Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart

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A cultural collision is when two cultures disagree or form a conflict due to differences in their background or viewpoints. It can happen in any culture and regardless of the issue, it can affect an entire community. When the culture that makes you who you are is questioned and demanded to be changed it can disrupt peace and cause anger. In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, a cultural collision occurs that shakes up and ends main character, Okonkwo's familiar life. The clash also causes the entire Igbo societies lifestyle to change drastically. In the story, Okonkwo faces many challenges when white missionaries invade his village seeking to convert his tribe to Christianity. As majority of the tribe beings to accept the new religion, …show more content…

He viewed the missionaries as disrespectful to his religion. As mentioned before, Okonkwo believed he could accomplish anything but this issue was growing significantly larger. His violent response to the cultural collision caused by the introduction of western ideas was very negative and agressive. “But on one occasion the missionaries had tried to overstep the bounds. Three converts had gone into the village and boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent and they were prepared to defy them by burning all of their shrines” (Achebe 154). Okonkwo’s natural response was to turn to violence. “If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor… Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head” (Achebe 158). He was prepared to end the lives of the missionaries in order to solve the problems that had risen. Okonkwo knew that the white missionaries had an effect on the Igbo people and he knew he wanted to fix them. “Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was not just a personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (Achebe 183). He had to do much of the fixing by himself because much of his tribe had already been accustomed to the new ways and believed violence was not the answer. The missionaries had an influence on so many people in the village that

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