WEATHER AS A SYMBOL IN THINGS FALL APART

His son follows, Okonkwo believes that he could possess the same weak chi as his father and therefore works hard in order not to be regarded as being a failure in society too. When things fail to work, the idea of weak chi acts as an excuse for Okonkwo and he blames it on his father. Always Okonkwo blames any results that are undesirable to the weak chi and fails to take the responsibility of the actions he takes. Drought hits his harvest and he blames it on the bad omen of the chi while when crops do well in the following season he attributes the success on his hard work. Nonetheless, despite his ability to survive due to his determination he is not able to alter his beliefs and traditions and therefore they end up getting destroyed.

This leads to Okonkwo sacrificing himself by committing suicide as a way to save his community and also atone for the various sins he had done in his society. Dramatic Irony The author displays dramatic irony using the weather by using it to express intense emotions and also indicate the human weaknesses. A society which believed in superpowers and often based problems of a single person according to his or her chi, they believed chi was an individual’s personal god and was the one which directed fate of every person. Always, Okonkwo feared his father Unoka and therefore he finds himself being angered easily and also felt this was a threat to his honor and ethics. He feels that weather is constantly at loggerheads with his force and drive to become better in his village of Umuofia.

The community which is set up in pre-colonial period believes in subsistence cultivation levels. Okonkwo interaction with people within this community reveals that his fellow village people who have sophisticated social and economic relations where determination to succeed is gifted. Additionally, it reveals that riches within this community can be stored even when there is constant damage of the crops by the drought and bad weather events. Ambitious community members paying of dowries and buying of land showed societal growth and often this people rewarded the community with village feasts and gifts. Okonkwo’s father is regarded as being poor, of low status and could not even share status with women due to lack of ambition. His wealth can be expressed through his two titles of land, having three wives and still possess bags full of yams.

He is able to survive within the first year after having to borrow seeds in order to plant yams and categorically states that if he could make an harvest that year despite the challenges then he shall be able to survive anything in future. Wealth Nonetheless, weather can simply be taken as adversarial since Okonkwo’s success in agriculture does start to manifest itself when he was young. He was destined to be one of the greatest of all time. He worked hard to go against the weather patterns and overcome the shadow of his father. After the feast there would be great wrestling competition which Okonkwo won and was thought to have been the greatest of all fights. The wrestling came just after the new yam festival indicating how weather influenced the lives of the community.

Additionally, there was the week of peace in which respect for the gods and oracles was done. The people in the community believed that by celebrating the week of peace then these gods would be pleased and therefore end up giving them good weather which was always important for their agricultural activities. Moreover, the author compares the drought to fire which comes to burn the produce of the Umuofia community. The rains control agriculture through growing of yams, the weather controls who the community view as the most important and respected through the wealth and the number of bags they have in store. At the end Okonkwo kills himself rather than fight the colonials who had invaded his land indicating his pride and service he felt was bestowed upon him the people of his community.

He rejected the peace of people of ani even when these people felt they had lost all the convictions. The author states that anyone who had dragged yams throughout his or her life due to the weather frustrations and the cruel earth goddess would never become one of the greatest ancestors that would live with the goddess ever. Okonkwo’s past which he had strongly fought not to overshadow him and the approaching white shadow of the colonialists which was coming resembled both a past and a future that had been swept away. Use of the weather as a symbol is important since it enables the author to show difference between the traditions of the Ibo community and the colonial changes that were approaching. Therefore, it stresses the struggle in form of storms, drought and locusts invasions that would be there between the traditions and the colonial change.

Besides, it shows the emotions of the main character Okonkwo and the whole community at large. Bibliography Chinua, Achebe. Things fall apart.