Views of Chinua Achebe and Kar

It would be inaccurate to claim that the Igbo society of Things Fall Apart is no different from a western society in its representation of capitalism. But that’s because the Igbo culture does not represent capitalism as we may think of it. There are no factories in turn-of-the-century Africa, but there are similarities between a capitalist society and the Igbo society. For example, they both emphasize the importance of strength and competition amongst individuals. In Igbo culture competition is presented more as a game than a business. The opening pages of the novel explain Okonkwo’s notoriety to his village. “As a young man of eighteen he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze the Cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten”. On page eight, at the end of the first chapter, Achebe w

Karl Marx contends that a capitalist society controls the behavior of those who live in it by promoting those values that benefit it, that justify the exploitation of the working class. In a similar way, the Igbo society controls the behavior of its people, by use of the values and virtues of its culture, as a kind of subtle propaganda. This practice alienates the individuals from the societies they live in. An example of this can be seen when Okonkwo grieves over his involvement in Ikemefuna’s death. Okonkwo is betrayed by those values he seeks to uphold, and is torn between his humanity and his community. What has the Igbo society to gain from the control of its memebers? This is where Marxist theory must end. The Igbo have no exploited working class to keep in chains, at least none that Achebe mentions. In ruling the behavior of their people, the culture is protecting tradition. While capitalist societies are forever improving the instruments of production, tribal societies try to maintain a particular way of life that distinguishes them from other cultures. But in the case of the Igbo, the virtue of strength became a liability. Ikemefuna had been a strong role model for Okonkwo’s other son, Nwoye, and when he was killed, Nwoye broke further away from his father and his culture. Later in the story he would become one who converts to Christianity after the British arrive. Nwoye himself is not to be blamed for his conversion. Instead, it is his father’s determination to seem strong in the eyes of others that leads to Nwoye’s betrayal. Strength backfires and ironically makes them more vulnerable. This is not unlike Marx’s prediction that capitalism’s emphasis on competition will eventually lead to its own demise.

Marxism, as an economic theory, is also concerned with capital. In Igbo culture capital was not measured in dollars but in yams and cowries. Material possessions as

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