Importance of Music

Music has a large importance in the novel. As seen many times in the novel, knowledge is often exchanged through melodious music and simple folksongs and these songs are handed down from generation to generation. Also, when the villages gather in the market place, drums are beaten to begin certain festivities, whether it be a wedding or an important meeting. The beat and rhythm keep flowing within Okonkwo and the people of the village, which can relate to the rhythm of life, changing throughout its path, but continuing nonetheless. Lastly, the events that occur in Okonkwo's life in the novel can mirror a song that has different sections that evoke emotions of happiness, disappointment or sorrow, and the end of the novel represents the end of Okonkwo's beat and rhythm within him, much like the ending of a song.