Things Fall Apart

1157 Words3 Pages

Colonial Consequences A dusty dirt road is disturbed by a stomping army, it rises. A village, a nation, a culture, a society is disturbed and violated by outsiders, it falls. The difference between the dirt and the human is their origin. The dirt road leads the way and invites travelers to stir it up, taking it with them on their journey, and bringing their foreign soil to it. The human, with a nature of its own does not always welcome the unfamiliar and is hardly expected to be as easily compliant as the dust. To be stomped upon, broken, disturbed, corrupted or treated as such. The human, the culture, is not earth to be claimed, traversed upon, or stolen; not a substance in which to plant seeds forcefully, to sow from, take from, or profit …show more content…

The book began with two large parts that described the history, customs, and members of the Igbo society, illustrating a picture of Okonkwo, an Ibo man, and his life. After setting the stage, placing the characters in unknowing preparation for the forthcoming, the novel continues to part three: the arrival of British colonialism and Christian missionaries. Suddenly Okonkwo’s world was turned upside down; things fell apart. Not knowing that the white men he learned about during his exile in Mbanta were going to place a foothold in his own village by the time of his return, Okonkwo faced the decision of how to respond: resistance or concession. A warrior by nature, Okonkwo ultimately chose actions which led to his demise. In an effort to protect his society from the forceful change that the white men’s presence brought, what positive qualities Okonkwo possessed as a human, the instinct and emotion that led him to take action, were stomped upon and abused by his opposition. Like clay, the Igbo people were molded, like dirt they were …show more content…

Both were filled with conviction, anger, resistance, and faced similar fates. Both, in the end were the cause of their own demise, however, the original cause that led them to take such action was not their own. Had their way not been disrupted, the men would not have had to sacrifice their lives in stand of what they knew. Though, it seems they shared the same view many men have quoted, that they would have rather died on their feet than lived on their knees. To surrender is a battle one faces within, to fight is with every fiber of ones being. Those who surrendered to the changes that were forced upon them were not spared, they too faced demise in different ways, maybe not as quickly. Attempting to sustain survival is a large part of the consequence of colonialism. Some had to become dirt to live, surrendering. Others joined the soil in their end,

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