Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How does achebe depict the ibo culture when things fall apart
How does achebe illustrate igbo society
How does achebe illustrate igbo society
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Ibo traditions and lifestyle: The Ibo tribes have a very rich culture, the tribes practice various rituals and traditions in a frequent basis. The novel describes in details the numerous aspects of the Igbo traditional community. Such as; farming techniques, social structure, and marriage customs. Moreover, Achebe also describes the Ibo religious customs and ceremonies such as the Week of Peace, the Feast of the New Yam, Ogbanje the children who keep dying and being reborn, and the Evil Forest. This description provided in the novel helps the reader to understand the Ibo cultural identity and worldview. The Ibo society is an agriculture-based one. It depends heavily on the agricultural products to maintain its survival. Yams are considered to be the primary crop …show more content…
In dinners or any particular ceremonies the host honors the male guest by giving him the privilege to open the Kola nut. And they also give the first drink of palm wine to the oldest person to show respect and honoring. The novel also depicts the tribe political system which is based on the age-old traditions, it also gives credit to the hard working male members by giving them titles. The “Titles” system encourages men to work hard to be recognized in the society, it also gives the men equal opportunities to raise their status in the society without any discrimination. The man who works hard gets titles and respect, this is exemplified by the protagonist’s successful life in Umuofia, even though his father was not of a high status, Okonkwo was credited of his hard work and he had several titles. “Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father. Okonkwo was clearly cut out for great things. He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife.” (TFA, p
Okonkwo is one of the most powerful men in the Ibo tribe. In his tribe, he is both feared and honored. This is evident by this quote, "Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond... [He] brought honor to his tribe by throwing Amalinze the Cat..."(3) This suggests that in Okonkwo's society, power is attained by making a name for yourself in any way possible, even if that means fighting and wrestling to get your fame. Although honor is a good thing, when people have to fight to gain it, it becomes an object of less adoration. Okonkwo's "prosperity was visible in his household... his own hut stood behind the only gate in the red walls. Each of his three wives had her own hut... long stacks of yams stood out prosperously in [the barn]... [Okonkwo] offers prayers on the behalf of himself, his three wives, and eight children." (14) Okonkwo has also worked and tended to his crops in a very zealous fashion, and drives everyone around him to work as hard as he does. Because of this, he earns his place as one of Umuofia's most powerful men. In many cultures, a big family is a source of pride. Although Okonkwo is not always pleased by his children and wives, it also brings him a source of pride to have three wives and eight children. Large families mean that the head of the family is able to support all of them. Okonkwo's devotion to his crops and family gives to him the respect that any father and husband deserves, and in his culture, being able to fight and kill as well gives him even more influence and power.
The Ibo tribes are interesting and have had a good history outside the fact that they were taken over by the British. The Ibo people were very religious and believed in many gods. They also believed in a thing called chi. "At the most one could say that his chi or personal god was good."(29). The Ibo people believe your chi was like your spirit and could determine whether you had good or bad fortune. Some people may see chi as luck or karma. The Ibo people also viewed masculinity very highly. The men would wrestle each other for respect within the tribe and the males were considered superior to the females in the fact that the males were stronger and tougher. Males in the tribes may also take more than one wife. This is known as bigamy. "There is no civil ordinance law against anyone who takes more than one wife (bigamy) as long as the person can maintain them." This was looked down upon once Christianity came into their culture from the British missionaries. The Ibo have good hospitality and manners. When visitors arrive they present them with a Kola nut to eat and palm wine to drink. An overall view of these people would say that they are good natured people. They had their own language, religion, and ideas on how things worked in life.
Nigerian Ibo culture in the village of Umoufia. Like the Ibo, many other nations are strongly rooted to
At the beginning of the novel Okonkwo was a fairly wealthy and well-respected member of the Igbo society, but it had not always been that way for him. Okonkwo?s father, Unoka, had been a lazy man who would rather play his flute than take care of his crops. Unoka was said to be a charming man, and was able to borrow large amounts of money from his friends, but was never able to pay it back. As a result, Okonkwo has grown up very poor and ashamed of his lazy father. At one point in the book, Okonkwo remembers hearing one of his playmates calling his father an ?agbala,? which was the word for woman, but all described a man who had taken not titles (13). Okonkwo never forgets this, and actually develops a deep-seated fear that people will think that he is weak like his father. As I mentioned, Okonkwo became very well known, and his wealth and prestige rested solely on his own personal achievements. Okonkwo had received no inheritance from his poor father, no land and no money. As a young man, Okonkwo had been very successful wrestler, and as he grew older he became a well-known warrior. He was said to have brought home five human heads, which was a great achievement even for men who were much older that he was. At the beginning of the story, Okonkwo had obtained two titles, and had the respect of every man from all nine villages of Umuofia. Symbols of his wealth and prestige were his family and his compound. As I mentioned earlier, Okonwo had received no inheritance, and at the time of this story Okonkwo is still fairly young, and the fact that he had three wives, several children, and a very productive piece of land showed that Okonkwo was a very diligent worker. ?Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially...
The first way the Ibo culture of Nigeria is civilized is through the government. The government takes care of issues in a fair way. After both sides were done speaking at the Egwugwu Ceremony, the Evil Forest said, “Our duty is not to blame this man or praise that, but to settle the dispute” (Chapter 10 pg.93) The Evil Spirits main goal was not trying to blame the person who did wrong, but to solve the problem in a fair manner to get it over with. Another example of how the Ibo culture is civilized through government is it is organized with rules. The government leaders made white men go back to their own land so they wouldn’t change the Ibo culture. As it says in the article Political Colonization, “They said the land had changed and that they were dying. And they demand that all white men go back to their own country so that the land might return to the way it was before the british came.” The government made that rule because it would help the Ibo culture stay alive and not transfer over to another culture. The last way the Ibo culture is civilized through government is
Okonkwo's life was driven by his strong desire for status. In Okonkwo’s eyes, status was defined in two parts. The first part being how much respect and how many titles one has. Okonkwo goes to extreme odds to gain respect in his village, Umuofia. Okonkwo’s opinions on success relating to titles is displayed very early on. An example of this
Religion and the Igbo People The Igbo are a profoundly religious people who believe in a benevolent creator, usually known as Chukwu, who created the visible universe (uwa). Opposing this force for good is agbara, meaning spirit or supernatural being. In some situations people are referred to as agbara in describing an almost impossible feat performed by them. In a common phrase the igbo people will say Bekee wu agbara.
The Ibo’s government is administered by the nine egwugwu who are ancestral spirits that represent each village of the clan. As large crowds of the Ibo tribe would gather on the village
The Ibo culture is also depicted as primitive and unjust by Achebe. This is noted in the primitive aspects of the Ibo people’s system of belief, which appears uncivilised and unjust. These examples of the Ibo culture are then combined with and redisplayed by the other primary method that Achebe uses to depict the dual aspects of Ibo culture, the two missionaries figures. Firstly Mr. Brown is utilised in a way that acknowledges the sophisticated structure and beliefs of the Ibo culture and improvement brought to the Ibo people through the missionaries involvement in the village.
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.
As the book opens, Umuofia is unafraid and powerful and Okonkwo the man with three wives was known as a majestic wrestler. Okonkwo’s father name is Unoka, but he is dead and before he died he was known to be a very lazy man. His son Okonkwo refuse to be like him so he tried to do the opposite of his father. Unoka owed neighbors very much money. Okonkwo desire for toughness, but his son Nwoye is very different from his dad he is lazy and Okonkwo don’t find that to be any good in his son life from what Okonkwo grew up from. Okonkwo wanted his son Nwoye to follow in his foot steps and find shelter and to provide for his family when he grow older. Then a couple of days after Nwoye sit at the table with his father. Okonkwo finds that
& nbsp ; This novel also provides a very detailed, and seemingly accurate, account of the lives of the Ibo. The Ibo were an extremely spiritual people who answered to their gods daily. A hardworking people who base their personal worth on their community and crop achievements. Their yam crops were the backbone of the community and he who possessed the largest crops were usually respected by all in the community.
The Ibo people had a very different religious lifestyle and culture. They believed in many gods; they were a polytheistic tribe. The Ibo supreme god was Chukwu, and the people believe "he made all the world and the other gods" (Achebe 179). They believed that everything has a spirit and that ancestral spirits called the "egwugwu" kept the law. The Ibo...
Okonkwo embodies all the ideal and heroic traits of the Igbo culture. He is strong, authoritative, hardworking, and successful. The opening sentence states that “Okonkwo was well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond” (3). Okonkwo is great and famous because of his “solid personal achievements” (3). Okonkwo first achieved fame and recognition when he became the village’s wrestling champion. At eighteen years of age, he had “brought honor to his village” by defeating the seven-year champion. By winning the wrestling match, Okonkwo demonstrates to his village his great strength and skill as a warrior. After that his fame spread “like a bush-fire in the harmattan” (3). Okonkwo governs his household with authority. He “ruled his household with a heavy hand” (13). His wives and children lived “in perpetual fear of his fiery temper” (13). Okonkwo is a hard task-master. He works on his farm “from cock-crow until the chickens went to roost” and compelled his family to do the same (13). He does not tolerate laziness in his sons. He punishes his son, Nwoye, with “constant nagging and beating” (14). Okonkwo is the sole and unquestionable authority figure in his household.
What is culture? Culture refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving