Things Fall Apart

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The English Ideology: The colonial powers all around the world adopted certain ideologies to take control and to expand over the indigenous lands. In Things Fall Apart, both ideological state apparatus and repressive state apparatus are depicted. In order to be easier for the British colonizer to take over the African lands, they deluded the tribes claiming that they came for a “civilizing mission”, and that they did not come to harm them but to civilize and save them from their primitive lifestyle. The British missionaries adopted the “divide and rule” strategy; They reinforced divisions among the clan to control them. The British missionaries tackled the main factors that hold the tribe members together. Those factors are religion, …show more content…

The first category is the tribe members who wanted to reserve their customs and traditions, and the second category are the people who welcomed change and found refuge in the new culture and religion. This war, between tradition and change, turned the tribe and family members against each others. The main characters that represent tradition and change are Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. (This can be seen in the novel through the relationship between Okonkwo who showed commitment and adherence to his beliefs and traditions on one hand, and on the other hand his son Nwoye who welcomed and accepted the …show more content…

He wanted him to be a prosperous man, having enough in his barn to feed the ancestors with regular sacrifices.” (p- 23) Nwoye on the other hand represents the generation who welcomed change. Nwoye and others like him were not fond of the traditional lifestyle of the Umuofians. They did not want to work hard in the fields all their lives; they refused to struggle to garner a “title” like their ancestors used to do. Therefore, they were easily convinced by the Christian missionaries to join them to their community. The new culture and religion seemed to be the perfect solution, because it provided more activities to do in life, such as education. Thus, change for this category was very tempting. It released them from the grip of their ancestral traditional lifestyle. As I have mentioned earlier in this paper, Things Fall Apart is a depiction of the process of change in the Ibo tribe. It captures the domination of the colonizing culture over the native African culture. The Whiteman was victorious in the end because of his ideological superiority and technological advancement. Forms of

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    For members of the Ibo tribe, being submissive and respectful to your elders and culture is the only accepted way to live, yet the son of one of the greatest men in Umuofia seems to defy this ideal. Nwoye, the son of Okonkwo, one of the most majestic warriors and farmers in their small village, has never really been attracted to the manly nature and attitudes expected of him. Never being fond of blood and fighting and not wanting to participate in any of the hard work in the household has left Nwoye with a more feminine personality. Not only does he reject the ideas of the Ibo culture, he also accepts those of a white man and lives life like a Westerner. In Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, Nwoye defies traditional Ibo values by emphasizing the importance of not killing Ikemefuna, highlighting the fact that it is acceptable to convert to Christianity, and not living up to be the manly hero his dad want him to be.

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