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 by Chinua Achebe tries to bring back up cultural, social, and spiritual basics of traditional Igbo (Ibo) existence from the year 1850 and 1900. The novel cannot be fixed like other societal and political old times of Ibo society since it is a fictional novel. However, the novel describes disagreements and anxiety that occurred in Igbo society. It also shows changes initiated by colonial ruling and Christianity. Colonialism affected the people in the Ibo society by destroying of their family’s relationships, friendships, their religion or even created fights between the tribes.
The widely known novel named Things Fall Apart was written by a man by the name of Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart represents the cultural roots of the Igbos in order to provide self-confidence, but at the same time refers them to universal principles which vitiate their destructive potential (Rhoads 61). As the reader continues through the narrative and learn more in depth about the characters a sense of pride, trust, and faith in history come into view. Seeing Achebe’s duty as a writer in a new nation as showing his people the dignity that they had lost during the colonial period, he sets out to illustrate that before the European colonial powers entered Africa, the Igbos had a philosophy of great depth and value and beauty, that they had poetry and, above all, they had dignity (Rhoads 61). Yet, with the introduction of colonialism the characters must learn to accept and get used to a new culture and set of beliefs or face termination from society. The novel focuses on the troubles of African cultures and their struggle to adjust to colonialism. As the novel progresses, one can also observe the influence of religion over time and how it has changed in many societies. Although many readers would describe the colonialism in Africa as something normal and something you can not prevent; a closer look of this novel would suggest that the needs of human nature to expand their values and beliefs upon others causes ancient cultures to evolve or fade out of existence. Things Fall Apart in part is a statement of what the future might be if Nigeria were to take advantage of the promising aspects of its past and to eliminate the unpromising ones (Rhoads 62).
Chinua Achebe’s book, Things Fall Apart, was based on a story and the culture in Nigeria, Western Africa. Women’s roles and responsibilities have transitioned over several of years. The book arises a situation of how the Ibo women were treated and looked upon. In the Ibo culture, the women did not only suffer a great loss of their dignity, but also their pride as women. The whole role of women in the Ibo culture is different in various ways compared to the female race in modern society. The modern society in Nigeria, women are not so powerless, and also have the opportunity to work alongside the opposite gender.
Nigeria has a rich culture stemming from the many civilizations that inhabited the land. In the novel Thing Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe brings light on to the great Igbo people, a society Nigeria hosted for centuries. The tale follows a man named Okonkwo as he tries to make amends for his father 's failures and a name for himself within his village. This path leads Okonkwo to become reckless and unreasonable. Through this, readers are exposed to the village’s judicial system, revealing that the clan’s laws based off sexism, superstitious nature, and deep religious ties.
Chinua Achebe analyzes a culture he is not accustomed with. The Madwoman in the attic theory comes into play as a westerner writing about “savage Africa”. Things Fall Apart provides an important understanding of Africana identity and history for those in the West who may be unfamiliar with African culture. Achebe tackles female identity within this book with delicacy keeping with the Ibo view of female nature in the background of the story but the forefront of the reader’s mind. A discussion of womanhood must touch upon manhood because they operate as a complementary, opposing, and equal entity.
When you think of the word “culture” what comes to mind? Many elements can contribute to
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.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is an African novel which happened in 19th Century. Achebe narrates the story mainly about Okonkwo’s whole life in one of the nine villages called Umuofia in Nigeria and the clashes as well as influences to the village from colonization of Europeans. The clashes include reactions and misconception after the first arrival of white people and the effect which missionaries bring about to the village from many aspects such as belief, family and culture. Beyond that, there are large amount of description of the background and details of the villagers’ daily lives are provided to readers for acquainting with Ibo culture. As a consequence, the changes which white people bring about to the village are vivid and unimaginable compared with their previous peaceful life. The conflicts generate from violence and misunderstanding between the Europeans and villagers with addition of colonial process among villages which lead to replacement of Christian domination rather than the Ibo culture.
When conflicts arise within a society or an individual, many rely on their faith and religious practices to overcome these issues. In the case for “Things Fall Apart”, the spirits represent the ultimate figure and play an important role in the culture for the people of the Umuofia society. The native belief of spirits is the first focus that comes from the novel. The whole idea of spirits is essentially based off a male god named Chukwu, who taught the early Igbo natives how to develop and survive on yams. Yams later on became the primary source for food and the foundation of the Igbo economy, showing the power and influence the spirit god Chukwu posses. The male god is then balanced by the female Earth goddess Ani, who holds nearly the same amount of
With a socially imposed and personal devotion to attain a highly regarded status in his clan, Okonkwo’s life was one that valued traditional authority, customs, and kinship. As a protagonist, Okonkwo’s story exemplifies the altering role of the state as the marching boots of colonialism enter his village, Iguedo. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, he illustrates the societal life of the Umuofia clan prior to the arrival of and the encounter with early colonizers - offering an Igbo account of the transformation of local institutions. Once wielded by elders and the spiritually divine, the power of control fell into the hands of foreigners. Worship of ancestors, the supreme deity Chikwu, and other Earth gods transferred to the God revealed in the Bible. The interactions between the institutions of rule, belief, environmental management, and trade are each delicately reliant on each other, so that in Iguedo the ability to rule fails to exist without belief, religious believes are derived from the environment, and the mercy of environmental conditions dictates agricultural trade. Through the life and death of Okonkwo, the novel presents how the experience of the Igbo and their interaction with the state witnessed unquestionable change.
Another facet required for harmonious interactions between contrasting cultures is the awareness of differing customs. The majority of white missionaries did not understand nor aim to become educated on the Ibo customs. Not only did missionaries bring in an alien judicial that the Ibo were completely unaccustomed to, the judicial system also did not adhere to their traditional customs or laws. It is blatantly obvious that the Christians had no intentions on respecting Ibo tradition, as Obierika explains when Okonkwo questions him about the white man’s judicial system “Does the white man understand our custom about land?” while Obierika responds “how can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad…” (Achebe 176) According to Ibo tradition there are certain customs that must be followed for specific situations, such as land disputes. In an Ibo tribe if there is a land dispute the egwugwu, who govern the tribe, will give both
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
In Chinua Achebe 's classic novel "Things Fall Apart," the development of European colonization 's lead to extreme cultural changes, leaving a lasting impact on the Igbo village of Umofia in West Africa. In the novel, Achebe displays the impacts of European colonization in both critical and sympathetic terms to provide the reader with both positive and negative factors of Imperialism to develop an unbiased understanding of what the Igbo culture and society went through. While addressing the hardship 's of life by showing the deterioration of Okonkwo 's character, the cultural and traditional changes of society, and the positive and negative impacts of imperialism, Achebe keeps touch on the overall theme of the novel, once a dramatic event