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Colonialism is when a country sends its people to go live and build in a new land to claim it for that country. The Igbo were a group of people who lived in the country of Nigeria before the Europeans came to make Africa their own. Things Falls Apart, by Chinua Achebe, is set in the Igbo village of Umuofia. When white Europeans come to their land and claim it for themselves, their ways of life change drastically. When the Europeans arrived, they brought their own religion that some of the Igbo converted to, and they made the feared Igbo warriors no longer want to go to war. In the beginning, the people of Umuofia were strong warriors who were feared by the villages that neighbored them because of their prowess in battle. “And so the neighboring clans who naturally knew of these things feared Umuofia, and would not go to war against it without first trying a peaceful settlement” (12). The other villages that neighbored Umuofia feared their strength because they were …show more content…
“The missionaries had come to Umuofia. They had built their church there, won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages” (143). When the Europeans arrived, they spoke of their own religion and convinced some Igbo to convert to their religion. In the end, Umuofia was no longer the strong and warlike village that it had been. “He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape. They had broken into tumult instead of action. He discerned fright in that tumult. He heard voices asking: ‘Why did he do it?’” (205). When Okonkwo killed a messenger who told the people of Umuofia to stop their meeting about whether or not they should go to war against the white men, the people of Umuofia did not help him, not wishing to go to war to protect their way of
Although, he expected his clansmen to be sympathetic to his cause and stand by his side, but the very fact that nobody spoke a word when Okonkwo struck down the messenger was enough for him to understand that no longer are these people with him or as passionate as him to overthrow the British rule and no longer was this place his ‘home’. “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war.
The first half of the novel develops customs, religious beliefs, and governmental systems of a functional society and presents the Umuofians’ open-minded views to readers. Obierika’s brother reveals an enlightened, nonpartisan view of a neighboring village’s disparate customs when he says that “what is good in one place is bad in another place” (Achebe 74). Despite lack of exposure to Western culture, the Umuofians already exhibit nondiscriminatory beliefs and a level of tolerance that Europeans historically struggled to achieve. Umuofians also do not engage in war unless they have valid reasons to do so, which is evident in the beginning of the novel when “[Ikemefuna] was sacrificed to the village of Umuofia… to avoid war and bloodshed” and continues through the end when one of the Umuofian leaders declares that “it is not [their] custom to fight for [their] gods” (Achebe 8, 158). In this way, the Western perspective is culpable of hypocrisy since it debases the African culture that avoids war, calling it “primitive,” but they themselves have historically engaged in unjust wars. Additionally, Umuofian religion stems from logic since it is based off
The men that come to Umuofia destroy the cultural balance of faith and religion that encompasses the native people in Africa. People in Umuofia depend strongly on the ancestors and gods in their culture. It is their tradition and their beginning, from which they govern their lives. Even the priestess that serves the god Agbala, "...was full of the power of her god, and she was greatly feared" (16). Without the stronghold of customs and traditions, only chaos exists. Peace, trust, and knowledge are thrown off when the new religion of Christianity is introduced. When the missionary explains that:
Okonkwo is a vicious man, which is shown when he kills the messenger at the Igbo’s meeting. He absolutely hates his son Nwoye for joining the European church. Okonkwo ultimately fails when he comes back to Umuofia and no one supports him in rebelling against the Europeans. I. Okonkwo failed when he could not get anyone to rebel with him. A. European’s had started to take over.
Throughout the chapter 19-25 Achebe presents a common theme of having a hard time accepting change. When the white missionaries come in and express their beliefs and new ideas the Umuofia community has a hard time accepting change. Some, like Nwoye, are comfortable with the idea but others, like Okonkwo, think it is absurd and spend their time trying to get rid of the white missionaries. When Okonkwo killed one of the white messengers the people of Umuofia let the other one go. That is when Okonkwo had realized “that Umuofia would not go to war” (205). Okonkwo remorses the days “when men were men” and would do anything to win a fight (200).
We see evidence from this when the story says.”he was not afraid of war. He was a man of action, a man of war. Unlike his father, he could stand the look of blood. In Umuofia’s latest war he was the first to bring home a human head(chapter 2).”This evidence supports my claim because it shows that unlike his father, he was not afraid of violence and he was a man of war and this was well respected in
(Achebe 205). Okonkwo killing the messenger and getting the wrong reaction showed him who the people of Umuofia were for and against. Achebe foreshadows Okonkwo’s suicide by having him walk away from the people. At this point Okonkwo felt he was fighting a battle on his own. Okonkwo's decision to commit suicide is not primarily based off of him killing the messenger, but because of the change that occurred in Umuofia during his exile and the effect it had on him once he returned.
That is a wise action.” (Ch.18/Pg.139). Umuofia’s society overtime had incoherently became cowardly. The white man’s actions were very unpredictable, that many of the members wished to avoid such aggressive confrontation. As much as Umuofia feared exile, they did not fail to understand their belief.
At this point, the two distinct forces in Umuofia are represented: Nwoye supporting societal changes and Okonkwo resisting any change. When the Europeans arrive in the name of Christianity, Nwoye is more than willing to abandon his tribal identity. Now Isaac, Nwoye no longer associates with Igbo, but the “strangers” and their values, culture, and
Umuofia is within the Igbo tribe, a acephalous political system, which is apart of the niger-congo language group located in southeast Nigeria. In the novel neighboring villages feared Umuofia because of its power in war and magic. A old woman with one leg or ‘Agadi-Nwayi’ within the village provided a source of medicine of war. The Igbo people relied on foraging, and cultivation for food as they live in a region where the climate is especially dry but access to the niger river enables them to grow crops such as coco- yams, beans and cassava. Polygamy where there more than one spouse invested into the marriage, is present within the society also accompanied with a patriarchal ruling where the men are leading the community.
He wanted him to be a prosperous man, having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices.” (p- 23) Nwoye on the other hand represents the generation who welcomed change. Nwoye and others like him were not fond of the traditional lifestyle of the Umuofians. They did not want to work hard in the fields all their lives; they refused to struggle to garner a “title” like their ancestors used to do. Therefore, they were easily convinced by the Christian missionaries to join them to their community.
The colonization of Africa by Europeans was characterized by the abuse of Africans and the destruction of their culture, all which was rationalised by the prevailing belief that Africans were inferior beings. Chinua Achebe, a twentieth century Nigerian novelist and the author of Things Fall Apart fiercely rejects this notion. Things Fall Apart follows an Ibo man and his family through their lives prior to and immediately after European arrival, but it is not their interactions with Europeans, but their daily interactions and struggles that are most important. This is because, despite their supposedly irreconcilable differences, Achebe’s Ibo characters are driven by the same forces as Westerners, and this is how Chinua Achebe uses universally relatable characters to humanize Africa to the West. Okonkwo’s son Nwoye is a gentle soul who does not fit in with his father’s ideals
Umuofia's government is very messed up. They call themselves the Oracle and when they pronounce something, it happens. In chapter seven of the book, they kill ikemefuna and Ogbuefi Ezeudu comes to Okonkwo’s hut to warn him of what they oracle said. He stated, “ Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him” ( Achebe, 1959, pg. 57). Everyone must follow what the oracle says so, Okonkwo and many other men had to take Ikemefuna to the
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: