The Nefarious Nature of Single Narratives
The presentation of a single point of view results in assumptions and prejudices that do not account for the multifaceted nature of people and society. Considering Eugene and Father Benedict’s religious practices, oppression and intolerance of all things unchristian appears to be cemented into Nigerian Catholicism. However, this concept of a unilateral Catholic ideology is broken by Father Amandi, with whose tender acceptance of Igbo culture and loving nature, shines a light on the diversity of religious sentiments in Nigeria. Furthermore, Kambili’s father defies the usual mold of an antagonist. Eugene strives to show the truth through his newspaper and constantly helps those in need. Conversely, he beats his wife and children to the brink of death on multiple occasions, though he believes he is doing the right thing. Thus, Eugene has the oxymoronical characterization of being both kind, generous, devout, and caring while reciprocally abusing those closest to him and falsely justifying it as God’s will. In addition, Kambili’s involvement with various socio economic classes and personalities, from her vicious upper class father to her poor but liberal aunt, portrays a people and society that defies a single categorization. Presenting a multifaceted image of Nigerian culture and beliefs through the complex narrative of the Purple Hibiscus, Ngozi defies prejudices and assumptions that result from a simplistic and one sided portrayal.
Multiple forms of religion used as forces of destruction and growth in Purple Hibiscus reveal the complexity of religion in Nigeria. Defying categorical assumptions, Father Amandi and Eugene provide contrasting interpretations of Catholicism and Igbo culture. E...
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...on, the mindless depiction of the hawkers is defied by
Chimandi Ngozi utilizes the intricacy of characters and beliefs within Purple Hibiscus to promote the greater accuracy of multi sided descriptions in place of a single viewpoint. For example, Nigerian Catholicism is initially presented as wholly conservative and western. However, Father Amandi’s brand of Catholic and Igbo syncretism is later shown as an equally valid piece of Nigerian faith. In addition, Eugene’s complex nature proves that a person can not be singularly defined. Eugene generously promotes freedom and maintains his good intentions while paradoxically oppressing his family. Finally, the exposure to a wide variety of Nigerian people of different religious, economic, educational, and social backgrounds weaves together the many stories and viewpoints of Nigeria into an intricate yet accurate tale.
The events of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart and the film Sugar Cane Alley detail the lives of a fictionalized Nigerian village and sugar cane harvesters in remote Martinique, respectively, during similar time periods of the 1900s. Both works contain explicit references to Christianity, and how the imposition of religion and white culture have negatively affected the African characters. European religious practice was used as a means of pacifying as well as terrifying the Umuofian people and the inhabitants of Sugar Cane Valley.
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.
This is a gripping novel about the problem of European colonialism in Africa. The story relates the cultural collision that occurs when Christian English missionaries arrive among the Ibos of Nigeria, bringing along their European ways of life and religion.
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.
The story is set within the Ibo tribe of Umuofia, which is one of the nine villages that combine to make one large clan in Nigeria. These tribes are ones that hold courage, strength, tradition and customs extremely high. The theme of tradition is examined by
“He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.” This quote by Chinua Achebe describes the self-inflictions when a person purposely goes after another. This goes hand-in-hand with the Nigerian author’s magnum opus, Things Fall Apart. For the duration of the book, Achebe uses subtle events to create amplifying changes. He uses Okonkwo’s relationship with others, his learning about the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. Achebe also uses Okonkwo’s fear of change for the Ibo regarding to the missionaries and their spread of Christianity through the region. Creating universal and relatable characters, Chinua Achebe warns people of rash actions and their effects over time.
Watch this Ted Talk, The Danger of a Single Story: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en (Links to an external site.)
Okonkwo has murdered, beaten, and cast off those he loved throughout his life. He remained stubborn and violent until his last days, and yet through his internal struggle, and sparse, yet endearing loves Okonkwo is still perceived to be morally indefinite. Okonkwo may not be considered by western culture to be a good person, but viewing his life in its entirety, it is almost impossible for one to attach a completely negative label to him. By telling the story of Okonkwo's life, Chinua Achebe, creates a dynamic and morally ambiguous protagonist while addressing the moral issue of Christian evangelism in Africa.
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.
"Religion and the Igbo People." Queen's University Belfast | Home. 15 Aug. 2001. Web. 22 Mar. 2010. .
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.
“The white man had indeed brought a lunatic religion…” (153) thought Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In the novel, the main character Okonkwo and his son Nwoye experience sudden changes in their village from the arrival of white men. They once began their lives in their native Ibo village of Umoufia. After Okonkwo commits a murder by accident, he is forced to be exiled to Mbanta for seven years. During the years of his exile, Okonkwo hears about white men missionaries appearing in Umuofia, who later come to Mbanta. The missionaries have promoted Christianity in both villages and some of the villagers even converted from Ibo culture to Christian. Finally, after the seven years, Okonkwo and Nwoye return to the new Umuofia, where little Ibo culture remains. Okonkwo and Nwoye react to the changed village differently. They have dissimilar perceptions about the influence of the white men because they had distinct life experiences that shaped their own views on life.
Igbo spirituality weakened in two waves. First Christianity provided answers that the inhabitants of Umuofia and Mbanta were seeking. At the end of Part One Obierika's thoughts are expressed:
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.
...’s depictions of both traditional and modern beliefs in varying degrees illustrate the importance of both in contemporary Nigerian culture, as well as the greater Africa as a whole, and how both are intertwined and cannot exist without the other. In effect, she skillfully subverts stereotypes or single perceptions of Africa as backward and traditional, proving instead, the multifaceted culture of Africa. She further illustrates that neither traditional African nor western culture is necessarily detrimental. It is the stark contrast of the fundamental cultures that inevitably leads to clashes and disagreements. In the end, what holds African countries such as Nigeria together is their shared pride. Modern, western influences can bring positive changes to society, but new cultures cannot completely eradicate the foundational cultures to which a society is founded on.