African Trilogy

 

Big Book Challenge: The African Trilogy by Chinua Achebe 562 pp.

Things Fall Apart: This book takes place in the late 1800s in the southeastern region of what is now Nigeria. The main character, Okonkwo, is a powerful leader of his Igbo clan. He worked hard to create a new life after having a weak and lazy father who left him no inheritance. After the death of a young man by Okonkwo's hand, things begin to go wrong. The arrival of Christian missionaries to the area creates further conflict as the missionaries lure the people away from their traditional beliefs. As problems among the people escalate Okonkwo realizes that the society he once knew was lost. He commits suicide which is against the indigenous beliefs, leaving the white Christians to deal with his body. The parting shot by the colonizers was the comment that this story will make a nice paragraph in the book he is writing about area.

Arrow of God: This novel takes place in colonial Nigeria in the 1920s. It concerns Ezeulu, the chief priest of the god Ulu who is worshipped by several Igbo villages. Ezeulu comes in conflict with the white, Christian colonizers who want him to abandon his beliefs and lead the villagers toward believing in Christianity. After being imprisoned by the colonizers for failure to cooperate, Ezeulu returns home to wait for guidance from Ulu. Following the death of his son, the people begin to turn away from Ezeulu because he will not allow the yam harvest because he has received the message from Ulu. The missionary steps in and urges the people to have their harvest and dedicate it to the Christian god. It's a further progression in the move to control by the white missionaries. This book struck a nerve in me because of the attitude that non-Christian beliefs should be wiped out. But I think this was the best one of the three.

No Longer at Ease: This installment centers on Obi Okonkwo, grandson of the protagonist in the first book and takes place in the late 1950s prior to Nigerian independence. It begins with Obi standing trial for bribery and then flashes back to the events leading up to the trial. Obi was sent to England to attend college with a grant from the local Union of villagers who have settled in the city of Lagos. When Obi returns he has a job with the agency that gives scholarships for study in England to the local young people. He soon learns that his salary isn't quite enough to live in the style expected of him while paying back his college loan, paying rent, and car expenses. However, he refuses bribes he is offered by those wanting scholarships. Obi begins a romance with a young woman named Clara who is considered an outcast by the Igbo and wants to marry her. However, the objections of his parents conflicts with his plans. Things get worse when Clara gets pregnant and Obi must find the money for an abortion. Clara leaves him afterward. When Obi's mother dies he choses to use the money he would need for travel to the funeral to help fund the funeral expenses and doesn't attend. At this point he decides that the only way for him to make it in the city is to become one of the officials who accepts bribes. He gets caught which results in him being tried.