Igbo Culture : The Igbo People

Being successful can be by wrestling, wealth, titles, and wives to men in the Igbo culture which for them is their personal achievement to have these in life. For example, “He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife”(8). This signifies the wealth the men have with yams and by having a title in their clan they can have more wives to show that they are able to support them and feed all of them. In contrast, Titles are a major symbol in men and their reputation, unlike women, care more about their families. For instance, “among these people, a man was judged according to his

First and foremost, Igbo people use proverbs daily, and their use of proverbs is instilled

The Igbo people’s language is saturated with proverbs which allows the language to sustain a sophisticated way of communication. This shows they should be considered to be a civilized culture because the use of proverbs mean their language is advanced enough to be able to support the usage of metaphors and figurative talk. For example, Achebe states, “Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. Among the Igbo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten” (Achebe 10). This shows that the Igbo people stress the use of proverbs, a complex use of their language, to express their ideas and to communicate with others. Another example is when Okonkwo was justifying his role in killing Ikemefuna to Obierika. Okonkwo says, “The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger, A child’s fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam, which its mother puts into its palm.” (Achebe 64). This shows that Igbo’s use of complex proverbs and language allow for the people to prove their points and their arguments. This shows the culture is civilized because the Igbo language is used in it’s complexity to explain points of views and argument effectively, which is a sophisticated part of day to day communication. The use of language in the Ibo culture allows for the people to communicate and express their ideas in complex ways,

This confusion at the refusal of the Igbos to accept positions such as this is well-illustrated in Arrow of God:

-After Nwoye is lured into the Christian religion and abandons his culture and family, Okonkwo is ashamed and states, "you have all see the great abomination of your brother. Now he is no longer my son or your brother. I will only have a son who is a man, who will hold his head up among my people" (172). Nwoye's father disowns him only because he chooses a path untraditional to his culture. The serious, frustrated, and unhappy mood that is created in Okonkwo's statement gives the reader an idea of how much the Ibo culture values tradition, choice, and family.

    The tragic story of Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart offers many examples of Igbo beliefs regarding free will and fate. Religious life for the Igbo was thoroughly intertwined with secular life. According to the text, the Igbo believed in fate; that nothing happened by chance as every happenstance was the result of Chukwu or God's will. Yet the Igbo also believed that ancestors, lesser gods, and their own chi or personal god also influenced the lives of the living. Thus, if an individual lived in harmony with his ancestors, lesser gods and ultimately Chukwu, that individual would be blessed with good fortune, health and an abundance of children. If,

The Igbos used consensus to run their villages. They had the ndichie also known as the leading citizens run meetings where they would argue about issues. The Igbo had set up a system to stop men from achieving too much power. For men to be able to claim a higher title they would have to pay money to to the poor. To be able to reach the highest rank in the tribe you had to pay the debt of every man in the tribe, resulting in many men not achieving this rank. Unlike in many cultures, women held a spot on the social structure. Daughters of the clan were known as the umuada, they were the authority in the markets and they handled the civic. Men who abused their wives in public were abused with hurtful signs from the women in the rest of their village(McDougal

After the missionaries arrived, many Igbo people converted to Christianity; because of this, a majority of modern Igbo people are Christian, and even some Igbo people practice “a syncretic version of Christianity intermingled with indigenous beliefs” (“Igbo”). However, there were some negative effects on the religion. Christian reforms and attempts to destroy the religion caused less integration and unity between the Igbo people (Okeke et al. 9). While the religion was not completely forgotten, a majority of the Igbo have abandoned traditional

Don C. Ohadike claims that between 1900 and 1960, the colonial period, Igbos began gathering together in urban centers and discovered the similarities in their culture and language. Igbo farming communities stretched across Nigeria and were bordered by the Niger river, the Cross river, swamplands, and grasslands. Igbo religion was very prominent in their everyday life. Chukwu, they believed, was a supreme being so they didn't have any symbols of Chukwu because they didn't know what he looked like and they didn't have any shrines of Chukwu because they thought that he was everywhere. Ekwensu, the Christian equivalent of satan, supposedly made people commit crimes. Igbos also believed in life after death and that the spirits of the dead became unseen. The Igbo people had the theory that twins or triplets were abnormal and if born, they were thrown away

For example, men were taught that they should have the highest statues in their family, therefore, they did anything from farming, becoming a fierce warrior, or even a wrestler, so they could have a title on their name. In the Igbo culture men were taught to lead their households to show that they were superior to children and women. A young boy would be punished if he didn't act like a leader, "... a boy's father did everything from scolding to severe beating to ensure that he removes any trace of womanish trait from his son" (Ozumba). All these punishments were required to shape up the young boys, so when they got older they would know how to act like a man and be a great leader. As a good leader, men were supposed to know how to negotiate with other tribes. For example, they used their most feared warrior to negotiate because other tribes would respect him from what he has accomplished in the battlefield, and they would get the best deal from it. The importance of leadership was very crucial because it defined how well you were respected among

Like many other tradition societies, Igbo held men higher than woman on the social ladder. Men can take titles while women can not. Women even have no say in the village council nor they can grow king crop Yam.

The Igbo community is developed because they have fair ideology practice. For example, when Okonkwo shot his gun on accident and hit Ezeudu's son who’s father the clan was burying it says “The only course of action was to flee from

The Igbo people are a tribe that basis much of their beliefs around folklore. This folklore is a key part of their daily lives and their religion. These stories passed from generation to generation teach valuable lessons to the children of the tribe and prepare them for adult life. The following examples are some of the most important beliefs and the stories that accompany them.

The next example in the story that shows negativity towards culture for the igbo people is when the entire village gets down when they hear about the death of Ikemefuna and the people get down but we are able to see that it hits Okonkwo super hard. It stats in the story that “Okonkwo did not taste food for three days after the death. ”(Achebe 64) We can see through this that the town gets down for the death and this shows negativity towards the culture because the culture of the igbo

with which words are eaten." (Achebe, 7) The Igbo tribe heavily rely on proverbs to help their speech be more eloquent, and soften the blow a bit, in harsh situations. It soothes the sting of the harder talks, which is what the palm oil is referring to. In addition to using many proverbs, the Igbo never jump straight into the reason for the conversation. It is very diplomatic to them to talk first about other things rather than start with the reason for meeting. It is said "as the men drank they talked about everything except the thing for which they had gathered. It was only after the pot had been emptied that the suitors father cleared his voice and announced the object of their visit." (Achebe, 72) This shows that their language goes farther than just speech, but when it is said is