Cultural Collision In Things Fall Apart

He is failing to overpower his fear of weakness. Okonkwo is apprehensive of looking weak like his father. “Okonkwo’s fear was greater than these. It was external but lay deep within himself. It was the fear of himself, lest he should be found to resemble his father” (Achebe, 13). As a result, he behaves frantically; bringing much trouble and sorrow upon himself as well as his

Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures-national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a cultural collision that takes the form of the missionaries coming to Umuofia and forcing their religion upon the people. Different people react differently to this clash of cultures, ranging from simply conforming to going as far as killing somebody.

In Things Fall Apart there are many cultural collisions created by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture. One example of a cultural collision caused by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture is when Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye converts to Christianity. This causes a cultural collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye because Nwoye wants to become a Christian, but Okonkwo doesn’t like the white men or Christianity. This cultural collision is caused by the white men bringing in western ideas to Ibo culture. This collision is very important to the book because it leads to the destruction of Okonkwo and fuels his anger. This collision shapes the meaning of the novel as a whole by symbolizing many things

Things Fall Apart is a story about personal beliefs and customs and also a story about conflict. There is struggle between family, culture, and religion of the Ibo people which is all brought on by a difference in personal beliefs and customs. There are the strong opinions of the main character, Okonkwo. We are also introduced to the views of his village, Umuofia. Finally, we see how things fall apart when these beliefs and customs are confronted by those of the white missionaries. Chinua Achebe is a product of both native and European cultures. This has a great effect on the telling of the story. When he tells the story with an understanding and personal experiences in both cultures. He does not portray the African culture and their

For all of his desire to be strong, Okonkwo is caught up by the constant fear of being perceived as weak. He is afraid of failure and afraid of being considered weak. This fear drives him to do whatever he can to not become a failure like his father which ironically contributes to his death. While Okonkwo was a strong and important figure in his tribe, he had to keep his reputation that way by making some hard decisions. One of them was when he had to kill Ikemefuna, a young boy from the neighboring tribe. Okonkwo started accepting the decision to kill Ikemefuna because he started to call Okonkwo father. He had to keep his own valor intact and kill the boy to prevent himself from showing any weakness, but deep down, Okonkwo was really upset because of what he did which was ironic, “’When did you become a shivering old woman,' Okonkwo asked himself, 'you, who are known in all the nine villages for your valor in war? How can a man who has killed five men in battle fall to pieces because he has added a boy to their number? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.'" (Achebe 65). He continued to roll downhill when the white man comes to try and convert Okonkwo’s tribe. Okonkwo responds by killing one of the messengers that were sent. This cause Okonkwo's own tribe to question his actions. “"Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape.

In Things Fall Apart there are many cultural collisions created by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture. Through careful examination about the character Okonkwo in the novel “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe, we come to realize Okonkwo was in fact un-accepting of the cultural collision. Okonkwo was sadly unable to adapt to the new society that was set forth to him.

Okonkwo thinks he is the owner of his household and he shows no mercy to anyone who angers him. “He ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives…lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children. Perhaps down in his heart Okonkwo was not a cruel man. But his whole life was dominated by fear, the fear of failure and weakness.” (Achebe, Chapter 2, p.8). Okonkwo beats his children and wives because of his temper which is influenced by the Igbo society; he puts on a hard exterior because he is afraid of being weak and unsuccessful. At one point, he attempts to kill his second wife with a gun because he thinks she is the cause of a tree’s death. In order to prove his power and strength, without thinking of the consequences, Okonkwo beats his youngest wife during the week of peace - a week when the village celebrates peace and who ever disrupts the peace will be punished by Ala, the earth goddess (Lycos, online). “His first two wives ran out in great alarm pleading with him that it was the sacred week. But Okonkwo was not the man to stop beating somebody half-way through, not even for the fear of a goddess.” (Achebe, Chapter 4, p.21). Okonkwo lives in a male dominant society where men are pressured to be strong and successful; because of these influences, Okonkwo develops an inner

The world is full of cultural collisions. Every day people meet other with different worldviews. This concept of cultural collision, is shown perfectly though Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. In the story it is the cultural collision, of the introduction of Western Ideas into the ibo society, that causes Achebe’s characters to grow and change. One character in particular is forced to reevaluate his sense of identity because of the cultural collision. This is the character of Okonkwo. The collision challenges Okonkwo’s sense of self, as a religious leader or an Egwugwu, as a leader of his people, and as a man. It is Okonkwo’s response to these challenges, that shapes the meaning of the book of that as your world changes so must you or you

He was a man of great strength that believed there was no place for a man to show any weakness. He hated his father’s attitude towards life with every fiber of his being and spent his entire life going out of his way to be the exact opposite of his father. His arrogance was reflected in everything he did in life. He believed that the only way to get something done was to use brute force. Okonkwo was especially brutal with his sons presumably because he felt the need to set what he thought was a better example for them than his father did for him.

In the Igbo tribe, Okonkwo was a man of significant power. Focused on being a strong man and not falling into his father’s past of misfortune, Okonkwo held the great role of a leader among the society. However, his determination took over, provoking him to become harsh and mean towards the members of the tribe. He was determined “to be a true, strong man, causing him to lose love, compassion, patience and wisdom” (Miller).

Cultural collision is a clash in cultures or values. Cultural collision is a situation that plays out in classrooms where students misbehave while educators implicitly usher out urban school students who don’t bring the proper social and cultural capital to school. In All Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of western ideas into the Ibo culture. Nwoye started out in the novel much like his grandfather, Unoka, lazy and irresponsible, but the cultural collision of the British colonists and Ibo people affected his religion to the point of him converting it to christianity. The reasons for Nwoye’s change in their sense of identity included Nwoye not identifying with his culture, him finding his place in the new culture, and his journey illustrating positive effect of change.

In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo portrays his fear of societal change through aggression towards Nwoye and himself, just as men in our contemporary society are pushed to hide their feelings in exchange for anger and violence. Throughout Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo begins to see his village and religion morph into a more Western society, as Christian missionaries began to spread their religion, while driving away the rich Igbo Culture. Okonkwo begins to notice this cultural change, and begins to fear that change and it’s effects on the community.

Kaitlyn King 22 March 2018 English ll U3EA2 “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us,” (Achebe, 176). Western culture believes in one God.

Cultural collisions cause many things to happen but one person took that and made his life better. Nowye is the first son of a man named Okonkwo, who never never liked his son because he was lazy. This caused tension between the two and it stayed that way until Ikemefuna came along. But of course later on Ikemefuna was murdered and Nowye and Okonkwo’s relationship just got worse then it was before. So when this new culture came into Africa, Nowye has the chance to create a new life for himself. A new life were he doesn’t have to live up to what his dad wants him to be or what other people think he should follow. In the novel Things Fall apart, Chinua Achebe demonstrates that cultural collisions can alture the character’s prespective through

Cultural collision is a clash in Cultures or values. Cultural collision is a situation that plays off in classrooms where students misbehave while educators implicitly usher out urban school students who do it bring the power social/cultural capital to school. Cultural collision presents in things fall apart, ethnic, religion, gender, and institutional. The bulk of the novel takes place in umuofia, a cluster of nine villages on the novel higher. Umuofia is a powerful clan skinned in war and with a great population, with proud traditions and advanced social institutions okonkwo was risen from nothing to a high position.