Things Fall Apart Chapter 7 - 13

Ikemefuna was already a part of the family. He was like the son Okonkwo never had and a great older brother for Nwoye that served as an example. One day the elders came to see Okonkwo. They talked with him and said that the oracle had ordered to kill Ikemefuna. He was taken to the forest and in an instant assassinated with a machete; Okonkwo had to finish him off in order to avoid being thought weak. Nwoye was very sad, so as the rest of the family.

Okonkwo entered on a depression during three days. After that he went to visit his best friend, Obierika. This was due to the wedding of his friend’s daughter. During the visit they also talked about Ikemefuna’s death and Obierika said that he would never have killed his own son, no matter what the oracle wanted.         

During the next days Ezinma got very sick, this worried a lot Ekwefi as well as Okonkwo. In the past every time Ekwefi got pregnant their children died even before giving birth. This happened many times until Ezinma arrived. It was like a miracle for her mother because she had survived. This was why they both had a special relationship. They went and visited the oracle that told them the treatment Ezinma needed, they did what they were told and in fact Ezinma got better.

Afterwards the wedding took place. The Egwugwu spirits appeared and participated during the whole process, they also solved an argument between a man and his in-laws. At the night Ezinma and Ekwefi were having a storytelling when suddenly Chielo arrived and took Ezinma. Both Ekwefi and Okonkwo followed Chielo to see what she was planning. At the end nothing happened and Ezinma was back in the house. At the next morning the wedding festivities continued and many women cooked a lot of food for the event, everyone had a good time.

The next day it was announced that the elder Ezeudu had died. This was big news for the village. Many people attended to the funeral and there was when something terrible happened. Okonkwo’s weapon accidentally shot and hit the dead man’s son. Okonkwo and all his family were obligated to go away for 7 years and also all their goods where burned.  

Chinua, A, (1994), Thing fall apart, 2nd ed, Anchor Books,New York

Things Fall Apart Summary Chapters 1-7

Things Fall Apart centers in Okonkwo, a successful man of an Igbo tribe that has overcome the misfortune of having a lazy father. Do to this Okonkwo has always worked very hard and hates any attitude that relates to his father. He started by asking to Nwakibie, a wealthy man, for some borrowed yam seeds so he could start making his own heritage. He worked with no mistakes and soon he became in a very successful man. Okonkwo has three wives and his first child is Nwoye.  

One member of the tribe was killed by another tribe so they were demanded to give away one young man and a virgin. The young man that arrived as a present was Ikemefuna. At first they didn’t know what to do with him so Okonkwo took care of him. Soon Ikemefuna became part of the family and was considered as a son by Okonkwo. Nwoye admired him, just like an older brother. During all those years they learned how to become men under his father’s watch.

A very special celebration in the tribe is the Week of Peace; this is done before the planting season in order for their earth goddess to provide them with perfect planting conditions for the year. During that week no one can hurt anybody, it is a great crime to do it. When Okonkwo returned home dinner wasn’t ready and this was his second wife’s responsibility so he got very mad and beat her. He had to offer some animals and crops in order to be forgiven. After all the harvest season it came the New Yam Festival. The tradition was to invite your neighbors to eat and celebrate. During the preparations Okonkwo beat Ekwefi, his second wife, again for cutting palm leaves. The next day took place the wrestling event. There were many wrestles between members of two teams, the crowd got very excited at the last battle which was very close.          

Time passed, Nwoye and Ikemefuna were almost men. They spent time with his father and learned everything they needed. This was the process for growing up in the tribe. One day the elders came and whispered something to Okonkwo. Everybody knew it was about Ikemefuna. They had decided he needed to be killed. Ikemefuna was taken to the forest and in an instant assassinated with a machete. Nwoye was very sad, so as the rest of the family.  

African Literature

African literature could be divided by North Africa and Southern Africa do to the different cultural and ethnic influences. The northern part is highly influenced by Europe and Arab countries. While the Southeastern part of Africa,  also called sub Saharan Africa, is more traditional and based only in their original beliefs that include proverbs, songs, chants, rituals, stories, tales and their own religion and culture. There were some performers that went from region to region called griots that narrated myths or important happenings in form of chants or plays. These griots were responsible for getting the people informed of any news. The first African history ever written was "History of the Sudan" by Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi. The major language spoken throughout Africa is the Swahili and the first written work in this language was "Utendi waTambuka" which speaks about Muslim traditions. This works where important because they where the first ones of their type. European countries started to colonized Africa. England, France, Netherlands where some of them. Do to the fear of the native practices their traditions  beliefs, culture and rites where prohibited and the catholic religion was imposed. This contributed to the lost f many important cultural aspects of Africa. Although many years after, the Swahili started to return to their roots, back to Bantu form. The Africans where spread thought the world and they wanted to have a voice. They started the Negritude Movement and started to speak writing important works. Finally the world started to get interested on them. Many excellent novels came out such as "The Dark Child" by Camara Laye, "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe among many others.                  


Holtz, E, 2013, African Literature, Mexcio City.

Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria on November 16, 1930. He was raised in the southeastern part of this country. Since his early studies he started to write stories about African culture. He graduated at the University College in Nigeria. Afterwards he started working at a radio station as the Director of External Broadcasting. Do to the upcoming Biafran War he left his job at the radio station. Achebe began giving lectures at The University of Nigeria and then at The University of Massachusetts and also at The University of Connecticut. He is one of the most, if not the most, recognized African writer. Achebe writes not only novels but also short stories, essays, poetry and children's books. His most famous and recognized title is "Things Fall Apart" which he wrote on 1958. Other Achebe's important novels are "No Longer At Ease", "Arrow of God", "A Man of the People" and "Anthills of the Savanna".He has also won many prizes and awards such as The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize 2010, Man Booker International Award 2007, 1st Living Author presented in the Everyman's Library collection by Alfred A. Knopf 1992, Rockefeller Fellowship 1960, UNESCO Fellowship for Creative Artists 1960, Margaret Wrong Prize, The New Statesman Jock Campbell Prize and The Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In the present Achebe is 82 years old and lives in New York with his family while teaching at the Bard College.  


Brown university (2012), Chinua Achebe, Available from:  http://brown.edu/Departments/Africana_Studies/people/achebe_chinua.html [Accessed: Jan 20, 2013].


Achebe, C, (1959), Things fall apart, Anchor Books, New York.

Importance of Literature

In order to state the importance of literature in education and society development we first need to get a clear idea of what is literature. In my own opinion literature could be defined as words that express ideas in  many different ways but that can be understood. We also have to have in mind that literature has change drastically along time. From the ancient Greeks throw the obscurantism of the Middle Age until the actual variety in literature. 

Obviously literature has affected education in many ways. Without text it would be almost impossible to learn how to speak, read, write and discover things that are taught at school. Literature is the "where" and "how" an important author or anyone that knows about something communicates all his knowledge to us, making us a better and more enlightened society. And that is what literature is all about: communication. It also allows us to save knowledge and therefore this knowledge is remembered. Just imagine how difficult it would be to build a house without all the previous knowledge of the resistance of materials, the way different tools work, the law of gravity, just to mention some. Our society is constructed around literature and our society works through education, so without literature I can assure you that we would have a totally undeveloped world. Every book, every text, every sentence, every word it is literature. Even everything that is found on the internet. Think how valuable all this is, think how would you be without it. Because when we read something, no matter how insignificant, it affects us and it makes us change. This change is also experimented in our society; it can be a big one or probably a small one depending on it's importance.

Literature makes us who we are. Since the very first moment you learned to read and write, and how you improved through your education until now that you interact on a complex society where these skills are essential.

"Books are humanity in print." .- Barbara W. Tuchman