Things Fall Apart

1022 Words3 Pages

One more culture lost
Colonization once again erases another culture. Colonization is taking control over the indigenous people of an area. This can be seen in the novel, Things Fall Apart, the village Umofia is colonized by the Europeans and their institutions are lost and new are brought upon. In Things Fall Apart, the Europeans dismantled the Ibo structure by replacing their judicial system, religion, and education.
Firstly, the Europeans dismantled the Ibo's when they brought their judicial system. A trial occurred in Umofia where the husband claimed his wife was taken away from him by his in-laws, therefore, he wanted his wife to return to him or the money he payed for her was returned. The novel, asserts, “Go to your in-laws with a pot …show more content…

Okonkwo was preparing his seed yams and asked Nwoye, his eldest son, to help him. “Inwardly Okonkwo knew that the boys were still too young to understand fully the difficult art of preparing seed-yams. But he thought that one could not begin too early. Yam stood for manliness, and he who could feed his family on yams from one harvest to another was a very great man indeed” (Achebe 33). In Umofia, people made their money and fed their family through farming which is the same way they have for many years. In order to know how to farm, parents taught education in Ibo society. Children learned how to cook, farm, and how they act from their parents. People with titles began to enroll their children into the schools Europeans brought to Umofia before it was just the outcasts and lazy people who enrolled their children. “One of the great men in that village was called Akunna and he had given one of his sons to be taught the white man's knowledge in Mr. Brown's school” (Achebe 179). Now with the new schools Europeans brought children are taught to speak, read, and write in the European languages. The Ibo society begins to disappear because the schools are teaching children the European language and customs. The children are no longer learning about their culture from their parents and the future generations will never know about the Ibo

Culture In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart
1337 Words | 3 Pages
children. If these duties were not taken care of, the women of Umoufia could be beaten. The Ibo tribe
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Things Fall Apart
698 Words | 2 Pages
In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, Mr. Brown, the first missionary in Umuofia, was a kind and respectful man. Not to say that Reverend James Smith was not, but his degree of kindness and respect were present in a whole different level. They both wanted to convert the lost, all those in Umuofia that were not in the church. Mr. Brown made friends with the clan and “trod softly on his faith,” (pg.178) while Mr. Smith told them how things were in a harsh voice and tried to force his religion on the people of Umuofia. The impacts the two had on the people and the church were exact opposites.
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Things Fall Apart
1211 Words | 3 Pages
In life people are very rarely, if ever, purely good or evil. In novels authors tend not to create characters with an obvious moral standing not only to make their novel more applicable to the reader, but also to make the characters more complex and dynamic. Chinua Achebe uses this technique to develop the characters in his novel, Things Fall Apart. The main character, and protagonist in the novel, Okonkwo, is very morally dynamic showing some sensitivity to his family and friends, but in an attempting to rebel against his father, Okonkwo also exhibits the tendency to lash out violently.
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Ibo People
1142 Words | 3 Pages
* In a savage setting, the parents would usually not bother to educate their children or abandon them at a very early age to fend for themselves. In the Ibo culture, the children learn socially complex skills, morals and discipline, which shows evidence of a civilized society.
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How Does Chinua Achebe Depict Ibo Culture In Things Fall Apart?
1510 Words | 4 Pages
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.
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Essay on themes in Things Fall Apart and Second Coming
857 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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The Power Of Religion In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe
765 Words | 2 Pages
Although establishing schools appears to be a good influence, Achebe shows how schools strip a society of its culture. Mr. Brown, the first white missionary in Umuofia, builds a school for the children. He convinces parents to send their children to school by arguing, “If Umuofia failed to send her children to the school, strangers would come from other places to rule them” (156). Mr. Brown’s ironic reasoning displays the negative result of religion. If the Christian missionaries did not intrude in the first place, there would be no need to protect Ibo people from more intruders trying to interfere with their culture. A similar type of irony is mentioned when Mr. Brown’s school start to become popular. The people begin to think, “Mr. Brown’s school produced quick results. A few months in it were enough to make one a court messenger or even a court clerk” (156). Prior to the missionaries’ arrival, Ibo society had no need for schools to give better jobs. When the missionaries bring their government to Umuofia, schools trick people into falling for the new system and forgetting about their old social structure and culture. Achebe uses these ironic occurrences to display how religion may seemingly positively influence a society, but in reality pillages the Ibo people’s original culture.
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The Effect of Colonialism in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
692 Words | 2 Pages
This discussion of the white man not understanding the customs and traditions, comes ever since the arrival of the colonialists, Obierika seems to voice Achebe's own thoughts on colonialism. Upset by the fact that the white men have come and completely disregarded the Igbo sense of justice, Obierika points out the impossibility of the colonialists understanding anything about the Umuofians without speaking their language. Then he points out the foolishness of belittling unfamiliar customs.
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Discuss The Impact Of Imperialism In Things Fall Apart
948 Words | 2 Pages
In Chinua Achebe 's classic novel "Things Fall Apart," the development of European colonization 's lead to extreme cultural changes, leaving a lasting impact on the Igbo village of Umofia in West Africa. In the novel, Achebe displays the impacts of European colonization in both critical and sympathetic terms to provide the reader with both positive and negative factors of Imperialism to develop an unbiased understanding of what the Igbo culture and society went through. While addressing the hardship 's of life by showing the deterioration of Okonkwo 's character, the cultural and traditional changes of society, and the positive and negative impacts of imperialism, Achebe keeps touch on the overall theme of the novel, once a dramatic event
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Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart - The Downfall of the Ibo
2427 Words | 5 Pages
The situation is similar to that of a tragic hero. whose tragic fall is necessitated only by the combination of a tragic flaw in his character. and the uncontrollable forces working against him. Obviously Ibo society would have continued to prosper had the white men not arrived and attempted to control it; however, the coming of the Europeans alone was not enough to destroy the Ibo. Had they stood their ground and defended their traditions as urged by Okonkwo, they could have. protected their way of life.
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Thematic Essay: Things Fall Apart
1285 Words | 3 Pages
Humans’ natural instincts are to deny a new aspect and stick to older ones. Nevertheless, old and new aspects are intertwined. Traditions and change are ever present in society, without them society would not prosper. Traditions are the foundations of society. However, just like any other foundation, sooner or later it must be altered or changed, even in the most miniscule way. The Umuofia Tribe, though prosperous only knew traditions. When change is mentioned and brought to the tribe, the tribe is dumbstruck, most do not know how to respond, while other embrace the change with open arms. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, traditions and change are depicted as equally beneficial to society.
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Root Words Gwen Westerman Analysis
1006 Words | 3 Pages
The Ibo people suffer to maintain their culture as continued British settlers colonize their land. The poem Root Words by Gwen Westerman is a concrete poem about
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The Effects of Colonialism in Things Fall Apart
349 Words | 1 Pages
In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the effects of colonialism were extremely evident in the Igbo society. As the white Englanders moved into the native's land, their cultural values changed. Examples of these changes were evident in all aspects of the Igbo people's lives, in their religion, family life, children, and the dead. Many of the Igboians were upset by the colonialism of their society, but in the end they were completely incapable of doing anything to reverse the changes that had already taken place in their society.
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Critical Analysis Of Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe
930 Words | 2 Pages
According to David Whittaker, Achebe’s work “proved to be an immensely influential work for African writers, becoming the progenitor of a whole movement of fiction, drama, and poetry, which focused on the revaluation of Africa’s history and cultures, and on representations of the culture conflicts that has their genesis in the colonial era.” This novel became a pivotal point of realization not only for Africa, but also for the world. All at once the world, afraid of what change may bring, pushed the same question to the back their mind: “What if we have it all wrong?” Suddenly, the culture of Africa was influencing the culture of America, Asia, Europe, Australia, etc. Achebe’s novel was a catalyst in the process of nationalist renewal and decolonization of African culture as a whole (Whittaker). A principle in this novel’s thematic course is the inter-generation conflict faced by not only the village as a whole, but also, on a microscopic level, in Okonkwo’s household. As the culture in Umuofia begins to shift, the predecessors of the current generation heavily rely on the cultural norms initiated by their father’s fathers. While tradition should be honored in a society, it should also be modified; this concept is not fully grasped by the older generations of
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1040 Words | 3 Pages
The small African village in this story has being taken over by the western culture. Westernization is shown in the beginning of the story. “Julius Obi sat gazing at his typewriter.” “There was an empty basket on the giant weighing machine.” In these two quotes the typewriter and the weighing machine, odd objects for the African native of this village show perfectly how this town has being westernized. “Julius Obi was not a native of Umuru. He had come like countless others from some bush village island. Having passed his Standard Six in a mission school he had come to Umuru to work as a clerk in the offices of the powerful European trading company …”This quote shows how Julius has himself being westernized. Westernization wasn’t welcomed by many of the Umuru natives. The natives had long prayed for their town to prosper and grow. “The strangers who came to Umuru came for the trade and money, not in search of duties to perform…” This shows that people who now came to town, came strictly for business and money, which tells the reader how the town isn’t what it used to be. “And as if it did not suffice, the young sons and daughters of Umuru soil, encouraged by schools and churches were behaving no better than the strangers. They neglected all their old tasks and kept only the revelries.” This show how even the young ones of this village have being westernized to the point, where they completely neglect their own traditions and beliefs.
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Things Fall Apart

Culture In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart