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Igbo socio cultural world with reference to things falling apart
Igbo socio cultural world with reference to things falling apart
Reasonl of igbo culture downfall in things fall apart
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Things Fall Apart was written from an African perspective about Africa to show the world a more clear perspective on Igbo culture than what had been written by European colonizers. The ways in which characters think and act in their cultural environment shows the complexities of their culture. Africans were not simpletons banging rocks and sticks together like many racist colonizers would like to portray them. They had their own society based off of complex religion, familial ties of kinship, and gender roles. Their interactions with white missionaries shows they were not savages all wanting blood, but a peaceful people that when pushed and feel their way of life threatened fight back. The savages in Africa were the people like James Smith in the story who refused to open their eyes to other people’s way of life and accepting that their way of life is their choice. Using the book as a way to see a portion of African culture, instead of just …show more content…
The stories the Igbo people told defined life as they knew it and gave them answers to things that related to them in their physical location and their cultural setting. The story of the tricky tortoise and how his shell received lines instead of being smooth gave a reason for an everyday reality in the Igbo life. Mr. Brown was a good and understanding missionary who wanted to help the people. He brought them his faith, but also knew that without learning English and how to read and write the people whom he wanted to help would be swept away by the power of Europe. This is why he encourages them to go to school. He wants to arm them with the knowledge they will need to survive in the events that are yet to come. However, by encouraging them to learn a written language it is also taking away from the importance of the Igbo oral traditions which is seen by Okonkwo and others as a threat to their very way of
Set in Africa in the 1890s, Chinua Achebe's ‘Things Fall Apart’ is about the tragedy of Okonkwo during the time Christian missionaries arrived and polluted the culture and traditions of many African tribes. Okonkwo is a self-made man who values culture, tradition, and, above all else, masculinity. Okonkwo’s attachment to the Igbo culture and tradition, and his own extreme emphasis on manliness, is the cause of his fall from grace and eventual death.
For instance, the story that Ekwefi tells to all of Okonkwo’s children is about a tortoise manipulating birds to get food from their party in the sky, and then the birds coming together to get back at the tortoise (Achebe 96-99). In the story, the tortoise symbolizes the missionaries and the birds symbolize the Ibo because like the missionaries, the tortoise is very selfish and acts as if he is doing nothing wrong by his actions, until he fools the birds. Both the missionaries and the tortoise take what is rightfully someone else’s for personal gain. Achebe uses this story to warn readers that in order for the Ibo to salvage their culture and unity, they must communicate with each other like the birds. He also foreshadows the arrival of the missionaries later on in the novel with the tortoise. In essence, Achebe uses the story to convey not only how complex the Ibo culture is, but also just how important it is to be saved. He proves that through cooperation and unity, a group can come together as one to save what is rightfully theirs and limit excess conflict with just a few actions. What Achebe is telling the reader and the tribe themselves, is that sometime there is going to be something that tries to tear them apart and shatter their culture, but the worst thing they can do is separate themselves from each other. Despite the
For example, Ekwefi tells her daughter of how the Tortoise cracks his shell. First, the wily Tortoise tricks the birds by convincing the birds to aid him in reaching the sky and eat in a grand feast. Then, the Tortoise consumes all of the food at the feast, so the birds retaliate by leaving the Tortoise stranded in the sky. Through this story, the Igbos demonstrates that if a man makes trouble for others, he also makes trouble for himself. These stories instill a common code of conduct in children in the form of morals. Through a common way of courtesy, the culture establishes basic law and order which shows civility and prove colonization unnecessary. Furthermore, the birds left the Tortoise no choice but to jump down from the sky. Then, “like the sound of the cannon [the Tortoise] crashed on the compound,” and his “shell broke into pieces” (99). As in the story, negative consequences follow for misbehavior. Due to punishment of breaking morals, the villages enforces laws and includes a justice system; therefore, the Igbos exhibits themselves as organized and educated and does not require foreign conquerors. Clearly, the Igbos’ morals and punishment show their civility and prove colonialism
Things Fall Apart was a fantastic book. It was educational as well as entertaining. The author, Chinua Achebe did a great job of describing the complex society and culture of the Ibo tribe. Being that Achebe’s roots originate from the Ibo, he shares accurate history and traditions that help shape the book and its perspective on how the European invasions greatly affected pre-colonial Africa.
Culture makes us who we are. Each individual has their own culture from their experiences in life and is developed from societal influences. The various cultures around the world influence us in different ways which we experience at least once in our lifetime. There are occasions, especially in history, where cultures clash with one another. For instance, the English colonization in Africa changed their culture. Chinua Achebe, the author of Things Fall Apart, portrayed this change in the Igbo people’s society, especially through the character Okonkwo in the village of Umuofia; the introduction of Western ideas challenged him. In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Chinua Achebe introduces to us Okonkwo whose character’s response to the
Things Fall Apart is about the tragic fall of Okonkwo our main character and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a respected leader within the Igbo community of Umunfia in eastern Nigeria. He first gets respect within the village by defeating Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest. Okonkwo is determined to become a powerful and wealthy man unlike his father who was weak. Within the community, Unoka was considered a failure and a laughingstock he was looked upon as a woman who had no property to call his own. He eventually died a shameful death and left numerous debts. Okonkwo despises and resents his father gentle ways he decides to overcome the shame that he feels for his father’s weakness by becoming what he considers to be “manly”. He dominates his wives and children by being insensitive and controlling. Over the years, Okonkwo becomes an extremely volatile man. For example beating his youngest wife Ojiugo for accidently forgetting to prepare the afternoon meal for his family. Things begin to fall apart soon with the arrival of Christian missionaries who spread their religion and culture throughout the land and. Colonialism is a theme that’s constantly addressed throughout the book and is to blame for the fall of the Igbo culture and Okonkwo.
Things Fall Apart is a compelling inside view of tribal life in Africa. Through a knowledgeable narrative, Achebe illustrates culture rich in tradition. Achebe seems to wish to disprove a widespread stereotype that Africa had no culture.
In the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the Ibo culture and culture today have similar and contrasting marriages. The Ibo and cultures today are similar because people can get married whenever they want. However today, people usually don't get married at young ages like the Ibo people. The Ibo culture and people today can also have as many children as they want. Both cultures usually have a lot of help from different men, women, and even children. "Some of the women cooked the yams and the cassava, and others prepared vegetable soup. Young men pounded the foo-foo or split firewood. The children made endless trips to the stream" (113). The Ibo culture had a marriage system called polygamy, which is when a man is married to several women.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of how one unified Umuofian community falls due to its own inner conflicts, as well as to the arrival of Christian missionaries. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart to change the brutish image of Africa, for the Western world. The use of changing perspectives greatly aided Achebe in accurately portraying Africa as colorful, diverse and complex. For Westerners, viewing Africans as more than tribal and barbaric was a new concept, of which Achebe helped usher in. The story is told through the eyes of many Umuofians, which gives the reader a personal sense for the individuals within the tribe. When all the individual pieces of the story are brought together, the sifting perspectives creates a vast overview of the community, while also deepening the readers since for the tribe by allowing personal details to show through. Achebe captures the complexity of the Umuofia community by changing the perspective from which the story is being told frequently.
The white man considered Africans to be primitive savages. They were seen as inferior, second-class citizens. Chinua Achebe was an African novelist who sought to give the African people a voice. Achebe gave a prospective of African culture that had been missing from the literature. The white man primarily composed works of literature, therefore there was a skewed representation of African culture. Achebe conveyed a greater understanding of African culture through his first novel Things Fall Apart. This analysis will examine Okonkwo’s power and lack of freedom through his wealth, property, and actions.
Things Fall Apart. Such an intriguing title, because everything will eventually fall apart. Chinua Achebe's choice of a title may lead some to confusion, because throughout his book many things fall apart, from Okonkwo's personal life achievements and emotions to the town of Umuofia as its people split, and perhaps the biggest thing to fall apart, the very culture of the Igbo people. One could focus on any one of these topics and trace the complexity of it's fall from previous glory to the eventual ruin at the end of Achebe's novel. Studying the overall book provides a much more interesting conclusion, however, than simply tracking the different ways people or the town change, as instead it is possible to gain insight into Achebe's goals in writing this complex, tragic story. Achebe uses the details of Okonkwo's personal life falling apart and of the town of Umuofia's struggles to maintain it's traditions as metaphors for the falling apart of Igbo culture as it was known before the Europeans came.
In Things Fall Apart we witnessed the destruction of a traditional native culture. More specifically we witnessed the challenge and weakening of Igbo spirituality, as well as the death of the tribe's livelihood. The apparent cause can be found in a seemingly good intended mission acting as a gateway for the intrusion of a foreign government, and its quest to conquer and domesticate a self-sustaining, prosperous culture. Although the Igbo downfall was caused primarily by the invasion of "Christian missionaries," their own religious doctrine and passivity played a significant role in allowing the initial infiltration of an alien religion, and the final dissolution of a once prosperous culture.
The constant change within the society is inevitable in every culture, ranging from traditional sense of social values to the law and condition of the land that people needs to obey by as time when on. And these changes within the culture can have significant impact on the perspective of the whole community and the mindset of an individual. We can see this in Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” as the old Igbo culture clashing with the Missionaries’s ideals from the western world that leads to the dividing of the two culture and create this social barrier between them as one culture would often contradict with the other. This changes unfold to the reader through the eyes of the main character of the story, Okonkwo.
The Effects of Colonialism on Things Fall Apart In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the effects of colonialism were extremely evident in the Igbo society. As the white Englanders moved into the native land, their cultural values changed. Examples of these changes were evident in all aspects of the Igbo people's lives, in their religion, family life, children, and the dead. Many of the Igboians were upset by the colonialism of their society, but in the end they were completely incapable of doing anything to reverse the changes that had already taken place in their society.
could relate to this or see that respect should be a bigger part in society than it is. Elders are always highly respected in the Igbo culture, the reader might be able to whitness some kind of connection to this by seeing that or knowing about the Egwugwu. these are a group of masked men impersonating the tribes ancestors.This could definitely be considered attractive or appealing from the perspective of an outside culture. Okonkwo was well known throughout and beyond his nine villages and was highly respected, respect for the Igbo tribe is everything. Anything that the members of the Igbo tribe do can and will reflect how that individual is viewed/ respected. things that the reader might find in the Igbo culture to play in the role of respect would be how much respect the elders get from the tribe, or wrestling and Okonkwo, he is highly respected for his Wrestling abilities and the deaths he has caused in war.