Different countries have people that hold many different views and beliefs. In Nigeria the Igbo area is located in the southern area of the country. And within this area is Umuofia, which is where the Ogidi tribe lives. These people have beliefs that rest strongly on religion and faith in god. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe takes a look at the life of an African tribe that has been isolated from the outer more technologically advanced world where science has become a part of religion proving that certain things live sickness are not caused by evil spirits. But the African tribe has no knowledge of this and they live in a society where there traditions, beliefs and there forms of communication differ from are own. In Umuofia, traditions are an important part of their lives. They celebrate festival that has been celebrated by their people for hundreds of years. ?The feast of the New Yam was held every year before the harvest began, to honor the earth goddess and the ancestral spirits of the clan?. They beliefs were that if they prayed to the earth goddess she would give them a good season to grow their crops. They had other traditions in their tribe, like the process you must follow to marry. After coming to the ugi they would bid for the price of the woman in broomsticks because they felt that talking with cowries was insulting to the woman because it was like buying something at the market. ?. Akueke?s bride price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries?. This tribe believed that the groom must pay to have his wife, which is how they had always done it. To be successful in Umuofia you want to, have many wives and many kids and have many barns full of yams and have titles with the clan. Okonkwo was one of the w... ... middle of paper ... ...e had such a temper he would beat them. And because of his pride he would never stop until he was done beating them. Okonkwo had a very tough personality and was known through out the land as being a fierce fighter who had claimed five heads of his opponents. This culture really varies from ours in many ways because of the ways they communicate is so different from how we would ever consider doing here. The Igbo tribe has values beliefs and ideas that are strongly rooted in the gods. The way in which they communicate and interact shows a lack of respect towards woman and they are treated like slaves to men. Achebe?s novel ?Things Fall Apart? gives a good insight into the aspects a of a culture that before him had never need explored, and it gives the reader a good look at what the beliefs, values and the way the members of the community communicate and interact.
Chinua Achebe's 1959 novel, Things fall Apart, takes place in the 1890s, just before British colonization. The novel focuses on the nine Ibo-speaking villages of Umuofia, which is Ibo for "People of the Forest." Umuofia is the village in which Okonkwo, Achebe's protagonist, prospers in everything and is able to secure his manly position in the tribe. Now known as Nigeria, this land was a primitive agricultural society completely run by men. Umuofia was known, and as Achebe says, ."..feared by all it's neighbors. It was powerful in war and in magic, and priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country" (11). Perhaps, its most powerful and feared magic was called .".. agadi- nwayi, or old woman it had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia ... if anyone was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine past dusk he was sure to see the old woman"(12). The people of Umuofia are very devoted to their religion and their magic. These ancient beliefs were believed to give the people some sort of power over their oppressors.
Okonkwo is one of the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. This is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(3) This suggests that in Okonkwo's society, power is attained by making a name for yourself in any way possible, even if that means fighting and wrestling to get your fame. Although honor is a good thing, when people have to fight to gain it, it becomes an object of less adoration. Okonkwo's "prosperity was visible in his household... his own hut stood behind the only gate in the red walls. Each of his three wives had her own hut... long stacks of yams stood out prosperously in [the barn]... [Okonkwo] offers prayers on the behalf of himself, his three wives, and eight children." (14) Okonkwo has also worked and tended to his crops in a very zealous fashion, and drives everyone around him to work as hard as he does. Because of this, he earns his place as one of Umuofia's most powerful men. In many cultures, a big family is a source of pride. Although Okonkwo is not always pleased by his children and wives, it also brings him a source of pride to have three wives and eight children. Large families mean that the head of the family is able to support all of them. Okonkwo's devotion to his crops and family gives to him the respect that any father and husband deserves, and in his culture, being able to fight and kill as well gives him even more influence and power.
Okonkwo was well known through out the nine villages because of his achievements in the tribe. Okonkwo had a great fear of becoming like his father. This had a rather large impact on his life and how his personality. Okonkwo’s father, Unoka, was a lazy man whereas Okonkwo was a hard worker, Okonkwo ruled his house with a heavy hand and he was a man of war.
In her article, “Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart”, Diana Akers Rhoads positively criticizes Achebe’s work. She believes that Achebe does a great job of conveying the Ibo people as culturally bound and religious. Akers states, “Achebe’s aim is to present the peculiarities of the Igbo culture, especially the beauties and wisdom of its arts and institutions…” (Akers 1). It is agreeable that Achebe does present the beauties of the Umuofian culture which is later destroyed by the Europeans. Throughout Things Fall Apart, Achebe, “talking of the importance of ideals, refers to the example of village life based on a kind of equality” (2). Achebe demonstrates the importance of religion and culture in the novel by talking about the life of the native people. Akers also says which is true in the novel, that “Igbo are in some ways superior to those who comes to convert them” (4). It is true that the people of Umuofia especially Okonkwo, are superior in not following the religion and culture of the Europeans. For instance, Okonkwo tries to stop the missionaries by killing them in order to stop them from changing the religion of the Ibo people. Therefore, as Akers discusses in her article, religion and culture was worth a lot to the natives but, ironically many natives converts to Christianity due to the arrival of the
The women play an important role in the Umuofia’s culture because they help continue important traditions, which might disappear if the women did not find value in these customs. The women of the tribe save their heritage by telling folk stories to their children. This is depicted in Okonkwo’s family, when Achebe writes, “Low voices, broken now and again by singing, reached Okonkwo from his wives’ hut as each woman and her children told folk stories” (Achebe 96). The women telling these stories to their children helps pass down the skills of storytelling
The natives could no longer see eye to eye and therefore a certain division among the people could be seen. The inhabitants of the village started to segregate themselves between two groups: one that stood loyal to the traditional Igbo tradition and culture and another which had divided loyalties and looked up to Christ and his saving grace as the ultimate gift of life to mankind. Things Fall Apart is all about the “collapse, breaking into pieces, chaos, and confusion” of traditional Igbo culture that suffers at the hand of the white man’s arrival in Umuofia along with his religion. Okonkwo’s own son Nwoye converts to Christianity, leaving his own culture bereft because of the suffering he endured after the killing of Ikemefuna, who was a ward left under the care and protection of Okonkwo.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, the author Achebe explores a theme of masculinity versus femininity. The Igbo society was dominated by gender roles. Men discriminated against women. Women and men were not considered to be virtually equal. Women are taught to mother while men are conditioned to dominate and control. The author mainly portrays the masculine versus feminine theme to make an important connection between the gender roles.
In the book, Things Fall Apart, Achebe introduceses the Umofia people as a patricarchal with strong punishments. As the reader digs deeper into the book, the reader finds reasons and explainations for their style of living. Later in the story, Europeans started to colonize and convert the Ibo to christianity. The arrival of the settlers startled and changed the way of living for the Ibo. Most Europeans started to encourage or forcing the Ibo to convert to christianity. This declined the tribes original culture, while increasing christianity faith. The expansion of the missionariers change the life and views of various clan members. One in particular is Nwoye who converts to religions, opinion on the Ibo culture, and leaves his family behind.
Many cultures tend to clash greatly, and an example is the idea of monotheism and polytheism. This is the culture clash of western ideas and the Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The Ibo culture was a polytheistic tribe that experienced the influence of Christianity by the Western people. One of the main characters, Okonkwo, was not pleased with the new missionaries ideas. The clan had their set beliefs and was not inclined to open up to a new influence. Okonkwo saw as though his clan was civilized, and there was no need to change matters. Unlike a few outliers, Okonkwo was one of the many that simply saw things begin to fall apart with the influence of western culture, as he began to question who he really was and what he
Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of the nine connected villages, including Okonkwo’s village Iguedo. Okonkwo father Unoka was a man who feared the sight of blood and always asked for things he was never successful with nothing not even when it came to his farm. His wife and kids often went hungry because of him. One night, the town crier had rung the ogene, and requested that all of the clansmen gather in the market in the morning. At the gathering, Ogbuefi Ezeugo a noted orator announce that someone from the village of Mbaino murdered the wife of an Umuofia tribesman. The village filled with so much anger that they wanted revenge. Okonkwo traveled to Mbaino to deliver the message that they must hand over a virgin and a young man to Umuofia. If Mbaino was to refuse this demand the two villages would have to go to war. The elders give the virgin to Ogbuefi Udo as his wife, and Ikemefuna a fifteen year old boy to Okonkwo for safekeeping and instruction.
He was a very proud man and did not take kindly to being questioned, especially by those whom he considered of lesser social character (Ikuenobe, 2006). Such as the case of calling another male villager a “woman” while in a meeting because he did not have any titles (Achebe, 1994). Being questioned by a “lesser” man was equivalent to being weak, and Okonkwo had a fear of being seen as weak and lazy, like his father. However, because he had this fear, his ability to fully integrate with the clans virtues, such as humility and compassion, he lacked the ability to enjoy some of the “restful and festive periods” that the village had, such as the Week of Peace (Ikuenobe,
The Umuofia Tribe, though prosperous only knew traditions. When change is mentioned and brought to the tribe, the tribe is dumbstruck, most do not know how to respond, while other embrace the change with open arms. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, traditions and change are depicted as equally beneficial to society.
Throughout the first part of the book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe it shows readers how Igbo live their life and shows the traditions and culture of their people. In the second part of the book it starts to go into about how Western cultural imperialism comes in and tries to teach the Igbo people their culture, language, education and especially their religion. The influence that the missionaries bring to the Igbo culture is significance because they want the Africans to have the same views as them and for the ultimatum to take over the land that the Igbo people live on, so they can use and take their resources.
Okonkwo embodies all the ideal and heroic traits of the Igbo culture. He is strong, authoritative, hardworking, and successful. The opening sentence states that “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (3). Okonkwo is great and famous because of his “solid personal achievements” (3). Okonkwo first achieved fame and recognition when he became the village’s wrestling champion. At eighteen years of age, he had “brought honor to his village” by defeating the seven-year champion. By winning the wrestling match, Okonkwo demonstrates to his village his great strength and skill as a warrior. After that his fame spread “like a bush-fire in the harmattan” (3). Okonkwo governs his household with authority. He “ruled his household with a heavy hand” (13). His wives and children lived “in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (13). Okonkwo is a hard task-master. He works on his farm “from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost” and compelled his family to do the same (13). He does not tolerate laziness in his sons. He punishes his son, Nwoye, with “constant nagging and beating” (14). Okonkwo is the sole and unquestionable authority figure in his household.
Even if a man had a title for himself if he did not have control of his wife and children, he was not considered a true man, “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule this women and his children, he was not really a man(53)”. Man of Igbo are held a high amount of power, which is why Okonkwo’s nine children and three wives were often terrified of his anger. Okonkwo struggles with his prominent attitude that men are more important than women because he fears to not be successful and resemble his father, Unoka, whom he refers to as a “woman”. Unoka, before his death was lazy, irresponsible, and weak, as he was known for owning money to others. Achebe uses Unoka, as an example that is a was not manly or did not earn himself a worthy title, that he is not looked at as a real man. Umofia was strict about the understanding that all men must be strong, even when Okonkwo wanted to care for others in a compassionate way he could not because they would mistake that for weakness. For example, when Okonkwo wanted to save Ikemefuna from death, Achebe states, he could not do that because he is too prideful and being strong for men in Umofia, is not just a characteristic but a lifestyle. Okonkwo has no problem letting go of his son Nwoye because he chose the catholic religion over what his father believed in. For a