What is a ‘Bad Chi’? In ‘Things Fall Apart’ who all are the characters who have ‘Bad Chi’?

In “Things Fall Apart” the Umuofian clan believe in a personal god called ‘Chi’. They believe that if a person has a ‘bad Chi’, he experiences misfortune. The opposite doesn’t always hold true, however, for it’s only human nature to claim responsibility for our own personal successes.

There are three main characters in ‘Things Fall Apart’ who have ‘bad Chi’. They are Unoka (Okonkwos’ father), Okonkwo himself and Okonkwos’ second wife Ekwefi.

Unoka is said to have a ‘bad Chi’ or personal god and evil fortune which followed him to the grave, or rather to his death, for he had no grave. In real sense Unoka actually brings about his own misfortune by not working hard.

Okonkwo who was exiled from the clan and disappointed that his son Nwoye had joined forces with the White Missionaries, also blames his ‘Chi’. Clearly, his ‘Chi’ was not made for great things. The saying of the elders was not true that if a man said yes his Chi also affirmed. Here was a man whose Chi said nay (no) despite his own affirmation.

Ekwefi Okonkwo’s second wife is also said to have ‘bad Chi’ because she has given birth to many children, but only one has survived. At the celebration of a new birth, however, others speculate that Ekwefi‘did not blame others for their good fortunes but her own evil ‘Chi’ who denied her any’.