Things Fall Apart

The Village of Umuofia was a very cohesive, independent place in the beginning of Things fall apart. Umuofia had their own religious beliefs and cultural traditions. These people of Umuofia made sure to produce offerings and sacrifices for their Gods, to make sure they were pleasing them. There also was a political system, made up of some of the tribe’s strongest leaders and warriors. Okonkwo was one of these strong, fierce leaders, however he was not always like this. Okonkwo had to work hard to get his rank in his tribe, due to his failure of a father. Okonkwo liked feeling important and like he was in control of the situation, so when Christian missionaries began to inhabit the village of Umuofia, this angered Okonkwo. Okonkwo never trusted

Firstly, the missionaries put their people in charge. The court of the “White man” had a district commissioner and court messengers. “The court messengers were greatly hated in Umuofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed” (Page 174). These messengers treated the village people very terrible. They would beat the village people for doing certain cultural customs and calling them bad names. For example, many people of Umuofia would be placed in prison for throwing away twins, which was a cultural belief of the village. This can also be compared to the White Mans Burden. The Europeans forced their culture onto the Africans because they thought that their culture would make the Africans more civilized. Either way, the district commissioner and the court messengers basically took all the villages power from the elders and other elected leaders. Upon Okonkwo return to Umuofia, he could already tell how things had drastically changed. He mourned for his fellow clans’ men, because he said they were acting as women. They were no longer strong, fearless warriors but cowards. This is what is believed to lead Okonkwo to hang himself in the end of the

Many of the village people believed in multiple Gods, such as Ani and Chukwu. These people also believed in their own personal God called Chi. For example, when Okonkwo blames his chi for bad situations in his life, He feels that his chi controls what happens to himself personally. In order to please these special Gods, the people of Umuofia would hold festivals or make offerings to the Idols. For instance, when Okonkwo beat his youngest wife during the sacred week of peace. Ezani, the priest of the earth Goddess, told Okonkwo “the evil you have done can ruin the whole clan. The earth goddess whom you have insulted my refuse to give us her increase, and we shall all perish” (Page 30). Okonkwo was then forced to give this Goddess a she-goat, one hen, a length of cloth and also one hundred cowries. The village people believed that after an offering such as this, all would be well with whichever God they had angered. Umuofia also held a few cultural beliefs that were very specific to their religion. Firstly, twins were considered a very bad and unlucky thing in Umuofia. When twins were born, they were carried to the evil forest and left to die, because they were seen as an abomination. The villagers also would not bury their dead if the person had killed themselves. They believed that it was woman like to take your own life and that the evil spirit would