English Paper

In Things Fall Apart, when the missionaries first come to Umuofia, Okonkwo is very adamant in resisting their ways. He refuses to conform to them and holds fast to his traditional beliefs. He believes that Christianity is “womanly” and his own practices

Starting with the first effect of imperialism, the introduction of Christianity in Umuofia, Okonkwo’s fatherland. Four years into Okonkwo’s exile, his good friend Obierika payed him a visit, informing Okonkwo of the arrival of missionaries in Umuofia. The Christian followers had to come to Umuofia to build a church and to convert locals into their anomalous religion. Most importantly, “what moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter’s son, Nwoye, among the missionaries in Umuofia.” (Achebe 143) The introduction of Christianity was one of the many effects set upon the African villages. Locals were becoming

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    The Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart began to experience colonization, all after Okonkwo was exiled. He was sent away for seven years for killing a clansman. As soon as Okonkwo had left, Umuofia was greeted by Christian missionaries. They were there to convert the villagers to Christianity, to build churches, schools, and hospitals for them. When Okonkwo was exiled, Nwoye snuck off to be among the Christians. He enjoyed being around them and examined their religious views. But, Okonkwo was not happy about Nwoye’s decisions. Okonkwo chokes him by the neck, and demands Nwoye to tell him where he has been. “I don’t know, he is not my father.” (Achebe 137) Being almost killed by his own father really encouraged Nwoye to disassociate himself from his father completely and to head back home to Umuofia. Nwoye was drawn to Christianity because it made him feel welcomed, rather than when he was apart of his native religion.

In the book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, we see the effect the white missionaries had on an African tribe and the antihero Okonkwo. The main character Okonkwo is a tragic hero. Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a Shakespearean hero with a tragic flaw, that tragic flaw is the fact that he will do anything in his power not to be a weak man like his father Unoka. Okonkwo did what he did because he hated his father and would do anything in his power to be the exact opposite of his father.

Upon entering English 111 on-line class, I had not taken an English class on-line before. In the past I have taken several other basic classes. English has always been a struggle for me, mainly writing and grammar. Neither, writing or grammar has come natural to me. The biggest challenge for me is putting my thoughts into words.

17. Write answers in paragraphs in response to two of the following questions. Each answer should be approximately 200 words. Support your answer with specific references to Still Stands the House. Organize your ideas to express them clearly and coherently.

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe indeed demonstrates that the lack of an open mind drives destruction and havoc through the character of Okonkwo. His stubbornness and intolerance for Christianity leads him to devastation and frustration, tearing himself apart. First and foremost, Christian missionaries come and influence the people surrounding Okonkwo. In one case, his son Nwoye ‘had been captivated’ (147) by this new religion in Nigeria and saw it as a relief in his life. To demonstrate, Nwoye consistently visits the church and observes the missionaries’ practices. Another example of Okonkwo’s negative opinions on Christianity is when he is talking to Obierika about how ‘their own men and their sons have joined the ranks of a stranger’ (176).

   The burden and calling to reach out and help others, enfold many people in society throughout the world. Rich or poor, young or old, black, red or white, the motive is helping those with a need. As Chinua Achebe points out in his book, Things Fall Apart, though there is the aspiration to lend a hand, it can sometimes become deadly, and even fatal to the lives of people. Although the missionaries try help convert the Ibo village of Umuofia to Christianity, their presence in Africa is harmful to the lives and culture of the Ibo.

The missionaries conflict with everything Okonkwo believes or values. The missionaries are so outlandish to Okonkwo that his first reaction is just to laugh at them. This is shown on page 147, paragraph 4, “ At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. He shrugged his shoulders and went away.” Okonkwo later begins to understand the threat the missionaries pose to his society and passionately speaks for forcing the missionaries out of Umuofia. However when his people will not listen to him, he feels like he is forced to take matters into his own hands. This is shown on page 204, paragraph 7,” Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”. The Ibo people do not join in on the violence as Okonkwo had hoped, which contradicted with Okonkwo belief that the Ibo were warrior people. This final loss of Okonkwo’s core beliefs is what shatters Okonkwo’s final sense of identity as a man. As Okonkwo is no longer any of the things he has come to identify himself as, and Okonkwo blames the missionaries for this, his final response to the missionaries is to take his own life. Okonkwo's death is shown on page 207, paragraph 3 “ Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” When Okonkwo identity was ripped from him he no longer saw a point in living and his fight with the

He refused to even listen to such a person, for he was afraid they might make his belief in his culture waver. When the missionary came to visit Okonkwo after his return to Umuofia, Okonkwo, “had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again, he would be carried out of it”. Achebe added this detail in to show to the readers Okonkwo’s refusal to try to find acceptance for these new people. The people in his tribe could find it in themselves to accept their co-existence with the Ibo people, but Okonkwo could not. It only became clear to Okonkwo, toward the end of the novel, that the tribe was not like him.

“Just follow the rubric and you will do very well during your high school English experience each,” teacher stated. Teachers handed out a rubric at the beginning of each assignment, which detail every single thing that needed to be included in your paper. As long and you followed all of the instruction stated in the rubric, your paper would qualify you to receive an A. At the time, I thought this method was rather effective. I thought I was a stronger writer as result of being able to follow the instruction from the rubric and always receiving an A on each assignment. I never received anything lower than a 93% in any of my high school English classes. Therefore, I transitioned from high school English to college English with the idea

The fact that these missionaries have started to really make an impact was unprecedented by the Ibo people; their continuous misunderstandings of one another contribute to make this situation frustrating to both the Ibo clansmen and the Christians that view their religion as superior. Okonkwo returns back to his home village of Umuofia after his exile to Mbanta, and he arrives to see missionaries have overtaken the village, created a government, and many Umuofians have joined the church. As Okonkwo and his friend Obierika are talking, Obierika says of the missionaries and their impact, “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?...He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). The white men and missionaries have been successful in coming in and gaining power. They believe the customs to be “bad”, showing their disregard of Ibo culture, and how their motives for infiltrating Ibo life is based off of selfish ideas- only to gain more followers to their religion. Furthermore, by actually being successful in drawing Umuofians into their religion, they have turned

Beginning in 1807, the British were set on abolishing slave trade, and they confronted Nigeria on the subject (Culture of Nigeria - History, People, Clothing, Traditions, Women, Beliefs, Food, Customs, Family). Problems began to emerge between the two countries. Colonies were established in Nigeria and missionaries were being sent to convert the native tribes. This caused the tense relations between the natives and the men from Britain. Most missionaries sent, like Reverend James Smith in Achebe’s novel, were insensitive to the culture and traditions of the Ibo tribe. They beat the natives and openly disrespected the gods and shrines of the Ibo people. As many members of the villages turned to the unfamiliar religion, those who wanted the indigenous religion to stay felt as though their tribe was being stolen from them, and they became angry. This is described by Achebe in Things Fall Apart when Obierika says “he has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). The tribes were being split by indecision, and all the while being treated like everything they believed was a sin. They way the white missionaries were regarding them caused anger and hate in the native people. This unfortunately lead to many deaths of the

In Things Fall Apart the reader can see how significant Christianity was in the novel. The Ibos felt they were being attack by their own faith because the Christians wanted to take away what they felt was true in their culture. In one part of the novel the villagers in Okonkwo’s clan, the ibo had taken revenge on the converts because they were against the British to start a new religion since they were in custom to their religion. Christianity made the Ibos fall apart because the new religion divided the Ibo culture. It damaged the clan into two different groups such as the converts and the Ibos that did not believe in Christianity. The villagers were divided by the converts but also Christianity guided the clan to be as one. For this reason,