Why Things Fell Apart

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In the book, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the setting of the story is the Igbo tribe in Niger, which is located in southeastern Africa. There is a strong social and economical structure with the Igbo people. The villages have a solid set of traditional beliefs that they live their lives by, without stray of that tradition. The introduction of Christianity to the tribes brought changes to the social and religious lives of the villages. The novel provides a glimpse into the changes of how the colonialist changed the traditional roles of the economic and political lives of the villages of Niger. Tradition is set so cultures have a path to follow in their creation of family and life, in Things Fall Apart, the collide of the Europeans and the Nigerian cultures created a conflict and the introduction of Christianity and Colonialism set a path for change that was not welcomed.
The people of the Igbo also referred to as the Ibo, live in a southeastern area of Africa in Nigeria. The life of the Igbo social and economic structure is not all that different then that of the United States (US), as it was constructed around agriculture, local manufacturing and trade. The tribal families have their animals primarily for the prominent status that comes with ownership and for the need of sacrifices at the village center. In the book they celebrate with palm wine, but currently one of the principal exports is a palm oil and palm kernel. The main crops of the Igbo are yams, cassava, and taro, which are all under ground tuber root type vegetation. Cassava is a plant that is used to cassava flour, breads, tapioca, a laundry starch, and even an as an alcoholic beverage (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (Ed.), 2014). Taro is used...

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...e. Retrieved from http://www.biography.com/people/chinua-achebe-20617665
Achebe, C. (1959). Things fall apart. (50 ed.). New York, NY: Anchor Books; A division of Random House, Inc.
Igbo. In (2014). The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (Ed.), Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/282215/Igbo
Kirszner, L. G., & Mandell, S. R. (2012). Compact literature: Reading, reacting, writing.
(8 ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Metz, H. C. (1991). Nigeria: A country study. washington. Retrieved from http://countrystudies.us/nigeria/
Nigeria. In (2014). The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (Ed.), Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/414840/Nigeria
Rank, J. (2014). Countries and their cultures: Igbo. Retrieved from http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Igbo.html

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