Things Fall Apart: Eurocentrism

1099 Words3 Pages

Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “Nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known. Chinua Achebe takes this idea into account when he wrote Things Fall Apart. He shows in this novel that unless you know about African culture, you can’t love it or hate it. He shows that Africans aren’t savages like the world thinks they are, and that the Eurocentric world that we live in isn’t correct.
Eurocentricism is the idea that the world revolves around Europe and western civilization. This idea has been the focus point of Achebe and has driven him to prove the universe does not revolve around European culture and it is equal to all other cultures. The idea of Eurocentricism pushed the nations toward imperialism by saying that it was the ruling continents job to go out and make others like them. This idea was shown in “The White Man’s Burden”.
Achebe negates the idea of Eurocentricism. He shows that Europe isn’t the center of the world. He also shows that Africa isn’t the red headed stepchild of the world either. While Africa may have some faults, it is far from being uncivilized and the home of savages. The Africans had their own government and religion. Achebe brings up the point that if Europe hadn’t tried to divide up Africa, they would have been better off. He shows this point when Okonkwo killed himself. He is symbolically saying that if the Europeans hadn’t come into Umuofia, Okonkwo wouldn’t have killed himself and wouldn’t have lost hope in his tribe.
Achebe writes Things Fall Apart to revise the history that has been misplaced. He writes to the European and Western culture. This fact is evident because the book is written in English and it shows us the side of the African culture we wouldn’t normally see. Achebe is constantly ...

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..., was his replacement. Mr. Smith was racist and believed strongly in Eurocentricism. He didn’t want to be in the position he was in, because he didn’t want to live and commune with the Africans. He thought himself superior to them, and was worried about the converts to Christianity because they were ignorant to God’s word.
Mr. Brown was the kind, loving man that Christianity says that he needs to be. He is more tolerant with the Africans and can see the good and bad in everything. Mr. Smith was the exact opposite. Mr. Smith was racist, and cared only about himself and spreading the gospel through force. This is a classic case of irony. There aren’t many African Americans with the last name Brown, but there are tons with the last name Smith. This is irony because Mr. Brown wouldn’t have cared if his last name was adopted by African Americans. But Mr. Smith would have.

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