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An essay on Nigerian culture
Impact of european colonialism on africa
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Throughout the course of the novel, we read about a myriad amount of troublesome practices. Many of these cultural practices were considered harmful and unacceptable by outside societies such as the Europeans. Societies that were involved in such practices were deemed as “barbarians” and “savages” by the ethnocentric Europeans. In this paper, I will argue that Europeans were not justified in condemning the Igbo people because the Europeans took it upon themselves to impose their own belief system on them. I personally do not support or condone these actions but that does not necessarily justify European conquest. The fact that these practices take place does not mean that they must be christianized.
In Chapter two, we see some evidence of how the village has its own legal system which might not be the same as the Europeans’ but they do have a system in place that they follow. The clansmen are asked to gather in the market through the rings of the ogene and it is announced that someone from the village of Mbaino murdered the wife of an Umuofia tribesman while she was in their market. Okonkwo then travels to Mbaino to inform them of the message to hand over a virgin and a young boy to Umuofia. Mbaino agrees to handing over the virgin and the fifteen year old boy.1
In Chapter three we learn that Unoka, Okonkwo’s father, died of a swelling which was an abomination to the earth goddess. “When a man was afflicted with swelling in the stomach and the lims he was not allowed to die in the house. He was carried to the Evil Forest and left there to die.” Since the sickness was an abomination to earth, the victim could not be buried in their bowels. 2 We also see many examples of practices that take place in the Igbo such as the sharing...
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...longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart. 12
The motivation that drove Europeans to make free use of terminology such as “barbarians” or “savages” was for religious reasons itself. Although I personally do not support nor condemn the actions and practices that take place throughout the course of the novel, that does not necessarily justify European conquest and the fact that they imposed their own belief system upon the Igbo culture through their ethnocentric ways. Till this day, I believe that nobody is justified in judging and condemning other societies because everyone is part of a system of behavior that they were expected to conform to whether or not is agrees with your personal beliefs or not.
Bibliography
Achebe,Chinua. Things Fall Apart, (New York: Anchor Books, 1994).
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.
In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Mr. Brown, the first missionary in Umuofia, was a kind and respectful man. Not to say that Reverend James Smith was not, but his degree of kindness and respect were present in a whole different level. They both wanted to convert the lost, all those in Umuofia that were not in the church. Mr. Brown made friends with the clan and “trod softly on his faith,” (pg.178) while Mr. Smith told them how things were in a harsh voice and tried to force his religion on the people of Umuofia. The impacts the two had on the people and the church were exact opposites.
Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe takes readers through the lives of how the Igbo civilization grew and developed and then how it fell. Within the book the main focus was on the Igbo’s civilization rituals and traditions that had been changed due to the travel of new foreigners. These foreigners clashed with the Igbo tribes causing many differences within the traditions set by their ancestors, ultimately causing everything to fall apart. A scene in the book shows Okonkwo, one of the main characters within the Igbo tribe, had died. One of the quotes from the book, explaining the essence of how the traditions meant to them was Obierika, talking about his friends’ death saying (“It is against our custom, it is an abomination for a man to take his own life.”)(Achebe 178) As the Europeans invaded they claimed one of their own, and buried him. The two friends had obeyed the rituals and customs set by their early ancestors within the Igbo civilization.
Looking into different cultures makes us all believe that our own is the right one no matter what. I feel as if we think our own culture is the right one because of the fact that it’s how we grew up and what we became to know. In the book “Things Fall Apart” the writer wants everyone who reads the book to view a different culture or social group. Wanting everyone to look into a foreign society and increase in value for what it is without anyone judging their practices from a different social groups view. You have to really look into this book to find the ethnocentrism in it because it’s difficult for us to spot it out since it’s not the same as what we would normally see and pick out.
He was in great conflict with the ideas of the white men and the missionaries. Okonkwo saw that their beliefs had not only changed the daily life of the Ibo, but it also changed the people themselves: “He mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). The author uses strong diction to compare the men before and after colonization. This quote also portrays Okonkwo’s opinion towards the cultural collision. He values strength and masculinity immensely because of his fear of appearing weak like his father Unoka. When he describes that the men of Umuofia changed to be soft like women, this shows how much he dishonors the Western ideas and how it has taken over the village. He made an attempt to get rid of the Western influence by urging the tribe to fight like men, but they refuse to. He was determined and still attempted to furthermore encourage the people of Umuofia to revolt against the new culture. He realizes that his attempts to return the village back to the way it was before were futile. He knew that Christianity was tearing his people apart, but knew he was incapable of making change to help his people. Okonkwo then starts to feel hopeless and abandoned by his clan, which causes him to commit suicide by hanging himself: “Obierika… turned suddenly to the District Commissioner and said ferociously: ‘That man was one of the greatest men
Okonkwo is supposed to be comforting to his children, but instead he hurts them. “Nwoye overheard it and burst into tears, whereupon his father beat him heavily. As for Ikemefuna, he was at a loss. His own home had gradually become very faint and
Okonkwo is often described as being similar to characters in Greek tragedies. Okonkwo knew that the end of his clan was coming, and that they would do nothing to prevent it from happening. He took his life out of desperation. He had struggled his whole life to become a respected member of his community, and suddenly his world is turned upside down and changed forever because of an accident. Okonkwo sees that he is fighting a losing battle, so he quits. Suicide was one of the biggest offenses that could be committed against the earth, and Okonkwo?s own clansmen could not bury him. Okonkwo?s death symbolizes the end of patriarchy in Umuofia. The last page of the book is from the point of view of the white Commissioner, who notes that he wants to include a paragraph on Okonkwo?s life in his book entitled The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of Lower Niger. Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs and defeats are all reduced to a paragraph, much like his culture and society will be reduced.
Okonkwo is “a man of action, a man of war” (7) and a member of high status in the Igbo village. He holds the prominent position of village clansman due to the fact that he had “shown incredible prowess in two intertribal wars” (5). Okonkwo’s hard work had made him a “wealthy farmer” (5) and a recognized individual amongst the nine villages of Umuofia and beyond. Okonkwo’s tragic flaw isn’t that he was afraid of work, but rather his fear of weakness and failure which stems from his father’s, Unoka, unproductive life and disgraceful death. “Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness….It was not external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father.” Okonkwo’s father was a lazy, carefree man whom had a reputation of being “poor and his wife and children had just barely enough to eat... they swore never to lend him any more money because he never paid back.” (5) Unoka had never taught Okonkwo what was right and wrong, and as a result Okonkwo had to interpret how to be a “good man”. Okonkwo’s self-interpretation leads him to conclude that a “good man” was someone who was the exact opposite of his father and therefore anything that his father did was weak and unnecessary.
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
One of the most baffling aspects of European interest in African people is the civilizations collective distaste of and fascination with people of African descent. The initial journey into Africa, and the planning that preceded it, spawned many of the most enlightening theories about African people. These theories, usually in support of African savagery and inferiority and in favor of European superiority and civility were based in the colonial mentalities of that time. Of the most notable theories is the idea that African religious system was pagan and that African people were inferior because of their darker skin pigmentation and “beast-like” nature. These theories dispersed rapidly across the globe, and even today people of African-descent collectively, however subconsciously, grow into them. Moving forward, how are these theories presented in post-modern works of literature? Equally so, how do authors weave the colonial and post-colonial mentalities into the framework of certain texts. Charles Johnson’s Middle Passage advances both colonial mentalities as well as post-colonial perspectives. The novel sheds light on traditional European colonial notions African savagery, the inferiority of African people as sub-human and commodities, and—at the same instant—presents the post-colonial perspective of the archetypical American Negro serving as a “middle man” between Europeans and Africans.
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the effects of colonialism were extremely evident in the Igbo society. As the white Englanders moved into the native's land, their cultural values changed. Examples of these changes were evident in all aspects of the Igbo people's lives, in their religion, family life, children, and the dead. Many of the Igboians were upset by the colonialism of their society, but in the end they were completely incapable of doing anything to reverse the changes that had already taken place in their society.
Now we should take in consideration of the bad things, the abominations of the Igbo cultures, and this does not mean its bad literally its just saying that other culture will view these things as morally unacceptable. Some of the Igbo’s practices like the fact that they eat bugs might be considered an abomination to societies such as America, when they see bugs they feel disgusted by them and have no intentions on eating them, but when you look at the Igbo tribe you will find out that they see the locusts as a delicacy and eat them for a long period of time with many different meal styles. That to the American people would be seen as an abomination, seeing that Americans have a feeling of discrete towards locust they would be disgusted by the fact of people actually eating them for meals. This was a rare appearance and ...
The novel Things fall apart depicts the cultural battle between the Igbo and the British: one was trying to keep its tradition, and one wanted to change those traditions by replacing them with a new religion. Finally, the British won because of they could figure out the falsehood in the indigenous people’s degenerate customs and attack it. Nothing in this world is perfect, and it is hard for a culture to be perfect. However, if a culture wants to develop and thrive, it should respect the value of its entire people. That was the reason why the Igbo culture was destroyed, because of its conservativeness, gender differentiation and superstitiously killing of the innocent.
While Collins does a succinct job of examining the economic and political factors that heightened colonization, he fails to hone in on the mental warfare that was an essential tool in creating African division and ultimately European conquest. Not only was the systematic dehumanization tactics crippling for the African society, but also, the system of racial hierarchy created the division essential for European success. The spillover effects of colonialism imparted detrimental affects on the African psyche, ultimately causing many, like Shanu, to, “become victims to the white man’s greed.”
All ancient traditional customs are destroyed, new customs are forced upon the Igbo people, and every individual will be effected and whether it 's in a positive or negative way depends on your willingness to adapt to cultural changes in your environment. Through the migration of two distinct cultures, Chinua Achebe teaches us that there must be some middle ground between two opposites where they can exist, and excel, as equals. This lesson can be applied in our society today as Achebe explains that there is a balance between two differences, whether it be in literal context of the novel indicating a balance between what we believe and what another culture teaches, or a metaphorical balance between two opposites such as race, gender, economic class etc. Never the less, until we are able to accept our weakness, and treat one another as equals we will all end up like