Significance, and Lessons
The story of How the Tortoise Got His Bumpy Shell is included in Things Fall Apart as a story told by Okonkwo's wife Ekwefi to her daughter Enzinma. It is by far the longest folktale included in the novel and it serves as an important teaching point.
The story tells of a sneaky tortoise who uses his cunning to deceive the birds and take an enormous feast for himself. While the characters in the story are not quite human, the lessons that emerge in the tale connect to life in Igbo society. In particular, greed and untruth are emphasized by the author of this folktale. The tortoise embodies these traits and learns an important lesson. As a consequence for tricking the birds, he is tricked equally. The Tortoise represents those who go against the rules of society, and instead do whatever benefits themselves. Greed is seen as a sin in the society. This is show by Achebe when Okonkwo goes to Nwakebie to ask for seeds. Okonkwo knows that he will be granted seeds because it is customary to be generous in the Igbo society. Tortoise is the opposite of Nwakebie, and instead of helping others, helps himself. The story also emphasizes the Igbo love of spoken word. While the Tortoise is cunning, he speaks very well and therefore he is respected by the hosts and the other birds alike. They admire his smooth talk, and articulated speech. His talk may be untruthful, he is able to benefit himself through his use of word. Like Achebe says in the beginning of the novel, "Among the Igbo...proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten." The story also has some significance in its similarity to the way colonizers came into the Igbo villages. Like the Tortoise, they came in greedy and feeling deserving. Through their false promises and brave notions about the future they soon won the trust of the local people. Then, just like in the story, they began to abuse their power. This is shown in Tortoise's single man feast. |