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

succeeded in borrowing more, and piling up his debts” (Achebe 3). The people in Umuofia had always believed in, and strictly followed the Igbo religion. In their culture, they had a working government that was completely run by men. Umuofia was a primitive agricultural land that strived off of things such as yams and palm oil. The Igbo people believed in many gods and although it may seem strange to western civilization, it was culturally appropriate in their society. A great value of wealth was how many wives and yams a man had. For example, Okonkwo “was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife” (Achebe 5). Everyone in Umuofia was relatively happy and at peace with their life and were not expecting anything drastic to happen.
Once the missionaries arrived in Nigeria, the Igbo people did not understand what they were trying to enforce. Mr. Brown was a very pertinent figure in the beginning of all the changes. His goal was to spread Christianity to the Igbo people in a way that they could understand. Unlike Mr. Smith, Mr. Brown tried to incorporate some of the Igbo people’s customs and traditions into Christianity so they could come to an agreeable understanding. Once Mr. Brown got sick, Mr. Smith came in his place and he was a much more authoritative and unruly. “He saw things as black and white. And black was evil. He saw the world as a battlefield in which the children of light were locked in mortal conflict with the sons of darkness” (Achebe 158). The Nigerians quickly became either outraged or intrigued. Okonkwo’s own son, Nwoye, converted to Christianity and that made his father very angry and confused. Once Okonkwo realized that his efforts were futile, he shamefully hung himself.
Nigerians today have still managed to keep some of their original traditions intact.

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

bad.
In Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe gives the reader a detailed explanation of what Nigeria was like prior to colonization, also the dehumanization of the Nigerians and the effects it had on their culture. Nigerians among many other people have faced appalling hardships that they have had to overcome. Through faith and trust these countries have managed to keep some tradition in place. The attempts to colonize many different African nations had a profound impact on African culture.