Things Fall Apart Character Assignment: Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith is a minor character in the novel, he only comes in towards the end of the novel, he’s used to compliment other characters and stimulate the plot.

His character is flat, which means he only has one kind of personality trait, he is very strict and uncompromising, which is the exact opposite of Mr. Brown, who’s place he took as reverend for the Christian church. His personality and actions remain constant throughout the entire novel.

Value’s Profile: First ranking, as most valuable to Mr. Smith is his Religious faith, as portrayed on page 136 he states, “our strength lies in the lord”. Furthermore, as seen throughout the entire novel, the most important thing to him is religion and god.

Second ranking would be his Morality, his own morality is set based on his own beliefs and he is not open to anyone else’s morals, this is verified within the novel when a woman who follows the ojbanje child ritual is suspended from the Christian church for following an Igbo culture tradition. This proves that Mr. Smith is extremely intolerant to the woman’s traditions and is very strict about his people trailing his specific morals.

The third highest ranking would have to be power, as Mr. Smiths character, as a colonizer is constantly trying to get everyone on his side, as shown when he demands that all Igbo clansmen to convert to Christianity.

Mr. Smith’s purpose in the novel is rather important, as we know; Mr. Smith took Mr. Brown’s place when Mr. Brown had to return to his hometown to receive medical treatment. Mr. Brown was not a bad reverend, he found a way to co-exist with the Igbo people, whereas Mr. Smith is extremely strict and forceful, his purpose is to represent the negative colonial rulers. His role is to provoke Okonkwo and push him over the edge. Mr. Smith’s actions and decisions lead Okonkwo to be overwhelmed with the colonization and hang himself.

Throughout our understanding of Chinua Achebe, we see that Mr. Smith in this novel symbolizes the European writers who inspired Achebe to being writing the novel in the first place. As we know from Achebe’s background the reason he began writing was because in university he read and looked at many European writers talk about the colonization, and the way they portrayed his culture angered him which encouraged him to write his own version of the colonization. Knowing this we believe that Mr. Smith’s character in the novel symbolizes the European writers who spoke negatively about the colonization, just as the writers portrayed the Igbo people and negatively and were resistant to hearing their side of the story, Mr. Smith acts the same way in the novel, he denies the Igbo traditions and is not open to hearing them out or cooperating.