Throughout history, British imperialism has influenced many countries’ culture and heritage for the worse. The competition for resources and markets made empires colonize different parts of the world to systematically spread their influence and force the colonized to forget their heritage. One of the most important African writers, Chinua Achebe was strongly concerned with political and social effects of British colonialism in the Igbo society. His novel, Things Fall Apart, is not an exceptionally positive one, utilizing the story to delineate a pioneer control that enters and afterward realizes the demise of the Igbo society (How Does Chinua Achebe Portray Colonialism Using Things Fall Apart?essay). Achebe paints a picture of how the colonizers treat the colonized and to what the local people are forced to accustom to the new culture that was forced upon them. Throughout the whole book, you can see diverse impacts on the tribe and the connections between the white and dark man (Colonialism in Things Fall Apart). The constant question of "Does the white man understand our custom abou...
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.
The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe highlights the many important historical events that happened during the period of colonialism, spread of religious fervor to Africa from Europe, and the importance of the native religion among African societies. Achebe shows that religion holds a major influence in many African societies and influences the daily life of the natives. Furthermore, the novel introduces a major event that happen during pre-colonial Africa, the spread of the Christian faith, which forever changed and affected the natives in Africa, more specifically the Igbo society located in Nigeria. Things Fall Apart vividly describes and explains how the Christian faith that arrived in Africa changed both the individuals in the Umoufia and society. To add on, the novel shows how the spread of Christianity ultimately leads to the destruction of the many native African cultures, and shows what redeeming qualities that arise from the destruction of their culture. Achebe describes how the Christian faith acts as a guide to the Igbo society and at the same time acts as the inevitable downfall of the Igbo society.
Africa has always been the centre of colonization for many European countries. With its colonization came stereotypes of African’s being inhumane, primitive and savage in comparison to the humanity of the civilized Europeans. The tradition model simplifies the stereotypes into Africans are bad and Europeans are good. Fortunately, it is not as clear cut as this. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, both the Igbo of the Umuofia and the British of Europe have good sides and dark sides of their respective races revealing that traditional perceptions of these races are not entirely accurate. Through their systems of government, court systems and religion both parties have the positive and negative effects on each other.
Things Fall Apart: An Evaluation In “Things Fall Apart,” Chinua Achebe tells two different stories at the same time. One is of Okonkwo, the villager whose rise to power is halted because of all of his misfortunes. The other is of Okonkwo’s village, Umuofia, and its struggle to hold on to its cultural tradition while facing colonialism from the West. The title, “Things Fall Apart,” describes perfectly what happens to both Okonkwo and his village. Okonkwo’s life falls apart and as a result, he commits suicide by hanging himself. The cultural tradition of Umuofia falls apart, and becomes influenced by the West. In “Things Fall Apart,” Achebe uses Okonkwo and the village’s falling out to show how African culture, as well as other cultures around the world, suffered as a result of Westernization. In the book, Achebe focuses mainly on the character of Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s story follows the general pattern of a Greek tragedy. He experiences many successes in the beginning, but everything eventually comes crashing down on him. His early life is the typical success story. He starts poor, but works hard to earn everyone’s respect. From the beginning he is disgusted with his father. He is a lazy old man who borrows money and never pays it back. Okonkwo realizes that he does not want to be like his father, and it is this hatred that drives him to work hard. After his father’s death, Okonkwo pays off his debts, and starts his long journey to the top of the clan. In a short time, Okonkwo...
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.
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.
When the Europeans arrived in Africa during the late eighteenth century the culture and the lives of the people of Africa are altered. Colonialism and Imperialism in Africa has adversely changed the way of life of the African people, and changed their culture, that had developed for so many years, unscathed by any distraction from the outside world. This dominant European influence has led to poverty in the African continent for the next 100 years, because of the institutions that were put into place by Europeans. In Things Fall Apart, it becomes clear that the Ibo culture responds in a distinct way to the European colonization; when compared to other villages and ethnic groups in Africa. These foreigners had such an enormous effect on the Ibo tribe that many of the clansmen decided to abandon the traditional ways or were too afraid to rise against the takeover of their tribe by the Europeans since the natives lacked the adequate technology to fight off the Europeans. The culture collision between Europe’s culture and the Ibo culture causes Nwoye’s sense of identity to be challenged and causes him to distance himself from his family and his tribe because of the introduction of Christianity and western ideals.
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).
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.
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
Before the arrival of the Europeans, Achebe did a excellent job portraying how the life of Igbo was before they were forced to oppose their own culture. To support this theme, Achebe included detailed descriptions of social rituals within each family, the justice system, religious practices and consequences, preparation and indulgence of food, the marriage process and the distributing of power within the men. Achebe shows how every man has an opportunity to prove himself worthy to achieve a title on the highest level, based merely on his own efforts. One may argue that the novel was written with the main focus on the study of Okonkwo’s character and how he deteriorates, but without the theme that define the Igbo culture itself, we would never know the universe qualities of the society that shaped Okonkwo’s life. The lives of the Igbo people was no different to the actual lives of the Ibos people back in the early days of Africa. Just like in Things Fall Apart, in actual African tribes there was never a ruler. “Very interesting thing about these villages is that there is no single ruler or king that controls the population. Decisions are made by including almost everyone in the village” (AfricaGuide). Using the theme, Achebe educated readers on by mirroring real African life in her
Colonization in Nigeria affected the Igbo culture and its people in many different ways. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the author portrays events in the novel that reflect real experiences that he had. Many of the events in the novel deal with the act of colonization and how it affects different members in society, an idea that Achebe has experienced for himself. The author 's first hand experience with colonization allows the story to depict how colonization affected the Igbo people more accurately. Chinua Achebe creates an accurate representation of colonialism with his use of real events that occurred.
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
Throughout the world there are many conflicts. It has been that way all throughout history. Since the dawn of man, there have been many conflicts. These conflicts led to wars and changed the lives of many forever. Almost all of the conflicts are due to discrimination by different groups of people. Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, provide examples of discrimination between groups of people. The story focuses on the life and suicide of Okonkwo, a well-respected clansman of Umuofia clan. He struggles between the traditional strong masculine culture in a Nigerian Village and the new customs brought by white missionaries. The book shows the disastrous effects of prejudice and intolerance leading readers to reflect on the similarities of present and history. Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, strongly represents the vast amount of bigotry between those of different genders, religious groups, and social statuses throughout history.