFA, p. 65 47 TFA, p. 15 48 TFA, p. 23. 49 TFA, p. 87 50 TFA, p. 47. This is contrary to Okonkwo's position that ?all commands of the oracle must be obeyed? from which perspective he tries to rationalize his killing of a boy he raised, who called him father. This dialogue between Obierika and Okonkwo underscores the fundamental question about the nature of theistic or humanistic ethics such as that Socrates raised in the Euthyphro. It also raises the question as to which is the predominant ethical disposition of the indigenous Igbo people. From the reaction of Obierika to Okonkwo's conduct, and Obierika's position in weighing the matter with his conservative friend, I suggest that the Igbo have a predominantly humanistic, rather than theistic, ethics. Although arguments could be raised by anyone of a humanistic disposition to show that for this people, as for Socrates, ?genuine goodness is a unity?. 51 TFA, p. 11. 52 In appraising Achebe's essay ?Chi in Igbo Cosmology? in a different context, I have argued that this dictum would hold only when a man is reasonable about his ambitions and refrains from troubles and setting for himself impossible tasks. Proper conduct in life will tantamount to one's Chi saying Yea to his ambitions, otherwise, it would say no! Somehow, in the novel, Okonkwo in many ways set for himself impossible tasks, and consequently his Chi said no to many of them, but not for want of trial and hard work. The point made here underscores my contention that the Igbo have a humanistic ethics. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤