Things Fall Apart Essay

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Recommended: Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

The concept of civilization has been defined through the eyes of modern Western culture. We generalize civilizations as societies with a structured government such as America’s democratic government, or Cuba’s communist government. Often times if a government isn’t similar to Western civilizations, the people are seen as uncultured or barbaric. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart European missionaries determined to introduce their civilization invade and annex a Nigerian tribe. Upon invading the Ibos these people attempt to govern them, however by discarding the civilization and culture already there they overturn the lives of the people of the tribe. Since the Ibo didn’t have the kind of government these missionaries were exposed to, they …show more content…

In the Christian culture, Palm Sunday is an annual holiday during which new palms are collected and distributed and the old ones are burned to ash to use for another holiday. The Ibo tribe has their annual Feast of the New Yam, which commemorates the new harvest. Both of these holidays are highly anticipated in the community. Palm Sunday is prepared weeks in advance, with flowers ordered, the altar set, and priest’s robes hanging up. Once it arrives it’s a celebration, and the The Feast is something that is highly anticipated in the community, “The New Yam Festival was...an occasion for joy throughout Umuofia” (Achebe, 37). In addition to the feast being a tradition in their community, it celebrates new life and prosperity. “The New Yam Festival...began the season of plenty...yams of the old year were all disposed of by those who still had them. The new year must begin with tasty, fresh yams and not the shriveled and fibrous crop of the previous year” (Achebe, 36). Both the Ibo and the Christians have similar traditions in that they value the new and don’t make haste in disposing of the old. Since the Ibos have a traditional holiday similar to a group we consider to be civilized, they are clearly

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