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Themes in things fall apart by chinua achebe
Themes in things fall apart by chinua achebe
Themes in things fall apart by chinua achebe
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Humans can never be absolutely objective in any matter that is somehow related to themselves. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the last decade or so of Okonkwo's life is told in three parts in which the final part is about the missionaries and white men in Umuofia as well as the clan and Okonkwo. In the conflict between the missionaries and the clan, the author Chinua Achebe is neutral but may be biased towards individuals within these groups.
Achebe portrays the missionaries in a way that they are both principled and disagreeable. When the egwugwu were talking to Okeke and Reverend Smith before the church was burned, the egwugwu said, ¨We liked his brother [, Mr. Brown,] who was with us before. He was foolish but we liked him, and for his sake we
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Smith]¨ (Achebe 190). The foolish man they spoke of was Mr. Brown, the first missionary in Umuofia. He was kind, tolerant, and understanding. His desire was to gain converts and to live harmoniously with the clan. His demeanor and actions gained the favor of the clan. In contrast, Reverend Smith - who later replaced Mr. Brown - was intolerant, rude, and racist. He believed that Mr. Brown was foolish and denounced ¨Mr. Brown´s policy of compromise and accommodation. He saw things as black and white. And black was evil. He saw the world as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal combat with the sons of darkness¨ (Achebe 184). He was the exact opposite of Mr. Brown. He did not seek harmony nor did he seek to understand the people of Umuofia. He was a pious man and who disagreed to Mr. Brown's thoughts about gaining more
Smith, we see two big errors in his tactics in dealing with the people of the African tribe. First, Mr. Smith was insensitive to the native’s belief system. In response to hearing stories of the souls of demonic babies coming back in the form of other babies, Mr. Smith said, “those who believed such stories were unworthy of the Lord’s Table” (page 185). While child sacrifice is wrong, he made a critical error in thinking that unsaved people would act like those who knew the Lord. Of course a tribe of natives would hold to their practices without knowing Jesus. They have no reason not to continue this practice! If the only thing that a people group has ever known is suddenly put into question, of course they would not be in favor of a change. When people are shown Jesus and accept Him, then true revival of the heart will happen. We have to understand that the main issue here is the issue of the heart, not the issue of outward sin. The main issue needs to be addressed, then the secondary issue will follow suit. Once the natives accepted Christ, then they can address the issue of child sacrifice. Second, Mr. Smith was far too forceful on the natives regarding Christianity. The natives wished to live in peace, but Mr. Smith replied, “Tell them to go away from here. This is the house of God and I will not live to see it desecrated.” Mr. Smith exhibited a superior philosophy, which is never welcome in true
In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Mr. Brown, the first missionary in Umuofia, was a kind and respectful man. Not to say that Reverend James Smith was not, but his degree of kindness and respect were present in a whole different level. They both wanted to convert the lost, all those in Umuofia that were not in the church. Mr. Brown made friends with the clan and “trod softly on his faith,” (pg.178) while Mr. Smith told them how things were in a harsh voice and tried to force his religion on the people of Umuofia. The impacts the two had on the people and the church were exact opposites.
Enoch thought a war would lead to the end of the Ibo religion forcing people to convert to Christianity. He tried to start that war by “kill[ing] and eat[ing] the sacred python” (178) which went against the Ibo religion and his father, who was the priest of the snake cult. Enoch had a “devotion to the new faith [which was] so much greater than Mr. Brown’s,” (185) and believed that the new religion was better than the old religion. While, Mr. Brown was trying to convert people if they wanted to, Enoch was trying to show the lies of the Ibo religion. Enoch was hidden away for a couple of days but this made him “greatly disappointed” (188) because he wants to be out in Umuofia supporting Christianity by trying to end the Ibo religion.
Mr. Brown is the first missionary to arrive in Umuofia and the first introduction the villagers have to christianity. He is the example of a New Testament christian. He preached about salvation and taught his followers not to
When the western missionaries first arrived in his Motherland, he was against their religion and presence in the clan, but his son, Nwoye, decided to ap...
The natives of Umuofia have many rituals and ceremonies to follow their culture and to worship their goddesses. For every little thing such as yams and the kola nut, they prayed to their gods and goddesses to thank them. Due to the importance of culture and religion to Okonkwo, he did not like seeing people converting to the new religion; therefore, he killed himself. Ironically, when the Europeans arrived, they changed the Ibo people’s perspective with the importance of Umuofian culture to make them follow the religion of Christianity. Most of the Ibo people started to convert to Christianity. The Europeans persuaded and converted many natives to the new religion,
Throughout the book Things Fall Apart, three main topics help Achebe get his argument across to the reader. First, Okonkwo’s rough relationship with his family. Evidence from the book support that Okonkwo did abuse his wives and children. Whether this was acceptable or not at the time, the result of his actions led to major distrust within Okonkwo’s compound. In addition, Ogbuefi Ezeudu cautions Okonkwo about Ikemefuna through his interpretation of the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Ogbuefi Ezeudu talks with Okonkwo the night before he was planning to kill Ikemefuna, explaining that what he is doing is wrong. Yet again, Okonkwo’s paranoia gets the best of him. This event fueled the fire for Nwoye’s distrust for Okonkwo, as well as his wives. Achebe’s third argument conveys that the spread of Christianity throughout the region and Okonkwo’s fear of change led him to hang himself. Nwoye was drawn to the new religion almost as soon as it arrived in the Ibo villages. However, he knew that his father was refusing to accept it. Thus, Nwoye moved back to Umofia to enroll in the Christian school set up by Mr. Kiaga. Okonkwo was also supporting the mob that burned down the first church, in efforts to drive the Christians away from Mbanta. Though proven unsuccessful, Okonkwo shot and killed one of their messengers. This allows the reader to infer
Though, his actions are good intentioned, he still contributed to the overall negative impact of European interference with Africa. The way missionaries saw themselves were along the lines of messengers of God who come to save the souls of the savage. Mr.Brown respected the people there, he built a hospital and school for them as well. At the same time, he still caused a social change in a way, he had a more white saviour complex. He also had to encourage his flock to accept the indigenous people in the way that he did, displaying how concepts of social Darwinism are common amongst Europeans. This concept in itself is better represented in the ending parts of the story where the intensity of European culture towards other people, really
Abiola Irele states that, 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. Those who stayed longer became teachers; and from Umuofia, labourers went forth into the Lord 's vineyard. New churches were established in the surrounding villages and a few schools with them. From the very beginning religion and education went hand in hand.” [128] In the Ibo tribe, In addition to the white men disrupting existing cultures and planning to take the land, they even tried to implant their language into schools around the tribes. Mr. Brown a missionary of the tribe despises the fact the Americans are disrupting the school built by him in the Umuofia tribe. He is upset because it sets a bad example for him because he went around the tribe-begging people to send their children to his school. Slaves and lazy people attended, but this was not good because he argues and prophesized that that if they don’t send their children, the leaders of the land in the future would be men and women who learned to read and write. Mr. Brown says in the novel, “If Umuofia failed to send their children to the school, stranger would come from other places…”(186). In a way Mr. Brown foreshadows what is going to happen to the tribes and how the white men are coming and are going to ruin their way of life. Okonkwo left Umuofia for seven years, and when he returned a lot changed. It was changed because when he returned the new system was in people’s eyes, which is negative because the evilness came and destroyed the
“But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo’s first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It was the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in the darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul - the question of the twins crying in the bush and the questions of Ikemefuna who was killed. He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. The words panting earth. Nwoye’s callow mind was greatly puzzled (147).”
In the book “Things Fall Apart”, evidence of a social structure was apparent within the Igbo community. This rigid social structure served as a purpose to balance the life of the people within the society, as well as promoting the downfall of the clan. The social structure was important in keeping a centralized society and preventing any sign of corruption within their clan. The social structure had advantages in keeping a balanced and equal society, supporting a division of labor, providing a surplus of food, individual huts, a communal society, and the development of some kind of government. In contrast, this social structure led others to reject to cooperate with the new religion and aided the lack of unity among the people. It also promoted a more patriarchal society, the inferior rank of women, and the lack of strong bonds between family members.
In the end it is Okonkwo’s inability to recognize change that forces him to commit suicide. It is the white missionaries’ inability to recognize that the Africans did not wish to change which adds to his demise. The missionaries represent the ruthlessness of the white man in Africa. The native Africans were expected to accept the ways of the white culture, for their own benefit, or suffer the consequences. In this light the missionaries can only be seen as brutal, and anything but true Christians, but rather religious zealots who like Okonkwo wish to force their world view upon others.
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.
Throughout history, there have been many instances of people struggling to identify and cope with change and tradition, and this is no different in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. 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.