Dehumanization In Things Fall Apart

As a country ages, many significant changes occur. Over the past two hundred years in particular, Nigeria’s history has changed exponentially. Many things have changed the Nigerians culture but the strength in their belief in tradition has kept their culture united and sound. In Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, the reader is given a detailed explanation of the Nigerian’s life prior to the invasion of colonizing missionaries; consequently, Achebe describes the dehumanization of their culture and the effects it had on the people and how they lived their life. In part one of Things Fall Apart, the reader learns that the people of Umuofia are completely competent. The novels protagonist, Okonkwo, has a great fear of becoming like his lazy, lackadaisical father. “Unoko was such a man that he always

The missionaries did many harmful things to the Igbo society, however, they brought things such as schools and trade, which has positively affected their culture for a short and long amount of time. Some of the short term effects was that their society literally fell apart. The people got confused and angry and they rebelled in outrage. Many people were killed and what is now present day Nigeria, was a harmful place. The characters in Things Fall Apart were greatly affected by the colonization. For example, when Okonkwo killed himself because things were not going his way or when Nwoye was seen “among the Christians” (Achebe 132). When Okonkwo heard of this, “he told himself that Nwoye was not worth fighting for” (Achebe 133). A long term effect could be that the environment they live in now is more current than what might have been if there wasn’t colonization. Christianity was also brought to Africa. Even though the Christian religion is 40% of the culture, 10% is still traditional African religion. Overall, Nigeria and its culture changed for both the good and the