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The role of religion in the development of a society
The role of religion in the development of a society
The role of religion in the development of a society
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When a culture falls apart During the late 1800s, the Ibo culture was thriving in the villages of Southeastern Nigeria, but specially in the village of Umuofia. Okonkwo is one of Umuofia's strongest leaders and is also a very masculine man that has no clue that everything around him is about to change (Achebe 3). An invading British culture is about to challenge everything the Igbo people know about their world (138). The story is mainly about how the Igbo culture is held together, the changes the new culture is imposing , and how everything led to Okonkwo's downfall. What initially held the Ibo culture together was their religion and their views on masculinity. Their religion controlled almost every aspect of their life. For example, if a women gave birth to twins they would have to throw them away in the Evil Forest, which the Igbo people believed held evil spirits (62).Their views on masculinity were also very important. A man in their culture needs to be strong and would need to have titles in order to be considered a real man. But Okonkwo’s view of a man were little more extre...
Okonkwo’s fear leads him to treat members of his family harshly, in particular his son, Nwoye. Okonkwo often wonders how he, a man of great strength and work ethic, could have had a son who was “degenerate and effeminate” (133). Okonkwo thought that, "No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children (and especially his women) he was not really a man" (45).
Okonkwo wanted to become one of the greatest men in the Ibo tribe, but three unfortunate events occur bringing him closer to his end. Okonkwo was a proud, industrious figure who through hard work was able to elevate himself to a stature of respect and prominence in his community. The one major character flaw was that he was a man driven by his fear to extreme reactions. Okonkwo was petrified of inadequacy namely because his father was a complete and utter failure. This fear of shortcoming made him hate everything his father loved and represented: weakness, gentleness, and idleness. Who was Okonkwo, well Okonkwo was a hero and also he...
Chinua Achebe?s Things Fall Apart is a narrative story that follows the life of an African man called Okonkwo. The setting of the book is in eastern Nigeria, on the eve of British colonialism in Africa. The novel illustrates Okonkwo?s struggles, triumphs, and his eventual downfall, all of which basically coincide with the Igbo?s society?s struggle with the Christian religion and British government. In this essay I will give a biographical account of Okonwo, which will serve to help understand that social, political, and economic institutions of the Igbos.
This fictional book may be biased because it is written through Okonkwo’s point of view. It does not present the conflict from a neutral viewpoint, which may swing the bias in favor of the Igbo people. The author, Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian writer, who personally experienced the change of religion of the Igbo people.
Overall, Okonkwo is a crucial part to the story Things Fall Apart, for he represents African culture, and helps demonstrate how colonization can change everything. Through this book we see how colonization changed history, and how it is important for groups, tribes, societies to stay together in times of invasion, in order to protect their own customs and traditions; and how crucial a sense of unity would've been for the Umuofian tribe. Okonkwo was the sense of unity of the tribe, doing everything he could could to protect it. His collection of honorable titles, his love for his tribes culture, his drive and passion, and even his booming pride all contribute to his district character, a true hero in my eyes.
Okonkwo’s desire for respect motivates his quest to preserve the practices of Ibo culture, while Obierika preserves the practices of the Ibo culture with a more humanistic perspective. Achebe uses the differing approaches of Okonkwo and Obierika in maintaining the cultural doctrines of the Ibo people to reveal his sympathy for Obierika over Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s motives for maintaining the customs of the Ibo originate with fear. Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna while “dazed with fear,” drawing “his machete [to] cut him down” because, “he was afraid of being thought weak” (Achebe 61). Though Okonkwo attempts to appear strong to the people of Umuofia, his fearful motivation speaks to a hidden internal weakness. Okonkwo’s focus on eradicating the taint of “his father’s weakness and failure” and his yearning for respect drive him to kill Ikemefuna instead of the more proper motive of simply effectuating what the Ibo conside...
]k Adegbite O. came to a similar conclusion about Okonkwo’s views on masculinity and femininity when he makes the remark in his essay that, “Okonkwo is of the opinion that traditional men have lost their place in society and cannot be termed ‘worthy’ anymore as Western culture has softened their resolve; men have been turned to weaklings by colonisation and the white man’s religion” (Tobalase, “Masculinity and Cultural Conflict in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart”).
Before the arrival of the Europeans, Achebe did a excellent job portraying how the life of Igbo was before they were forced to oppose their own culture. To support this theme, Achebe included detailed descriptions of social rituals within each family, the justice system, religious practices and consequences, preparation and indulgence of food, the marriage process and the distributing of power within the men. Achebe shows how every man has an opportunity to prove himself worthy to achieve a title on the highest level, based merely on his own efforts. One may argue that the novel was written with the main focus on the study of Okonkwo’s character and how he deteriorates, but without the theme that define the Igbo culture itself, we would never know the universe qualities of the society that shaped Okonkwo’s life. The lives of the Igbo people was no different to the actual lives of the Ibos people back in the early days of Africa. Just like in Things Fall Apart, in actual African tribes there was never a ruler. “Very interesting thing about these villages is that there is no single ruler or king that controls the population. Decisions are made by including almost everyone in the village” (AfricaGuide). Using the theme, Achebe educated readers on by mirroring real African life in her
Upon an initial reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, it is easy to blame the demise of Okonkwo’s life and of the Umofia community on the imperialistic invasions of the white men. After all, Okonkwo seemed to be enjoying relative peace and happiness before then. He did have a few mishaps; one of them resulted in him being exiled for eight years. Nonetheless, he returned to his home town with high spirits and with prospects of increased success. However, everything has changed. The white men have brought with them a new religion and a new government. Okonkwo’s family falls apart. The men in his village lose their courage and valor; they do not offer any resistance to the white men. Consequently, Okonkwo kills himself in disgrace and Umofia succumbs to the white men. However, the white men are not the only people responsible for demise of Umofia. The Igbo culture, particularly their views on gender roles, sows the seed of their own destruction. By glorifying aggressive, manly traits and ignoring the gentle, womanly traits, Umofia brings about its own falling apart.
The distinct writing style that Achebe used to narrate his novel led me, as the reader, to feel as if I were a fellow tribesman of the Igbo people. This differing perspective, rather than being an outsider looking in on the people, led me to see that the Igbos are a people with strong beliefs, culture, and identity. An example of their identity is the description of one of their dwellings, more specifically of Okonkwo's compound; it is described as a "large compound enclosed by a thick wall of red earth" and we read further on about the barn for Okonkwo's yams and the shed for his goats (1429). The Igbo people are obviously agrarian, and led me to the question, how different are they from us? My answer is, there are not a lot of differenes. Based upon my experience--my father was raised on a farm--I see stark similarities between us and them...
From the very beginning he had distinguished his masculinity from all the others in the village. He wished to prosper in the way great Igbo people always had. Okonkwo’s form, ideas, and life, all represent the African tradition and memory. The western culture and memory ruined everything that Okonkwo held dear. This was seen as early as Okonkwo’s banishment from the tribe. Okonkwo had brought his gun to a festival that was honoring the marriage of a girl in the village. That gun accidently exploded and killed a clansman. This was seen as the ultimate disgrace and he was banished for seven years from the tribe. The gun, which was a western tool, had caused Okonkwo to be separated from his people. While Okonkwo was away, Christian missionaries started to settle down among the tribesman of several different villages including Mbata, where he was staying. Okonkwo was very much against this, but he had been banished so he did not have a say. Eventually, as colonialism’s appetite increased, they set up administration buildings and courts to solidify their control over the people. The people feared the white men because of what happened in Abame, “… And they began to shoot. Everyone was killed, except for the sick and the old…” (Achebe 81). Many people did not want the white man there, but they were afraid of being killed. The new courts were enforcing the laws of Great Britain, and punishing people for doing things that just years earlier, would have been deemed
The story focuses on Okonkwo, a warrior from the Umuofia Clan, and the impact of European Colonization on daily life for himself and his village. In particular, it focuses on how
Women in the Ibo society are dominated by men. “Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand.” (Achebe 13). Okonkwo's wives lived in “perpetual fear” because of his actions and temper. In chapter five Okonkwo beats his wife, as a result from it he was only punished because it was the Week of Peace.
Okonkwo is a self-made man. He achieves greatness through his own hard work and determination. Okonkwo started his life without the benefits that other young men had. His father, Unoka, was a lazy man. He had acquired no honorary titles. When Unoka died, Okonkwo did not inherit any barn, title, or young wife. He merely acquired his father’s debts. Therefore, Okonkwo sets about to make a name for himself and to achieve greatness in his community. He diligently plants and harvests his yams, building a farm from scratch. He builds a large commune for his family. He marries three wives; one of them was the village beauty. He acquires two titles. Okonkwo is not a failure, like is father was. In Umuofia, “achievement was revered”, and Okonkwo’s achievement was immense (8). He was “clearly cut out for great things” (8). To the Igbo people, Okonkwo epitomizes greatness and success.
This difference in individual’s moral standpoints is one of the main factors in causing a conflict. Achebe tells his story through the tragic hero of Okonkwo, who is a traditional man who believes in the Ibo culture as it had been established during his life. One of these traditional views he holds is the weakness of femininity, which is disputed by his uncle in his motherland, Uchendu. Uchendu’s dispute of Okonkwo’s views “your mother is there to protect you...and that is why we say that mother is supreme” when Okonkwo gets exiled from Umuofia to his motherland highlights his limited knowledge of these traditional values he believes in, as Okonkwo was fairly clueless as to the importance of women prior to Uchendu’s teaching. Okonkwo’s blind trust in traditional Ibo values, and his unwillingness to adapt to changes in these values results in the climax of the novel.