Say you were part of a tribe in a diminutive village and a group of outsiders came in to take over? How would you react? In the novel,” Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe a small village named Umuofia was home to a Nigerian tribe called the Ibo, unfortunately, the Europeans invaded and changed the Ibo culture by changing their religion,changing their culture and community; ultimately these changes were destructive. The changes that were made to the Ibo’s religion were destructive because it is changing the person they worship and their beliefs. Based on the information I received from the text, it states,” We have now built a church,’’ said Mr. Kiaga,” and we want you all to come in every Sunday to worship the true God.” This quote from chapter 17 explains that when the Europeans moved in they changed the god they believed in which was Chineke. With the Europeans claiming every seventh day you worship a true god. …show more content…
According to the novel it says,” "It is not our custom to fight for our gods," said one of them. "Let us not presume to do so now.” The quote provided in the text indicates that the Europeans here is producing a new custom into the Ibo culture. One of the Europeans quoted,” It is not our custom to fight for our gods,” this lets me know that before the Europeans moved in the Ibo people cherished a custom to fight for their gods with one of those gods being Chineke and when the Europeans came in they changed the custom into not fighting for their
In most religions that are in America, we believe there is only one god which differs from the Igbo culture. The Igbo people believed in many gods. Most of which are manifestations of nature and its elements. The way we pray is also different, in American culture, it is normal to go to church or some other religious setting. In the novel, it is mentioned that Okonkwo “[worships] them with sacrifices of kola nut, food and palm-wine, and offered prayers to them on behalf of himself, his three wives and eight children” (2.14).
We eventually see the ideas of another clansman who comes to terms that they are too late to fight off the new influence when he tells Okonkwo, “ “pg. ( ) we are seeing that men of the old way have realized that they can’t do anything about the white man’s influence because due to their customs it is one of the worst crimes to kill a clansman. And with this, that is why Okonkwo was banished in the first part, the accidental murder of a clansman. We see that the flourishment of one culture snuffs the life out of another and we see that today in areas like Israel Palestine that two different culture groups cannot live together because they will want to shove their culture down the throats of others/ have to prove that theirs is right. Much like the missionaries did with the Ibo when they came and told them about their false god
There are many differences between the Clan's beliefs and Christian's beliefs. This is illustrated on pages 126-129, in the mention of `the one true god.' Both the tribe and the Missionaries have different perceptions on who this one true god is. The clan has trouble understanding the Christian beliefs as they have lived a tribal existence for so long. They have only ever been aware of their own culture, which makes it hard for them to adjust to the ways of the Christians.
One of the flaws inside the Ibo culture that eventually leads to their downfall is the social system. The weaker people join the church as a way to gain acceptance. The osu, or outcasts who lived in the Ibo culture want to feel accepted and as a result, follow the Christians. “The two outcasts shaved off their hair, and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith” (157). These two outcasts never have the feeling of being a part of the clan. The church welcomes them. The osu cannot cut their hair, marry, or receive a title in the clan. They are “cast out like lepers” (157). The church welcomes the osu and treats them like human beings. This is where the Ibo social system is at fault. An ideal job is to be a farmer and since not everyone can afford seeds and a barn...
...taken up his religion also say that our customs bad.” Christianity is destroying and guiding two different societies. It guides the people that don’t believe in Christianity to convert because converts who once had the same beliefs as them are saying that theirs customs are bad. This causes Ibo people to convert to Christianity.Which guides the Christian society into better directions because they are gaining more converts. At the same time this destroys the Igbo religion because they are losing their members to the Christian society.
A lifespan goes through many phases. One of the phases in life is getting married to the right person. Another phase is the scary and dark part of someone's life, the end, or their death. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, readers learn about the differences of the Igbo weddings and funerals. Weddings and funerals play a huge role in the culture of this novel and there is something constantly going on involving the bride and the groom. Weddings involve many days of celebrations. For Igbo funerals, it also takes many days for the people to mourn the death of someone but, also many days of celebration to honor the life that has been lost. Achebe portrays the rites of passages by showing how weddings and funerals play a huge role in the Igbo culture. Throughout the novel readers learn about the process of the Igbo marriage proposal, how Igbo weddings bring people together, and the funeral process.
Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by itself, in both a sophisticated and primitive light describing and discussing its grandeur, showing its strengths and weaknesses, etiquettes and incivilities, and even the beginning of cultural breakdown before the introduction of the missionaries. The collapse of the old culture is evident soon after the missionaries arrived, and here Achebe utilises two of the primary missionary figures, Mr. Brown and Mr. Smith, to once again depicts both sides of the Ibo culture between them, with Mr. Brown depicting the sophisticated and Mr. Smith depicting the primitive aspects. The main focus in this novel is on one man, Okonkwo, the protagonist who symbolises the many Nigerians, or Africans who were struggling against the white missionaries, who brought their religion and policies and imposed them on Okonkwo’s and the other surrounding tribes. Achebe also shows how great the effect is when something seemingly un-invasive, such as a church, is set up in a Nigerian or African culture.
Do you think men are held at a higher standard than woman? In the book “Things Fall Apart” it deals with the Igbo Tribes history on how they treat women . There are many constant struggles that a women has to face within this book, from getting treated unfairly to being ruled by their husbands. These are gender roles in the African Igbo society when it comes to women. Throughout history , from the beginning of time to today, women are frequently been viewed as slaves to men. Meaning that they are a men’s possessions whose sole purpose is to satisfy the men’s needs. This might be because men are physically stronger than women and have always had the ability to control them that way.
Soon after the missionaries began to teach the tribal people about the Christian faith, their tribal customs began to be questioned. This caused a sense of unrest in the village. The missionaries were trying to bring with them new ways of life, and mostly better ways of life. Mr.Achebe tries to show us that the missionaries showed people who were hurt by the beliefs of the tribe that this did not have to go on in their religion. This is one of the main reason people switched to their religion.
In many ways the changes that the missionaries brought upon the Ibo were unavoidable. The rituals and cyclic view the Ibo had of time held their culture together. The Ibo did not hold on to their ideas of interdepenence and community. Therefore, they were more suspetable to surcoming to the ways of the white man. The colonial infiltration caused the Ibo to not only loose their cultural identity, but their voice. The missionaries alterations brought silece among the native dialect of the Ibo. Achebe states at the end of the novel "even now they have not found the mouth with which to tell of their suffering." From this quote it is apparent that there is little left of the Ibo culture. The colonial infliltration caused the Ibo to fall apart, and break the vital cycle that once held their culture together.
The novel Things fall apart depicts the cultural battle between the Igbo and the British: one was trying to keep its tradition, and one wanted to change those traditions by replacing them with a new religion. Finally, the British won because of they could figure out the falsehood in the indigenous people’s degenerate customs and attack it. Nothing in this world is perfect, and it is hard for a culture to be perfect. However, if a culture wants to develop and thrive, it should respect the value of its entire people. That was the reason why the Igbo culture was destroyed, because of its conservativeness, gender differentiation and superstitiously killing of the innocent.
Achebe shows us a culture that is on the verge of change. Within the story we find out how the reality of change is brought upon several characters, and what their actions follow. Just like how African’s resisted the white’s over taking their country in reality, Achebe implements the same idea with the use of several characters. Okonkwo, for example, is completely opposed to the new political and religious upbringing that has come upon his clan. He feels that a real man does not change his views and beliefs for another mans views and beliefs. He see’s it as a sign of weakness. As we see throughout the novel, Okonkwo’s fear of losing his title and status, drives him further away from the idea of changing and adapting to the new religion. Achebe shows us how there will always be those that fight against the change, but in the end the stronger religion will over take and turn the others. Unfortunately for him, Okonkwo finding out his clan is converting is heart aching and he finds complete weakness in his clan. Achebe ties both themes of change and masculinity very well, and both themes support each other in every way. In reality, many Africans resisted the colonizers trying to destroy their religion, but the colonization wasn’t as severe as Achebe presented in her novel. “Groups strongly resisted the coming of European
Religious accusations, which serve as catalysts for conflict, help to develop an accurate portrayal of imperialism and Ibo culture. In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries assertively state “Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm” (Achebe 146). This quotation shows the imperialists accusing the gods the Ibo people believe in and worship of being false gods that are idols. These gods cannot harm them and do not pose any threat. Also, in Achebe’s interview, “An African Voice,” he says “You have leaders who see nothing wrong in inciting religious conflict.
The two cultures have definitely shown their differences among each other. They believe in two totally different cultures, beliefs, customs, religion, and etc. “He had lost the chance to lead his warlike clan against the new religion, which, he was told, had gained ground.” (Achebe, 171) Okonkwo had lost his chance to lead his warlike village to fight the missionaries while he was in exile and because of that, the new religion has gained ground. The new religion has influenced many and but also many have stuck to the original religion. The two cultures obviously have two different types of people because when he said that his village was “warlike”, that is a hint that the other culture is not warlike because he 's staring the difference between the two. The both have many many differences and beliefs, but that just shows that you cannot force a whole new culture into a whole different culture that is nothing like yours. Chinua Achebe’s purpose for writing the novel was to inform people outside of Africa what happened because people that weren 't even from Africa were writing about Africa. Chinua Achebe’s purpose of writing this novel was successful. “Until the lion has a voice, stories of safaris will always glorify the hunter.” That basically means is that until someone from Africa speaks up about the problem, all the stories will amuse and excite
As the English began to colonize the Igbo society, there were few natives who opposed it, others just felt that the English would come and go, but they were wrong. Soon, the English began to introduce "white man's religion." This new religion was completely the opposite of what the natives were accustomed to. Christianity was rather intriguing to many of the natives and many of them turned away from their families and everything they were to become a member of this new religion. Before this, the natives had been very superstitious, but as their new religion flooded over the peoples, their superstition began to lessen and their belief in the many gods they had previously believed in.