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THE END

The commissioner decides to honor the group’s request, but he leaves and orders his messengers to do the work. As he departs, he congratulates himself for having added to his store of knowledge of African customs. He also contemplates writing these events down in a paragraph or two in his book about Africa. He chooses the title, "The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger."

The District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo's compound to arrest him for his crime. However, he finds Obierka and a group of men who lead him to where Okonkwo has hanged himself. Obierka explains that they can not touch his body to burry him and, in an uncharacteristic temper, blames the men for killing his friend.

Another meeting takes place the morning after leaders return, including men from all nine of the Igbo villages. Calling upon its citizens to decide whether or not they will go to war against their brothers. However, a court messenger orders the meeting to end, but Okonkwo beheads the man.

After beheading the messenger, Okonkwo returns home, certain that his people will decide against going to war against the Europeans. As a result, Okonkwo hands himself, committing his final crime against the Earth.

The leaders are treated poorly and are beaten while remaining in the jail. However, the citizens of Umuofia come together and pay the 250 bags of cowries set for bail, though the real price was 200.

Okonkwo and the five other leaders are invited by the District Commissioner to discuss the recent destruction of the church. Though the men arm themselves with machetes, they are ambushed and sent to jail for the crime.

Reverend Smith replaces Reverend Brown in Umuofia and frees the more zealous converts from the previous restraints. As a result, one of these people, Enoch, unmask an egwugwu during an annual ceremony, therefore killing the spirit. To take revenge, Okonkwo and the other spirits burn down Enoch's compound and the church, though he had hoped for a more violent revenge.

When Okonkwo travels back home to Umuofia, he is disappointed that his return is not as grand as he had hoped. The people have become concerned with the growing power of the Christians and how they have converted many of their brothers. Okonkwo despairs over this disunity of the clan and how they are no longer the fierce warriors he had remembered.

Okonkwo and the elders of Mbanta debate about how to solve the problem with the Europeans. While the elders support the idea of ostracizing the Christians, Okonkwo wants to drive the men away. However, the majority agree with the elders and Okonkwo becomes frustrated with how feminine the village is unlike Umuofia.

Near the end of his exile, Okonkwo hosts a grand feast in order to thank his mother's kinsmen for their kindness. However, he still regrets not spending the past seven years in Umuofia where he recognizes that he would have prospered greatly.

In Mbanta, Okonkwo's motherland, he and his family are greeted by his uncle, Uchendu. Though his cousins and uncle show the greatest kindness to their guests Okonkwo continues to be upset over his exile. Uchendu finally decided to lecture his nephew about "Mother Supreme" and how he would be committing a great sin if he does not let his motherland comfort him.

Obierka visits Okonkwo two years into his exile and he soon discovers that Nwoye is following the missionaries. He confronts his son about the problem but Uchendu prevents him from harming Nwoye any further. As a result, Okonkwo disowns his son who eventually travels to Umuru to attend a training college for teachers. He is greatly troubled at these change in events and wonders how Nwoye could possibly be his son.

Okonkwo learns that the old man, Ezeudu, has died and recognizes him as the man that told him not to participate in Ikemefuna's murder. For the funeral of a great warrior, guns are fired, but Okonkwo's exploded and a piece of the iron pierced a boy's heart and killed him. The young man was Ezeudu's 16 year old son, and as punishment, Okonkwo and his family were sentenced to seven years of exile.

Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, arrives in the middle of the night, and suddenly abducts Ezinma. Okonkwo, once again showing affection towards his favorite child, follows them to see the Oracle and waits by the mouth of the cave to ensure Ezinma's safety.

Since he is a highly respected man, Okonkwo is given the honor of being a masquerader who impersonates the ancestral spirit of his village, otherwise known as an "egwugwu". During this event, he and nine other egwugwus participate in a series of court like trials as judges.

Three days after Ikemefuna's murder, Ezinma contracts a fatal fever. Okonkwo openly reveals his compassion and love for his favorite child by collecting medical plants and shrubs that he later uses to treat Ezinma.

During the cold harmattan season after the harvest had been gathered, the locusts, which had not come for many years, arrived. At the same time the elders from the nine villages of Umufoia came to Okonkwo to tell him that the Oracle has called upon Ikemefuna's death. Though he was advised not to participate in the murder, Okonkwo ends up killing Ikemefuna. For many days he is weighed down with guilt.

Before the next harvest began, the Feast of the New Yam was celebrated during which the yams of the new harvest were first offered to the earth goddess and tribal spirits of the clan and the old ones were disposed of. A few days before the new year, Okonkwo threatens his second wife, Ekwefi, with a gun.

Things Fall Apart Timeline

Jake Graves

Shortly after Ikemefuna arrives, Okonkwo commits his first crime by beating his third wife, Ojiugo, during the Week of Peace. He was punished by the the priest of the Earth goddess, Ezeani, and makes a ritual sacrifice to correct his wrongdoing.

Three years ago, a woman from Umuofia went to a market and Mbaino and was murdered. When an ultimatum was dispatched, Mbaino chose to sacrifice a young man and a virgin as compensation to avoid war. The boy was named Ikemefuna and was given to Okonkwo to look after on behalf of the clan. So for three years, Ikemefuna lived in Okonkwo's household.

Okonkwo visits Nwakibie, a wealthy man in his village, to ask for seed-yams so he could begin his life as a successful farmer. Nwakibie grants his request and although the year's harsh weather resulted in a poor harvest, Okonkwo's determination and hardwork help him to survive and eventually achieve a successful crop.

Twenty years ago, Okonkwo, at 18 years old, defeated Amalinze, an undefeated champion in a wrestling match, bringing fame and posterity upon himself and his family. He had grown up resenting the lazy work ethic of his father, Unoka.

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