Marginalized The Umuofians In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

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Recommended: Cultural traits portrayed in Achebe's things fall apart

Everywhere in the world you will always have someone or a group who is more superior to your group or yourself. Just like the British being more superior to the Umuofians and the Ladinos being more Superior to the Indios. In this paper, I will compare and contrast the ways that British economically and culturally marginalized the Umuofians in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart with the ways in which the Ladinos economically and culturally marginalized Rigoberta and her people (the Indios) in I, Rigoberta Menchu.
The book, Things Fall Apart, is a story written by Chinua Achebe, who has written to this story to inform the readers about not just Africa, but about all the different African cultures; like, Umuofia, Mbaino, Mbanta, and so many more. Achebe is reminding us this because the British view each and every culture as the same, not differently from village to village like they are.
When the six British missionaries arrive, they arrive very rude. They came to show the Umuofians that there is only one God, yet he tells the villagers that they are all brothers and sons of God. The white man accuses the Mbanta village of worshipping false Gods of wood and stone. He asks, “We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn on Him so that you may be saved when you die.” The British pushed their God onto the Mbanta, stayed in their town, and requested for a piece of land to build a church; and soon enough, the church is winning time and time again, getting more and more converts. “We do not ask for the wealth because he that has health and children will also have wealth. We do not pray to have money but to have more kinsmen. We are better than animals because we have kinsmen. ...

... middle of paper ...

...for her and her family.
When comparing the British and the Umuofians and the Indios and the Ladinos, and how both the Ladinos and British were culturally and economically marginalizing the Indios and the Umuofians, they in some ways failed and some ways were successful. The British and the Christian missionaries being more successful than the Ladinos were able to convert many to Christianity. And economically the Ladinos and British were economically stable and were as you could say, “better off.” They all live very differently, yet none can appreciate one another. In this paper, I compared and contrasted the ways that British economically and culturally marginalized the Umuofians in Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart with the ways in which the Ladinos economically and culturally marginalized Rigoberta and her people (the Indios) in I, Rigoberta Menchu.

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