Things Fall Apart Essay

Tradition and culture, two aspects that makes a person unique, what would happen to that person if they stopped believing their own tradition and culture? Chinua Achebe the author, is a very traditional man who feels that his roots and all of Africa’s roots is what make Africans special. Throughout the book Achebe describes the traditions of the Igbo people, and when the colonists come, Achebe describes how many of the Igbo people lost their traditions and a sense of who they really were. Achebe says in his essay “The worst thing that can happen to any people is the loss of their dignity and self-respect”. Achebe tries to remind many Africans who they once were and from where they came. The Igbo people, as described by Achebe, are traditional people who will try to keep their traditions and fight to continue their traditions.

Achebe believes that it is his job as a write to help people regain their dignity and a their history, and tries to explain what happened to them and how they originally lost a sense of who they once were, and he succeeds. On page 9 it says, “Darkness held a vague terror for these people, even the bravest among them. Children were warned not to whistle at night for fear of evil spirits. Dangerous animals became even more sinister and uncanny in the dark. A snake was never called by its name at night, because it would hear. It was called a string.” This quote is describing a part of the Igbo people’s culture; it talks about how they believe that evil spirits roam the Earth at night, and that a snake would hear you if you called it by “snake”, so that is why the people must call the snake “a string”. Achebe is able to describe a part of their culture, and even the smallest details of this culture ...

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...e the Igbo people as people who make mistakes but can learn and always adapt their culture and that sometimes tradition is something that means a lot to some of the people of Umuofia.

In “Things Fall Apart”, Achebe is able to help the readers imagine the culture of Umuofia, and the characters represented in the story. Achebe is able to help Africans/Nigerians regain their tradition by describing how sacred it is and how big a part of life it is for some people. Achebe describes in many ways the “depth and beauty” in the Igbo people, by describing rituals or possibly stories that the people live by, but mainly the culture and the strong passion these people have for their heritage. And Achebe describes the Igbo people as regular people, people who have a passion for something, as people who have regrets and sorrows, but also as people who can accept and forgive.