Okonkwo Cultural Changes

Acceptance of Cultural Changes

The novel Things Fall Apart focuses on a character by the name of Okonkwo, he is part of the Umuofia clan. He is a highly respected individual in his community who was also quite wealthy. Okonkwo father Unoka was a well-known man in the village but not in a good way he was known as a man who could barely have food on the table for his wives and children and had many debts across the village. Okonkwo’s goal was to be nothing like his father so he strived to be the best clansman, farmer, and the best family provider. Okonkwo faced some cultural challenges ahead that would turn his so called perfect life upside down and make him face reality.

In one part of this story it talks about Okonkwo beating his wife. Okonkwo

He explains to them that their gods are false and that worshipping more than one god is idolatrous, the villagers don’t understand how this is possible how the holy trinity could be accepted as one god. Mr. Brown creates a policy of compromise, understanding, and non-aggressive behavior between his flock and the clan. He even ends of becoming friends with some of the clansmen and builds school and hospitals in Umuofia and begged that the villager children attend and warns them if they do not, strangers who can read and write will come to rule them. He attempts to appeal respectfully to the tribe’s value’s rather than to just impose his beliefs on them. Unfortunately, Mr. Brown gets ill and is replaced by Reverend James Smith who is strict and unwilling to make compromises for the clan. He causes conflict between the church and the clan with his refusal to understand and respect traditional Igbo cultural, he demands a complete rejection of the coverts old religious beliefs. One individual who coverts to Christianity is Nwoye who is Okonkwo oldest son and Okonkwo sees this as effeminate and compares Nowye to his father weak and fearful. This was a disgrace to Okonkwo he could not believe not only had the white men be accepted by the clansmen and partially taken over their village

Obrienke explains that it is too late to drive them out that have weakened the ties of kinship. Unfortunately, many of the clansmen were now on the white man’s side. Since Okonkwo was placed in exile his village had basically fallen apart and that he had lost all his power and respect that he once had prior to being placed in exile. Okonkwo try’s to and make his big splash return to the village that he had planned while he was away in exile but it fails him and does not change