The Europeans used their power of law and order to subdue and control the indigenous. They wanted to instill their beliefs, culture, and values onto the natives and used agents of directed culture change to influence the people. Missionaries played a major role in transforming the native communities. Missionaries believed they were helping the inhabitants by “converting and civilizing” the indigenous. They also used their power to exploit any resources they could find to benefit the church and their home land. However, while they worked with authority to take over land and culture, they often had conflict with the brutal treatment that authorities inflicted on the native people. Missionaries had many views on converting. Some thought “that indigenous people were subhuman and should be controlled… others assumed that indigenous people were … capable of intelligent thought and reasoning” (Bonvillain 2013). Missionaries claimed they were enlightening the people and used economic and political arguments to convert them. If the natives were to convert they awarded them with favorable trading and provided guns for their use. Missionaries also encouraged Christia...
He displays it through the conversation Mr. Brown has with Akuma, in which he “learned a good deal about the religion of the clan” and made the conclusion that “attack… would not succeed” (Achebe 181). Unlike Mr. Smith’s quick and dramatic reaction to the clan, Mr. Brown makes it his duty to interact with the tribe and understand them. Mr. Smith’s refusal to understand the Ibo culture makes him interpret all of their actions as a culture to be violent, such as the burning of the church (Achebe 191). Because of his impatience for comprehension, Mr. Smith sacrifices the harmony that could coexist between the two cultures. Mr. Brown, on the other hand, makes an effort to understand the universal themes and similarities that run through each of their religions, like the importance of an absolute deity. Despite the differences, Mr. Brown chooses to accept the culture, even though he may not agree with it. His acceptance is what truly allows the Ibo to coexist with the missionaries without conflict for a short period of time, proving that with communication, conflict can be prevented. However, the lack of communication once Mr. Smith takes over is what causes the clash between him and the Ibo because he jumps too quickly to conclusions rather than trying to understand why the Ibo do what they do. The depth of the culture that is shown through the conversation between
During the “missionary takeover”, Okonkwo loses his son, Nwoye, due to his conversion to Christianity. He disowns Nwoye, because Nwoye is now greatly influenced by the white missionaries’ religion and even leaves his father for it as well. “Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?” (Achebe 146). As the missionaries begin to increase their power in Umoufia, villagers (such as Nwoye) perceive their religious beliefs as untrue and completely powerless. Okonkwo takes note of this happening, and wants to end it immediately.
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.
If the ibo culture would have learned more about the white men then this wouldn’t have been such a problem. Both groups could have compromised. The white men could practice their religion and the ibo could practice theirs. Since the ibo didn’t like the idea of one god they became angry with the white men. The Ibo didn’t like the idea of one god because they had always believed in several god and practiced their religion for their gods not just one. The ibo needed to learn more about this one god before they made decisions on what to believe in. It also didn’t help that the white men told the Ibo that the Ibo religion was not true. The
In Things Fall Apart, Achebe shows the ruthlessness of the missionaries in pursuit of new converts. Domestic support for the missions depended in large measure upon the tangible success of their preaching, ''success'' being reflected in the numbers of conversions. This relentless focus on "success" caused the "cultural rape" of the people of Umuofia.
The villagers of Umuofia are accustomed to their gods, and their beliefs. When missionaries began to invade umuofia and and their religion, things began to completely change. For instance, “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” (Achebe 143). Christians would interpret this as the salvation of Umuofia, they would agree with the missionaries on trying to lead these villagers to god’s path. Although this might be true to Christians, atheist would view this as enforcing a religion upon the villagers. Christianity is said to be a religion where nothing is forced upon you, and what the missionaries are doing contradicts this statement. The missionary known as Mr. Brown expresses his opinion on the beliefs of the villagers, “He told them that they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone” (Achebe 145). Atheist would feel aggravated by this, Christians are not supposed to enforce the religion on people, specially offend their religion. Christians on the other hand would see this as knowledge being shared with the
For one, the Christians brought with them teachers, erecting schools for reading and writing. Although originally intended to train indigenous people to read the Bible, these schools did help gain Africa recognition as “civilized” in a more defined sense. In chapter seventeen of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo discovers his son Nwoye’s plan to leave him for a Christian school back in Umuofia (at this moment Okonkwo and his family are living with his mother’s kinsman after being exiled for an accidental killing). “He [Nwoye] went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write” (Achebe 132). Nwoye sees this as a perfect opportunity to make something of himself, especially after hearing all the things an education can get a Christian
When people try to force their culture onto an already flourishing culture, that creates harsh conflict and is very immoral. When 2 cultures try to overcome each other, let’s say America’s culture and Saudi Arabia’s culture, thing start to get mixed up and very confusing. Weddings start to change, living styles will change, etc. When the Christians brought their culture, it severely messed up the culture of Okonkwo’s clan, and bringing the downfall of Okonkwo’s life. “It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land.”, unlike Christian culture, where
When several of the Igbo men are called to meet with the District Commissioner, none of them are overly alarmed. Instead of preparing to fight against the colonizers, the Igbo attend the meeting, because “An Umuofia man does not refuse a call” (193). By even attending the meeting, the Igbo are handling the situation from a naive perspective, assuming their opponents will proceed following the same morals as them. “And so the six men went to see the District Commissioner, armed with their machetes. They did not carry guns, for that would be unseemly. (...) There was only a brief scuffle, too brief even to allow the drawing of a sheathed machete. The six men were handcuffed and led into the guardroom” (193). The Igbo men did not bring guns, the most effective weapons, to the meeting on the basis that it would “be unseemly” in Igbo culture. Once again, the Igbo people following simple strictures of their culture causes them to be overtaken by the colonizers. By following Igbo society’s dictation on what weaponry is acceptable to bring to a meeting, the Igbo leave themselves vulnerable to the District Commissioner, who has them
There were many changes that occurred when the white explores came to Niger. Umuofia Mbanta, and the other local clans have been living in a remote society and culture for generations giving them plenty of time to alter and live in their environment efficiently. They had developed many different religious beliefs that were different from the Christian culture that settled the area. "You say that there is one supreme God who made heaven and earth," said Akunna on one of Mr. Brown 's visits. " We also believe in Him and call Him Chukwu. He made all the world and the other gods." (Achebe, 179). Although the missionaries did not intentionally try to cause conflict, that is exactly what they ended up doing. The missionaries, in my opinion, took a wrong approach which ended up causing rebellion. Things Fall Apart shows that the power of religion can both guide a society and destroy it.
“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”, (142). The Europeans made the Igbo’s life crumble around them by turning each other against one another. Europeans took many people into their church including outcasts. The Igbo’s would stand no chance in rebelling against European colonization if they didn’t unite. They need someone to stan...
To colonize the land of Nigerian tribal people or any other lands in the world, the British wisely used religion as a tool of invasion. Though the process of spreading Christianity took longer time than war and killing, the attack on belief and spirituality made the native people completely submit to the new government which generated and supported the religion that those people followed. In fact, the British missionaries succeeded in convincing the Igbo people of the new religion despite the Igbo’s conservativeness and extreme superstition.
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.
At first the people of Mbanta and the Christians could live in peace together because the Christians were looked at as harmless. It was not until the Christians allowed the Igbo outcasts into their church, which really angered the clan. Okonkwo wanted to act out against the Christians in violence, but the people of Mbanta decided against that by making the Christians an