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Cultural conflict when things fall apart
Cultural conflict when things fall apart
Cultural conflict when things fall apart
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In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Obierika and Okeke bring a peace to the community and themsel and religious lives around them, while Okonkwo and Enoch strike fear and confusion into the communities around them. Okeke and Obierika are from two different worlds but their balanced character makes them similar to one another. Okeke is of Igbo descent but has begun to work as a translator for the Christians. Okeke has to balance the Igbo and Christian religions because he could get himself in trouble and or other people in trouble. Okeke “interpreted wisely to the spirits and leaders of Umuofia,” (190). Okeke is trying to keep the peace between both sides of the religious argument. He is being ‘wise’ because trying not to start a war between …show more content…
Enoch converted to Christianity and thought the Umuofians “would not touch a Christian,” (186). He now sees himself as untouchable and superior to the Umuofians because of his religion. He even “tore off [an egwugwu] mask” (186) which in Umuofia was a crime. Enoch had so much faith in his religion that he even went against his own tribe’s beliefs to try and prove his new religion was true and the old was false. “He had hoped that a holy war was imminent,” (188) because he wanted to show the Ibo that the Christians were dominant and Enoch would prove it to them even by going to the extreme of committing a crime. Enoch thought a war would lead to the end of the Ibo religion forcing people to convert to Christianity. He tried to start that war by “kill[ing] and eat[ing] the sacred python” (178) which went against the Ibo religion and his father, who was the priest of the snake cult. Enoch had a “devotion to the new faith [which was] so much greater than Mr. Brown’s,” (185) and believed that the new religion was better than the old religion. While, Mr. Brown was trying to convert people if they wanted to, Enoch was trying to show the lies of the Ibo religion. Enoch was hidden away for a couple of days but this made him “greatly disappointed” (188) because he wants to be out in Umuofia supporting Christianity by trying to end the Ibo religion. Okonkwo’s extremism for the Ibo religion is similar to the extremism shown by Enoch for Christianity. Okonkwo always wants to fight for what he thinks is right and doesn’t back down from anyone. Okonkwo saw the messengers approaching, he was “trembling with hate, unable to say a word” (204) because he knew they were there to stop his people and he didn’t want to back down from them. Okonkwo has “[his] own plan of revenge” (200) for the Christians and their new religion. He wants to assert the Ibo
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.
Okonkwo fights the issue of religion with every last bone in him. He feels that religion is a waste of the hard-earned position that the Ibo
...ionaries that Okonkwo had left and that he would take the missionaries to where Okonkwo was. Obierika led them to Okonkwo’s final resting place in the forest. “We are thrust from what is figured as an intimate, insider’s view of the Igbo life to a jarringly alien one.”(Carey Snyder Things Fall Apart Blooms literature).Okonkwo felt that the Igbo people were doomed because they would not fight against the Christians so Okonkwo Hung himself from a tree. The commissioner was writing a book called “The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger(Achebe 209)” and that “One could almost write a whole chapter on him(Achebe 208)” meaning with what Okonkwo had done to the missionaries and against Christianity. Okonkwo and the missionaries both deserve part of the blame for the fall of the Igbo people and Obierika is very justified in placing blame on both of them.
He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.") (Achebe 176). This quote deeply explained “white men” coming to their native and spreading their religion. The “white men” also known as the Europeans were asking to build a church in the land that the Igbo resigned. They were not so sure with this decision at first and came over very hesistant and then they agreed to let the white men build the church in The Evil Forrest of the Umofia
Okonkwo has always resorted to violence when he is text with the problem. One such time is in Mbanta when Okonkwo claimed that “if his children are praying to the white man's God, he would wipe them off the face of the earth." (Achebe 146) Again this shows Okonkwo resorting to violence to solve his problem. His problem is this new culture and religion invading his land. This quote also shows that his negative response will not be limited to the invaders, but anyone who joins them, even his family. They will all be punished by him. The thought of his family joining the white man creates a drastic negative response in Okonkwo. Another reason for Okonkwo’s strict punishment was probably from Nwoye. Nwoye had defied Okonkwo and joined the white man’s religion. This enraged Okonkwo and he threatened Nwoye. He later disowned him as his oldest son. This no doubt contributed to Okonkwo’s response to the invading culture.
When the western missionaries first arrived in his Motherland, he was against their religion and presence in the clan, but his son, Nwoye, decided to ap...
...remain strong against the tide of change, but he appears to be the only one. When he kills the colonial official in the end, it is one last attempt to 'save' his tribe from the weakness and influence of the white man. No one else backs his attempt however, so Okonkwo, in desperation, chooses the most dishonorable death possible, suicide, rather than allow himself to be handed over to the 'weak' white man. In my opinion, i wouldn't think that Okonkwo would give up the Igbo tradition to be part of the white men religion; that’s why he killed himself because he thought he was the only one following the Igbo “steps” and he knew that nobody is on his side no more. What Okonkwo would handle his situation better if he would probably gave the "new changes" a shot and if he doesn't like it, then probably just run away and make his own community, since he is tough and manly.
“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.
You never know how much you care about your culture until people try to take it away from you. Okonkwo was a prideful jerk as moste would describe him, who was once exiled for seven years for his unlawful actions. When he finally returned to Umuofia, white men come trying to change things and take land. Okonkwo stepped up to help lead his clan but ended up with the same mistakes he used to make, which connects to violence. He then gives in to his biggest fear, weakness. When stress and trying to step up and change to somebody your not takes toll over you, sometimes one just can’t over turn it. This was his reaction to the cultural collision of the white men and Igbo people. This is important because that cultural collision impacted many people on both sides of the dispute. Okonkwo’s reaction to this collision showed how one can connect back to old habits and how cultural collisions mostly never end well no matter what. There will always be that person offended, killed, or even that person to take their own life because of
Though many may interpret Okonkwo as a tragic hero are drawn to him, Obierika deserves more sympathy from the reader than Okonkwo. Obierika suffers just as Okonkwo does under the thumb of the missionaries, but he lacks the selfish focus that drives most of Okonkwo’s actions. Ultimately, Obierika’s venerability springs from his ability to see the compromise that will allow the Ibo to find a method for adaptation to the inevitable changes brought by the missionaries.
...fashioned man and his son (Nwoye) reminds him of his father, who he wasn't fond of. Okonkwo is never going to convert because of his traditional beliefs. His son’s converting was a major factor that led to his suicide. Okonkwo would rather die as an Ibo than live to see his culture fall apart.
In the end it is Okonkwo’s inability to recognize change that forces him to commit suicide. It is the white missionaries’ inability to recognize that the Africans did not wish to change which adds to his demise. The missionaries represent the ruthlessness of the white man in Africa. The native Africans were expected to accept the ways of the white culture, for their own benefit, or suffer the consequences. In this light the missionaries can only be seen as brutal, and anything but true Christians, but rather religious zealots who like Okonkwo wish to force their world view upon others.
The main focus in this novel is on one man, Okonkwo, the protagonist who symbolises the many Nigerians, or Africans who were struggling against the white missionaries, who brought their religion and policies and imposed them on Okonkwo’s and the other surrounding tribes. Achebe also shows how great the effect is when something as seemingly un-invasive, such as a church, is set up in a Nigerian or African Culture. Among other issues, A...
Nwoye grows tired of his father and is called by the Christian faith and converts. Nwoye’s internal struggle with himself between change and tradition ultimately led him to convert against his father’s wishes. Okonkwo is extremely resistant to change, so he does everything in his power to prevent his family from converting; “‘If you turn against me when I am dead I will visit you and break your neck’” (Achebe 105). Okonkwo uses fear to keep his other children from the Igbo culture.
This novel also provided a very detailed, and seemingly accurate, account of the lives of the Ibo. The Ibo were an extremely spiritual people who answered to their gods daily. A hardworking people who based their personal worth on their community and crop achievements. Their yam crops were the backbone of the community and he who possessed the largest crops were usually respected by all in the community. The Ibo were a very gendered people. The men normally made all the rules and the woman were taught to respect their husbands decisions. In particular, Okonkwo ruled his household with an iron fist. He often beat his wives for small reasons and felt little to no remorse for doing so. While it was not uncommon for the men of the Ibo tribe to beat their wives if they disobeyed orders, Okonkwo was a character that oftentimes took it too far. In one point in the novel he badly beat one of his wives, Ojiugo, during the sacred week. During this time no one in the tribe is to commit such acts, as it is a time for peace. By beating his wife, he defied the gods and was forced to offer up animal sacrifices and payment to them. This one of Okonkwo's major character flaws, he is stubborn and self-righteous, and wishes to answer to nobody but himself. This even leads to eventual fate, when he refuses to join the Christians when most everyone else of the tribe gave in to their ideas.