Essay on Dignity of the African People in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Moreover, in Things Fall Apart, stable natives are still alive alongside the vulnerable ones. The natives who assimilate into European culture are the people who “...are disillusioned with Ibo society or are excluded from it altogether” (Gibb 238). For example, Okonkwo’s son Nwoye converts to Christianity to escape from his father’s aggressive parenting and escape from his tribe’s customs that he does not comprehend. Outcasts called osu within Umuofia join the missionaries because their people view them with disdain. A pregnant mother by the name of Nneka joins the ranks to avoid the murder of her children, since she had birthed twins in the past and the Ibo view twins as evil spirits to be disposed of. Vulnerable people under Umuofian customs are the first to adapt to a new way of life, being easier for the Europeans to exploit them.

It was easier for people to look at Africans as creatures with “Iron Collars” and “Grotesque mask” which is why Chinua Achebe wrote “Things Fall Apart” which was set during the late 1800s to early 1900s when British were expanding their influence in Africa in order to display the true idyllic beauty of the African people. In “Things Fall Apart”, Achebe uses irony to reflect the importance of customs and traditions through Obierika. Achebe uses an esprit tone to explain the “Flaws” others misinterpreted about the Igbo community. Achebe disliked how Europeans depicted Africans as “passionate instinctive savages”, so he refutes those depictions to give a viewpoint from the inside, the colonized and not the colonizer.

“Civilized Society is when the culture has a social order characterized by a government, a system of justice, a social structure, and some kind of belief system”. The Igbo people are indigenous people of Southern Nigeria. The Igbo culture has many unique attitudes. They comprised of polygamy marriages, beliefs in polytheism, farming customs, and showing of masculinity. In Things Fall Apart, the Igbo society is civilized because it established a justice/ government system as well as gender roles/ relationships.

            Yet despite these hardships, the reader cannot escape the feeling the Achebe is not as narrow-minded and bitter as he first appears. He clearly does not object to the discovery of and learning about new religions and cultures. He presents a strong argument in favour of discussion as a path towards understanding. In Things Fall Apart, the missionary Mr Brown and Akunna, one of the tribal elders, often spend long hours in discussion, and although ''Neither of them succeeded in converting the other ... they learnt more about their different beliefs'' (147). This demonstrates a mutual relationship, in which both parties are equally eager to learn when approached on equal terms.

While there are many novels written about white colonization in Africa, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart illustrates the views of not only the Nigerian people in Igbo but also the white imperialist side of the story. Achebe wrote the novel as a response to other books about the colonization of Africa, which were typically written by white men. Joseph Conrad, among many other authors wrote African characters as less intelligent and primitive humans who were better off after the colonization of Africa. Achebe shows the reader that the people of Igbo had a fully functioning civilization with a developed religion, language, and political system. They were not just a helpless, uneducated civilization waiting for someone to come and reconstruct

By utilizing an unbiased stance in his novel, Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe promotes cultural relativity without forcibly steering his audience to a particular mindset. He presents the flaws of the Ibo tribe the same way he presents the assets—without either condescension or pride; he presents the cruelties of the colonizers the same way he presents their open mindedness—without either resentment or sympathy. Because of this balance, readers are able to view the characters as multifaceted human beings instead of simply heroes and victims. Achebe writes with such subtle impartiality that American audiences do not feel guilty for the cruel actions of the colonizers or disgusted by the shocking traditions of the tribesmen. The readers stop

Literature has for centuries used to bring out an artist perception of the happenings in the community and also counter certain perceptions that some people may have in regards to a certain community. For a long time, the continent of Africa and Africans have been stereotyped as being uncivilized. Chinua Achebe who is one of the most renowned African writers in his book Things Fall apart counters the stereotyping of Africans by narrating the story of an African community that boasts of development and intellectuals. It is significant to note that the primary reason as to why Chinua Achebe wrote the novel Things fall apart was to counter the stereo types such as Joseph Conrad towards the continent of Africa. According to Conrad Africans were savages who did not have a specific language to communicate but used grants.

The fictional novel, Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel about a profound culture that was later annexed by the Europeans claiming to spread their religion. The cause of why these Europeans are portrayed this way in Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe is because throughout the 1800’s, white men had a belief of white supremacy and ideas of manifest destiny. The Europeans disembarked onto South Africa where they stumbled upon Umuofia and the Ibo culture. The very title ‘Things fall apart’ foreshadows a tragedy which happens at the end of the novel. The novel depicts the tragedy of an individual along with the tragedy of his society. The cause for this dilemma is due to the Europeans.

Throughout the film Africa Speaks, not a single African is able to voice their opinions or concerns as the white male narrator, Paul Hoefler, leaves African natives voiceless and speaks on their behalf. Hoefler continuously belittles and criticizes the Massai’s culture and traditions, while not realizing the harmful imprint he is leaving behind as he slowly molds the negative stereotypes that shape the images of Africans, such as depicting Africans as uncivilized. Cynthia Chris, author of Watching Wildlife, analyzes how Hoefler’s denigrates Africans for their different culture as he targets them “with ridicule” by stating racist

He evokes our minds to question the morals of the story and how morally incorrect that society would have been considered today, even back then when the missionaries came to promote the christian belief. Despite the fact that men, even in Europe they mistreated women, was not as extreme as in Nigeria where they could end up killing their wife. Both the male tribe members of the village and the missionaries, through the books and research on the timeframe, showed that both sides despite the contrast in their way of living marginalized women in society but in their own way. Even though women were not as severely punished in European society, they were still not given the opportunities of important roles in society, unlike the Igbo tribe. Also, the contrast with Igbo men and Christian men was that the Igbo believed in having several wives, while Christian men only believed in having one. The conflict

     Knowledge of Africa and the inhabitants of the massive continent were often portrayed as barbaric beasts by the first missionaries to enter the land.  Because of skewed writings by European missionary workers, a picture was painted for their readership of a savage Africa saved only by the benevolent, civilized western influence.  Achebe successfully attempts to redirect this attitude. Achebe educationally has the means to convey a different perspective, an advantage most other individuals of his culture lack.  In his novel Things Fall Apart, rather than glorifying the Ibo culture, or even offering a new view, Achebe acts as a pipeline for information to flow freely without partiality.

In the novel Things Fall Apart, strength and pride are key aspects of the protagonist, Okonkwo. However, these traits may sound exceptional, but because of the way he was constructed, Okonkwo possesses many of his emotions under an outer shell of violence in fear of being perceived as weak. Achebe uses Okonkwo’s internal conflicts between himself and Ikemefuna to present the idea of how fear can control the actions an individual takes.

There are many misconceptions about the country of Africa, from Africans not having a civilized society, to them being poor and unhealthy. In the book, Things Fall Apart, award winning author, Chinua Achebe takes readers into the world of the Igbo tribe in Nigeria and how they live in a pre- and post- colonial society. He writes to target a westernized society, in an effort to break the stereotypes that Africans are not civilized. In order to inform people on African culture, and to show that they are educated people, Chinua Achebe writes about the religion and government of Africans.

Thus, Achebe accuses the white missionaries’ colonial rule and additionally intrusion of the post-colonial of the oppressed Igbo culture; this oppression can be found as far as the mistreated social coherence between the individual and their general public. Besides, Achebe teaches his readers broadly about Igbo society 's myths and precepts. Before Achebe composed Things Fall Apart, every one of the books that had been composed about Africa and Africans was composed by Europeans. For the most part, the European works depicted Africans as boorish and uneducated people. The Europeans, seeing that they considered themselves more progressed than Africans were resolved to help Africans move from the old time into the cutting edge time of human advancement and education.

More than those of any other African writer, Chinua Achebe’s writings have helped to develop what is known as African literature today. And the single book which has helped him to launch his "revolution" is the classic, Things Fall Apart.  The focus of this essay includes: 1) Achebe's portraiture of women in his fictional universe, the existing sociocultural situation of the period he is depicting, and the factors in it that condition male attitudes towards women; 2) the consequences of the absence of a moderating female principle in his fictions; 3) Achebe's progressively changing attitude towards women s roles; and 4) feminist prospects for African women. In the context of this study, the Igbo people whom Achebe describes will