In the late nineteenth century an unknowing and pure style of life was torn to pieces by the corrupt and power hunger dictatorship known as Christianity. In Nigeria a tribe called the Igbo lived a simple life that will soon be torn apart from the impurities of the Europeans. The Igbo live a life of simple trade and democracy, brutal wars, and a strong belief in their religion. To this tribe many people had the aspect of that the Igbo are capable of doing anything as long as the their gods favor their side, however they were wrong. During the entirety of Chinua Achebe's Historical Fiction 'Things Fall Apart' his excellent use of longevity and specific details and events to describe the tribe's purity and happiness to their religion before the …show more content…
Many festivals in the Igbo tribe had the initiative of bringing happiness to tribes of the Igbo but end up being disrupted by the nature of human instincts. The celebratory festival of New Yam was brought upon the tribe to have a well turning of a new leaf, and a happy one as well. "The Feast of the New Yam was approaching and Umofia was in a festival mood. It was an occasion for giving thanks to Ani, the earth goddess and the source of all fertility. Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct." This feast was very respectful towards the goddess of Ani, and brings happiness to the tribe in a spirtual way. War is a common topic during 'Things Fall Apart,' to Okonkwo and many others, violence and fighting, this warlike thinking, brings happiness to them. Killing the white man without at least speaking to him is a prime example. A festival to encourage this behavior/ideal is the wrestling fair at the beginning which puts men to prove themselves and bring joy to heathens of violence. "As the day wore on his in-laws arrived from three surrounding villages, and each party brought with them a huge pot of palm-wine. And there was eating and drinking till night, when Okonkwo's in-laws began to leave for their homes The second day of the new year was the day …show more content…
Later on in the novel when the European missionaries were invading and setting their footprint into the foundation of the Igbo, they tried to have their gods punish them by having the Europeans to be tricked into a false sense of security. "They asked for a plot of land to build on, An evil forest was where the clan buried all those who died of the really evil diseases, like leprosy and smallpox." This reason of giving them the evil forest is to have these evil and forgotten beasts to come and ravage on them. However a curses comes from the corrupted, these missionaries were merely an addition. "An evil forest was, therefore, alive with sinister forces and powers of darkness. It was such a forest that, the rulers of Mbanta gave to the missionaries." (Achebe 114) Corruption won't hurt the corrupt, as the Igbo will find out later on, when the missionaries start to prosper when they have a base of oparation and this is when there carbon footprint begins. An addition to this evil forest is barely any addition compared to this. The incoherence of corrupt judgment of the tribesmen done by the church is an excellent show of corruption given to the tribe. "But apart from the church, the white men had also brought a government. They had
Most of the Igbo people try to have the most domains that they can get so they will beat people to show their domains to the other that live in the Igbo society.“Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for fear of at god”(Achebe,1994,p.30). Okonkwo beats his wife to show that he is the dominants between his other wives and the others of the tribe. But the point of the beating that Okonkwo did was to enforce his hierarchy and importance in his society and to the elder’s.Next the village in the Igbo society thing that masculinity is important, but that leads to unfairness in the government system.
The Christians were very disrespectful and inconsiderate of the Ibo, eventually causing the Ibo to retaliate angrily. After so many instances of the Christians disrespecting the Ibo religion and having no regard for their customs, the Ibo decide to serve an ultimatum. In spite of being given another chance, the missionaries still decide to remain in the Ibo village, therefore the Ibo burn down their church because they believed it brought evil to the area. Naturally the missionaries interpret their actions as savagery instead of a method of protecting the tribe and they base their judgements of the Ibo solely on their personal views, instead of looking at the situation from all perspectives. The Christian justice system is almost the exact opposite of the Ibo justice system, the Christians did not appeal to the Ibo at all, and only benefits the more preferred
One such holiday is he the Week of Peace. THe holiday is described as being performed before the planting season, in order to please the earth goddess, Achebe noted “No work was done during the Week of Peace. People called on their neighbors and drank palm-wine.” (page 31) The holiday, like most modern day holidays, is heavily based on the culture’s religious ties. The government - or council - enforces the festivals with a passion as the celebration is not just any run of the mill event, it is their life. Another example of celebrated traditions is the annual wrestling competitions between Umuofia and it’s neighbors. Intended as a way for young men to demonstrate their strength, wrestling is very important to many Igbo citizens. All the clansmen gather in to witness the sport. The event is glamorous and heart pounding, described as “The drummers took up their sticks and the air shivered and grew tense like a tightened bow. The two teams were ranged facing each other across the clear space. A young man from one team danced across the center to the other side and pointed at whomever he wanted to fight. They danced back to the center together and then closed in.” (page 49) A day of dance, sports, and music that brings the communities closer together. A way for two separate lands to meet and compete for pride. The importance of this event for the Umuofia government cannot be
In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, the protagonist Okonkwo struggles between tribal tradition, his internal conflicts with his own beliefs, and the arrival of European missionaries to Africa. Okonkwo’s own perspective is limited to a heavily masculine praising mindset, driving him to be rash and violent at times, but his own tribe has a variety of traditions and personalities. Immediately, Okonkwo sees these missionaries as a threat to his place in society, their beliefs are frowned upon by most of the tribes and people of power. Missionaries see African tribes as animalistic and primitive. Okonkwo’s perspective was valid considering all the damage missionaries would eventually cause in the long run. A loss of culture and the
A reason behind this might be because it may be seen as man's crop. Tell by what it says in the book that” His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women’s crops, like coco-yams, beans and cassava. Yam, the king of crops, was a man’s crop.” (Chapter 3 Page 23) Restating that the igbo society is gendered, even crops like yam.. Yams plays a huge role in the Igbo diet, is considered as a man’s crop. It allows men in the tribe to maintain the position as the primary providers for their families, and the respect which that role
Religious accusations which serve as catalysts for conflict help to develop an accurate portrayal of imperialism and Ibo culture. In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries assertively state “Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm” (Achebe 146). This quotation shows the imperialists accusing the gods the Ibo people believe in and worship of being false gods that are idols. These gods cannot harm them and do not pose any threats. Also, in Achebe’s interview, “An African Voice,” he says “You have leaders who see nothing wrong in inciting religious conflict. It’s all simply to retain power” (Achebe, pars. 9-10). Achebe says that it’s all about staying in control and sustaining (political) power. He additionally implies that there are leaders who see nothing (morally) wrong ...
She serves as a mother figure. Anyanwu helps the crops and trees grow, which is especially important to the men who have crops. Igwe is the god that is responsible for the rain, which is also important to the crop-growing Igbo men. These are only a few of the gods the Igbo people worship. Igbo people are considered to be polytheistic because the worship many minor gods.
Firstly, the church disproves many of the Igbo superstitions ,which encourages the Igbo to break the traditions that they had followed for many years. Therefore, slowly destroying their society. For instance, when the white men who brought Christianity to the people of Umuofia speak to the clan of the village about their new religion. They request a piece of land to build their church on. The clan decides to give them a piece of land of the Evil forest and let them stay. To the clans surprise this happens ”At last the day came by which all the missionaries should have died. But they were still alive, building a new red-earth and thatch house for their teacher, Mr. Kiaga. That week they won a handful more converts.(151)”. The Evil Forest was known as a forest where people go to die, and the clan members thought that by allowing the missionaries to build their church in the evil Forest they could easily get rid of them. Since, the white men didn’t die but lived, this made the Ibo people question their own beliefs. When some of the villagers noticed that they were mislead by their gods they decide to convert to Christianity. Either because Christianity seemed stronger than the ...
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart is a powerful novel about the social changes that occurred when the white man first arrived on the African continent. The novel is based on a conception of humans as self-reflexive beings and a definition of culture as a set of control mechanisms. Things Fall Apart is the story of Okonkwo, an elder, in the Igbo tribe. He is a fairly successful man who earned the respect of the tribal elders. The story of Okonkwo’s fall from a respected member of the tribe to an outcast who dies in disgrace graphically dramatizes the struggle between the altruistic values of Christianity and the lust for power that motivated European colonialism in Africa and undermined the indigenous culture of a nation.
Also, as many of the natives ran to the new Christian faith, many family bonds were broken. Before colonialism took place, family was an important thing in the Igbo society. It was not often that a man would give his son away for any reason, but because of the English coming in and teaching a new faith, many families were forced to give up their sons, daughters, and even some men were forced to give up their wives. The new religion also affected the way certain customs took place in the Igbo society. An example would be when one of the newly converted Christians killed the highly honored snake.
Although establishing schools appears to be a good influence, Achebe shows how schools strip a society of its culture. Mr. Brown, the first white missionary in Umuofia, builds a school for the children. He convinces parents to send their children to school by arguing, “If Umuofia failed to send her children to the school, strangers would come from other places to rule them” (156). Mr. Brown’s ironic reasoning displays the negative result of religion. If the Christian missionaries did not intrude in the first place, there would be no need to protect Ibo people from more intruders trying to interfere with their culture. A similar type of irony is mentioned when Mr. Brown’s school start to become popular. The people begin to think, “Mr. Brown’s school produced quick results. A few months in it were enough to make one a court messenger or even a court clerk” (156). Prior to the missionaries’ arrival, Ibo society had no need for schools to give better jobs. When the missionaries bring their government to Umuofia, schools trick people into falling for the new system and forgetting about their old social structure and culture. Achebe uses these ironic occurrences to display how religion may seemingly positively influence a society, but in reality pillages the Ibo people’s original culture.
When the missionaries arrived in Mbanta, the mother land of Okonkwo, they did not achieve their goal of convincing people at the first time. They talked about the new and only God and tried to persuade the Igbo that they had been worshipping the false Gods of wood and stone (145), but the Igbo only thought that they were mad, some even went away while the missionaries were speaking. However, the strangeness of those missionaries and the new religion somehow attracted the Igbo:
Through most of the novel, Okonkwo, his family, and the villagers all experience this struggle. As the missionaries continue to live in the Evil Forest, they repeatedly gain village converts as a result of the Igbo beliefs constantly being proven inaccurate. Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye converts because of confusion in what his people believe, and Okonkwo changes drastically as a person because of the missionaries’ arrival and actions. There are many themes evident throughout Things Fall Apart, but one of the most prominent is the struggle between change and tradition, in the sense that some people change, but others don’t; that clearly takes a toll on
Due to the fact that there is some truth to everything said in the novel it makes the events in the novel more believable. As said in the novel, “There is no story that is not true" (130), and that wrings true with Things Fall Apart especially due to how many things that happen in the novel is based on truth. Achebe 's account of the effects of colonialism on a society is enhanced by the fact that he bases many events on things that actually happened. Achebe shows that although evangelists came with the intention of saving the Igbo people, they ultimately did more harm than
Western thought perceives African culture and religion as customs and superstitions rather than just an alternative form of culture and religion. Calling them superstitions is not merely using alternative vocabulary, but is a conscious degradation of the practices. In Things Fall Apart, the religious practices of Okonkwo 's tribe are taken very seriously and the white man 's religion is described as crazy and their god as merely a fetish. However, the villagers do not fail to notice that "the white man 's fetish had unbelievable power" when the men who built a church within the evil forest failed to die as they should have (149). Rather than dismissing the European religion because of its difference, the locals noted its power even though they did not understand how it worked. After conflict with the new church, the village "decided to ostracize the Christians" (159). The new converts were pushed outside of the community because they had become involved with the strange, foreign superstitions and customs. Through the tribe 's relation with the new church, Achebe reversed the roles that African and European religion had played in previously existing