FATHERHOOD AND ACHEBE’S RESPONSE BY NOEL ONYEULO OGADIMMA

FATHERHOOD AND ACHEBE’S RESPONSE 
By: Noel Onyeulo Ogadimma

The killing of Ikemefuna remains the most scandalous and agonizing episode in Chinua Achebe’s classic- ‘Things Fall Apart’. It is an event too pitiful and outrageous to endure at least by all who value sound conscience and prudent judgment. If not for anything, the circumstances surrounding the event make it even more heinous and invite our moral evaluation more intensely on the concept of fatherhood.

We recall in Chapter 2 of that memorable novel “Things Fall Apart”, how Achebe told us that when the wife of Ogbuefi Udo has been killed in a war between Umuofia and Mbaino, the people of Mbaino offered a fifteen years old lad and young virgin as compensation to Umuofia people. They were brought to Umofia by Okonkwo whom Achebe described as “the proud and imperial emissary of war”. The virgin was the replacement of the dead wife of Ogbuefi Udo and the young lad was the sacrifice for the murder. Okonkwo was given the responsibility to look after the young lad named Ikemefuna. He took care of him just like his own son. Until the killing, Ikemefuna believed Okonkwo as his biological father and calls him- Father.

Achebe plotted the story in tragedy when he began by telling us in chapter 7 of the novel, that “For three years Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo’s household and the elders of Umofia seemed to have forgotten about him”. By this, he situated a kind of paternal affinity rearing almost perfectly between Okonkwo and Ikemuefuna. In this same chapter, Achebe also narrated the intimacy between Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye and Ikemuefuna saying “Okonkwo was inwardly pleased at his son’s development, and he knew it was due to Ikemefuna”. But Okonkwo knew Ikemefuna was a sacrifice because the tradition of the society was blood for blood oriented and everybody knows that. So, when Ogbuefi Ezudu an elder of moral repute in Umuofia who understands its values and traditions and the habits of the gods came with the news of the sacrifice of Ikemefuna he warns Okonkwo twice saying: "That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death." Achebe stated that “Okonkwo was surprised, and was about to say some things when the old man continued: "Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and Caves has pronounced it. They will take him there. But I want [you] to have nothing to do with it. He calls you father". Tragically, Okonkwo did not give it a second thought. He accompanied Ikemefuna till the killing took place. At the scene of the killing, Achebe presented that “as the man who has cleared his throat drew up and raised his matchet, Okonkwo looked away. He heard the blow. The pot fell and broke in the sand. He heard Ikemefuna cried ‘My father they have killed me!’ as he ran towards him. Dazed with fear, Okonkwo drew his matchet and cut him down. He was afraid of being thought weak”. However, the deed has been done! Okonkwo has participated in the ceremony for sacrificing Ikemefuna after being strongly warned by the gods. He delivered the death blow that surrendered Ikemefuna into the cold hands of death because he is "afraid of being thought weak”. At a deep emotional level, Okonkwo killed a boy who "could hardly imagine that Okonkwo was not his real father". Okonkwo has not only outwardly ignored his people and their traditions, but he has also disregarded his inner feelings of love and protectiveness over a boy he reared as his own son. The murder scene marks the beginning of Okonkwo’s decline and a turning point in the novel because Okonkwo, the Hero has offended the gods of the land. He is now moving from Hero to Zero. No wonder some scholars represent Okonkwo as “The tragic Hero”.

The effects and nuances surrounding the murder of Ikemefuna could easily be examined over a careful insight into the novel. However, one can also observe Achebe’s feeling when he commented in Chapter 2, that the fate of Ikemefuna is a "sad story" that is "still told in Umuofia unto this day." This observation suggests that the decision to kill Ikemefuna was not a customary one but a decision too exceptional to be justified. However, the murder scene develops a compassion for that young boy because even before dying, Ikemefuna thinks of Okonkwo as his "real father" and of what he wants to tell his mother, especially about Okonkwo. At the murder scene also, Achebe told us that, when one of the elders gave Ikemefuna a matchet blow, he quickly ran to Okonkwo shouting “My father, they have killed me”, yet that did not spurned Okonkwo into remembering neither the warning from the gods nor the fact that a voice intimate and familial to him is dying in pains, yet he Okonkwo out of pride and “afraid of being thought weak” gave the last blow that killed Ikemefuna. A question arose here: Why is Okonkwo afraid of being thought weak? The answer not being far-fetched is given by Achebe in Chapter 2 of that Novel when he describes Okonkwo as “the proud and imperial emissary of war”. By this, he points out the place of pride in Okonkwo’s personality. Hence, Okonkwo harbors a vice that could make him kill in other to protect his ego. Succinctly, that vice is pride! We can see from his actions that pride made him daft even when Ikemefuna ran to him for protection.

Most importantly, the story of Ikemefuna and Okonkwo is plotted to instruct us that the concept of fatherhood rests upon all who have responsibility of care over others. For Ikemefuna rests under Okonkwo’s custody and calls him father, suggests that Achebe wants to underscore the providence behind the responsibility of care over others. For Ikemefuna rests under Okonkwo's custody and calls him father suggests that Achebe wants to underscore the providence behind the responsibility of care over others as that which has less to do with biological affinity. Following Achebe, we can infer that the responsibility of care over others has as its most dangerous threats; pride and the fear of not being thought weak: for these ruined Okonkwo’s inner feeling of love and protectiveness. Thus, with the absence of that inner feeling of love and protectiveness, impunity takes over. Put it this way, Okonkwo’s majesty ended in a tragedy due to pride and fear of not being thought weak. Finally, Achebe chooses to warn the human family of these threats because they remain the most dangerous threats capable of blocking the sense organs and shattering the might of princes just as in Okonkwo's case. Thus, with the presence of these two threats Okonkwo remains a tragic hero.