Religion's Influence on Society: Analyzing 'Things Fall Apart'

789 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Influences of religion on culture and society

Civilizations base their rules off of widely accepted morals and traditions. These morals and traditions tend to come from a religion that most if not all the people follow. This causes religion to be a major factor in how and why different people have different outlooks on how one should live his/her life. However, a new religion that is introduced can have many different effects on the people. Religion shapes how people live their lives and drives their culture. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, religion is the central focus. It develops Okonkwo’s culture and causes conflict later on. In fact, it is the people of Umuofia’s tradition to have a week of peace before they plant the seeds for the next harvest. This is to honor their earth goddess, but Okonkwo breaks this …show more content…

By changing one’s religion, that person tends to lose the culture of his/her people. There is now a disconnect between him/her and his/her family which can cause conflict. The reader can clearly see this happen between Okonkwo and his son Nwoye who converts to the Christian faith. When Okonkwo finds out that Nwoye has been going to the new church, he immediately begins to yell and demands to know where he has been before grabbing a heavy stick and beating him (151-152). Okonkwo does not even consider Nwoye to be his son anymore and completely disowns him. People becoming disconnected from one another is not happening only within families, but also with the entire tribe. Their religion and culture is what held the people together and created bonds between everyone. However, when the some convert to a new belief system and others do not, it creates a rift between the now two different groups of people, “He [Okonkwo] mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart…,” (183). While there are benefits to having missionaries come to a village and bring new ways of thinking, one cannot overlook the negative impacts as

Show More
Related

  • A Comparison of the Culture of Things Fall Apart and Western Culture

    2311 Words  | 5 Pages

    Chinua Achebe's 1959 novel, Things fall Apart, takes place in the 1890s, just before British colonization. The novel focuses on the nine Ibo-speaking villages of Umuofia, which is Ibo for "People of the Forest." Umuofia is the village in which Okonkwo, Achebe's protagonist, prospers in everything and is able to secure his manly position in the tribe. Now known as Nigeria, this land was a primitive agricultural society completely run by men. Umuofia was known, and as Achebe says, ."..feared by all it's neighbors. It was powerful in war and in magic, and priests and medicine men were feared in all the surrounding country" (11). Perhaps, its most powerful and feared magic was called .".. agadi- nwayi, or old woman it had its shrine in the centre of Umuofia ... if anyone was so foolhardy as to pass by the shrine past dusk he was sure to see the old woman"(12). The people of Umuofia are very devoted to their religion and their magic. These ancient beliefs were believed to give the people some sort of power over their oppressors.

    Read More

  • Okonkwo Clash With Western Culture Analysis

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine if you would, to be in another culture, and someone who is unwanted, unwelcome has come into it and has caused it to crumble. You and your family are plunged into failure and your life is falling apart. These people, the missionaries, arrived from England to colonize Africa during the colonial period. There were many problems faced by the native people, most of whom were not about to drop all of their beliefs to adopt a foreigners customs. Such beliefs existed in the protagonist, Okonkwo, and are the roots of the challenges faced by Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, in which the author, Chinua Achebe, writes of the challenges to Okonkwo's sense of identity. Western ideas have clashed with his sense of family, his ideas of gender, and position of leadership within the clan, which influences and forms the meaning of the book.

    Read More

  • World Religions Dbq

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion reinforces the beliefs of individuals within a society. Additionally, religion has played a vital role in society since it influenced the way they lived and the rituals they may or may not have practiced. Different regions of the world during ancient time held a distinct set of beliefs, each based on different or similar principals. Deriving from the polytheistic set of beliefs, monotheism came in place of many Gods, holding just one god accountable for the creation and the existence of mankind. Christianity and Buddhism share similarities and differences, but most importantly the impact that each had on the culture is what is mostly referred to.

    Read More

  • Converting the Umuofia People to Christianity in Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe

    766 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has many effects in any society. It can either destroy it by proving customs wrong or it can guide it like it guides converts to believe in the religion. Religion creates two different societies and while it guides one to become stronger it will destroy another at the same time. Religion guides societies and destroys them.

    Read More

  • Things Fall Apart

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.

    Read More

  • Influence Of Religion On Western Civilization

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Religion has greatly influenced western civilization. Religion is a way to express ourselves in our own way. To be able to choose who or what we believe in freely. This gives us a sense of individualism and helps our civilization to grow and develop each religion. Just about every ancient culture practiced religion in some way. They were either monotheist, polytheist, atheist, or believed in “magic”. Western civilization was impacted by religion in more ways than one. Every religion contributed in their own way. Some religions even worked together to help create a stronger, more structured civilization.

    Read More

  • Cultural Change Explored in Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe

    1874 Words  | 4 Pages

    William James, a famous American philosopher, once stated, “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives”. This quotation effectively illustrates how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives. This concept is clearly demonstrated throughout the novel Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, by establishing a connection through the development of its characters and the change in traditional African tribal villages seen in the Nineteenth Century. It will be established how various characters demonstrated by the author throughout the novel exemplify how change in one’s attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs can alter the environment in which one lives addressed by William James’s quote above. First, by analyzing Achebe’s development of Okonkwo’s character through his initial character description and the emergence of outsiders, it is evident that he is portrayed as an old fashioned character that is less responsive to change. Secondly, through examining Nwoye’s character, Okonkwo’s son, it becomes apparent that the youth in the novel are more open-minded, easily persuadable and more adaptive to societal changes. Lastly, uncovering the meaning behind the arrival of European missionaries, it becomes apparent that Achebe defines this group as being a “disease”, poisoning the society in which Okonkwo lives. The author look’s at individuals as being critical and influential figures in shaping the environment to which they belong, beginning with Okonkwo.

    Read More

  • How Does Chinua Achebe Depict Ibo Culture In Things Fall Apart?

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. 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.

    Read More

  • Religion in Things Fall Apart

    1078 Words  | 3 Pages

    For many people, religion is a very touchy subject. For most, it is a personal decision; people choose a faith that aligns with their beliefs, ideas, and faiths. Although people would like to think that religion is a personal decision, and they can adapt it to how they feel and what they believe, in practice, that is not the case. Religion represents a commitment to a set of principles that are not moldable, adaptable, or flexible. Religion, although it may be a personal belief, it is extremely defined, with little to no room for flexibility. If people try to modify their religion to their own beliefs or ideas, the pushback can be severe. The lines in religion and faith as to what is acceptable and what is not acceptable are clear, and crossing them can bring serious consequences.

    Read More

  • The Imposition of Colonialism on Africa

    1244 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Things Fall Apart, Achebe is able to express this embarkation with his division of the novel into two parts. The first part introduces Okonkwo along with his family’s beliefs and their origins, religions, etc. However, in the second part with the arrival of the Christian missionaries, the seeds of colonialism take root within the Ibo tribe and Okonkwo’s family, particularly in his son Nwoye. At the beginning, the missionaries are calm and peaceful. However, as time goes on they start to undergo their mission and start to denounce the Ibo’s gods as “false gods, gods of wood and stone.” At first, many are appalled and find their preaching laughable, but as they continue to thrive, people such as Nwoye begin to reach out. Because Nwoye is unable to forgive Okonkwo for his betrayal in killing his adopted brother, he converts to Christianity in an attempt to get back at his father for his crime. In addition, the missionaries’ hymn about brothers living in “darkness and fear,...

    Read More

  • Summary Of Religion As Disruption

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jeff Passe and Lara Willox of Religion as Disruption mentioned that the teaching of religion is now a necessity as an influx of “cultures that do not conform to the Judeo-Christian religious tradition” grows in the United States. What they suggest is that some form of world religions is taught in schools but before that happens teachers must go through comprehensive training that relies on high-quality curriculum for teacher training and for use in the classroom. One major point that stood out was the fact that teachers are highly untrained and lack knowledge about other religions themselves so without a sensitivity course and extensive instruction on the religions to be covered the process would be nothing but a mess. They also noted that

    Read More

  • Change And Tradition In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    723 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through most of the novel, Okonkwo, his family, and the villagers all experience this struggle. As the missionaries continue to live in the Evil Forest, they repeatedly gain village converts as a result of the Igbo beliefs constantly being proven inaccurate. Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye converts because of confusion in what his people believe, and Okonkwo changes drastically as a person because of the missionaries’ arrival and actions. There are many themes evident throughout Things Fall Apart, but one of the most prominent is the struggle between change and tradition, in the sense that some people change, but others don’t; that clearly takes a toll on

    Read More

  • Theme Of Culture Clash In Things Fall Apart

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Have you ever wondered what would happen when two cultures collide? Well in the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, a culture clash takes place, with the main character Okonkwo’s village being overtaken by Christian white men seeking to influence and change his tribe and possibly other tribes.

    Read More

  • Religion and Civilization

    1234 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion helps establish mankind’s place in the order of the universe. As civilization began to be established through the domestication of animals, the irrigation and cultivation of agricultural crops, and life became more complex (moving from mainly a hunter/gather existence to one that could settle down and have more time to consider advanced ideas) people began to consider questions such as, where life comes from, is there a creator or creators who helped make the world, and what happens after we die. Religion helped answer some of these questions. It gave people purpose, meaning, and perspective. Religion helped establish nations in the case of religious theocratic governments. In many of the ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians, the Mayans, and even Mesopotamia, the priests and other religious leaders played prominent roles in help shaping the laws and government of these civilizations. As his...

    Read More

  • Religion Influence On Religion And Culture

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Religion influences culture in many ways.  People of different cultures have a set of beliefs that influence their daily lives and how they act. Religion is like a way of life.  Many people take their religion very seriously, so their lives and cultures are majorly affected by their religion then and now. Religion has always had a major impact on human life and culture. It has the ability to not only unify people but also having the ability to cause war, and devastation.

    Read More

More about Religion's Influence on Society: Analyzing 'Things Fall Apart'

Open Document