[desertblues]

The title from the book is taken from the lines of the famous Irish poet W.B.Yeats.

'Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things Fall Apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.'

It intrigues me, this quote, even when learning that Achebe is born and raised in the Nigerian village Ogidi; one of the first Anglican missionary work centres. Why not something from an African tradition?

I like Achebe's detailed view on life in Umuofia; this village which is governed by rituals, Gods, Priestess and Oracle. He respects this society. It gives me a certain feel for the way things are in this society.
And yes, life can be cruel, but this is the way their world, their universe is structured. People do accept the rules, the rituals; otherwise this clan wouldn't and couldn't function at all.
It doesn't matter whether I agree or disagree, being from another culture. My culture also has it's cruel and enigmatic aspects, which I hardly understand myself at times.

English is Achebe's 'second' language; spoken at school and college. He writes about the Ibo traditions in short, almost staccato sentences. No embellishments but Ibo words strategically placed. A straightforward and beautiful narration.
This rhythm changes at the end of the story, when the Commissioner speaks. Too many words, as if he tries to disguise, justify, glorify and give his actions an (historical)importance.

The protagonist Okonkwo, is a man of the pre- colonial world. Governed by traditions and by the memory of his little respected father Unoka, he manages to carve an important place for himself in the village. Respect for the way things ought to be is his motto.

Spoiler:

P.24.'But it was really not true that Okonkwo's palm-kernels had been cracked for him by a benevolent spirit. He had cracked them himself. Anyone who knew his grim struggle against poverty and misfortune could not say he had been lucky. If ever a man deserved his success, that man was Okonkwo. At an early age he had achieved fame as the greatest wrestler in all the land. That was not luck. At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good. But the Ibo people have a proverb that when a man says yes his chi says yes also. Okonkwo said yes very strongly, so his chi agreed. And not only his chi but his clan too, because it judged a man by the work of his hands. That was why Okonkwo had been Chosen by the nine villages to carry a message of war to their enemies..'

He is proud of the traditions, but his world is changing.

Spoiler:

P.46.'For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household and the elders of Umuofia seemed to have forgotten about him.
P.50.'Ezeudu was the oldest man in this quarter of Umuofia.(...) he said to Okonkwo: "That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death." Okonkwo was surprised, and was about to say something when the old man continued: "Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and the Caves has pronounced it. They will take him outside Umuofia as is the custom, and kill him there. But I want you to have nothing to do with it. He calls you his father.'
P.54.'As the man who had cleared his throat drew up and raised his machete, Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cry, "My father, they have killed me!" as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his machete and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak.'

The execution of the boy Ikemefuna, who lives in his family like a son (but is in fact a kind of hostage), is a turning point. Even though he takes part in it; this inflexible, traditional man worries: 'afraid of being thought weak'.
And for his son Mnoye, life isn't the same for him after the death of Ikemefuma, who was like a brother.

P. 54.'It was after such a day at the farm during the last harvest that Nwoye had felt for the first time a snapping inside him like the one he now felt. They were returning home with baskets of yams from a distant farm across the stream when they heard the voice of an infant crying in the thick forest. A sudden hush had fallen on the women, who had been talking, and they had quickened their steps. Nwoye had heard that twins were put in earthenware pots and thrown away in the forest, but he had never yet come across them. A vague chill had descended on him and his head had seemed to swell, like a solitary walker at night who passes an evil spirit on the way. Then something had given way inside him.'

The whole of Okonkwo's world is crumbling.
As a punishment for an inadvertent death, he is exiled to live for 7 years in another village. During this exile missionaries come to Umuofia and rattle at the fundaments of their traditions. By the time he returns home, things have gone all wrong; even his son seems to be a convert.

Spoiler:

P.158. 'The clan had undergone such profound change during his exile that it was barely recognisable. The new religion and government and the trading stores were very much in the people's eyes and minds. There were still many who saw these new institutions as evil, but even they talked and thought about little else, and certainly not about Okonkwo's return.(...)
Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women.'

After some time he convinces his clan to make a stand against the white men. But they are captured and humiliated by the men of the District Commissioner.

Spoiler:

P.165.'For the first time in many years Okonkwo had a feeling that was akin to happiness. The times which had altered so unaccountably during his exile seemed to be coming round again. The clan which had turned false on him appeared to be making amends.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Okonkwo and his fellow prisoners were set free as soon as the fine was paid. The District Commissioner spoke to them again about the great queen, and about peace and good government. But the men did not listen. They just sat and looked at him and at his interpreter'

In the end, there is nothing left for Okonkwo, but to admit defeat. The tradition of his world is being replaced by a completely foreign concept of a Queen as a mother and one God to rule all. He isn't part of this society, or any society any longer. He steps outside it, by doing the unspeakable: taking his own life.

Spoiler:

P.172.(...)"It is against our custom," said one of the men. "It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offence against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers.'

And the end of the book, a last short paragraph holds all that is cruel about colonization. Achebe manages, in these lines, to show the injustice, the foolishness and arrogance of the English missionaries. And not only the English missionaries of course....

Spoiler:

P.179.'Take down the body," the Commissioner ordered his chief messenger, "and bring it and all these people to the court."
"Yes, sah," the messenger said, saluting.
The Commissioner went away, taking three or four of the soldiers with him. In the many years in which he had toiled to bring civilization to different parts of Africa he had learned a number of things. One of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details as cutting a hanged man from the tree. Such attention would give the natives a poor opinion of him. In the book which he planned to write he would stress that point. As he walked back to the court he thought about that book. Every day brought him some new material. The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph, at any rate. There was so much else to include, and one must be firm in cutting out details. He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought:

The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.'

The book is published in 1959; the era that decolonization is an issue; several of the colonies want to be free. Power, political influence in the period of the Cold War is important and help is often disguised as humanitarian, economical or political assistance.

I found this an interesting book . Achebe did a good job describing the traditional African village. The strong point, which left me almost gasping for breath, are the lines in which the Commissioner describes 'The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.'

Achebe wrote about Africa, but it could have been any colonialized country. He gives insight in a traditional, non-western society and shows the aggressiveness of the 'pacification' through Western values. In this sense, this book is a timeless classic.