Misunderstood Culture In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart illustrates the traditions and beliefs of an African tribe and the influence post-colonialism has on them. The patriarchal tribe stresses the importance of relations and the expectations of those in them. Okonkwo, fearing he will turn out like his father, constantly corrects and beats his eldest son, Nwoye, yet, his behavior towards his daughter, Ezinma, drastically differs.

Culture collision is not something that you hear about everyday. Culture collision is the clash of cultures or values. This can be triggered by many things and the way we react to it is due to our personality. When this does occur it can impact our lives in such a great way. It can have an affect on who we are and what we stand for. In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe we take a look at the character Okonkwo and see how he is affect by his Culture collision and see that his personality is the the factor in the way he reacts to it.

The book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe is a fictional look at the social and cultural life of an African tribe of the lower Niger River region. It depicts the every day life of the tribe and its members. It also shows the culture and customs of the tribe.

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by itself,

Throughout Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, storytelling is portrayed as a critical part of Nigerian culture. From the tales told in this novel, readers learn about everything from the fate of a dishonest tortoise, to the story of Okonkwo’s first human head. Stories in this region are often used to strengthen the bond between community members and define the roles of people from different genders and classes.

In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, the reader is able to understand the complexity that is the Igbo village through their many different customs. The reader is also able to humanize the Africans through their strong desire to hold on to their culture, that is being ripped away from them by the Europeans. This can be seen as European writers such as, Joseph Conrad in Hearts of Darkness, falsely interprets African people, taking away their culture. Therefore, Chinua Achebe’s political purpose in writing Things Fall Apart, was to dismantle the primitive image western audiences had of Africans being savages, and tell their real story through the rich complexed culture of the Igbo village, the irony of the Europeans savagely ripping their culture apart, and the

Things Fall Apart (1958) is a fictional novel by Chinua Achebe that examines the life the Igbo tribe living in a rural village called Umuofia in Nigeria during the early 19th century. The central values of the novel revolve around status, virtues, power, and traditions that often determine the futures and present of the characters in the Achebe story. The novel shows the life of the protagonist Okonkwo and his family, village, and Igbo culture and the affects of colonisation of Umuofia on him and the people of his village by Christian missionaries. In this essay, I plan to look at colonialism in the novel before and after and the impact on Okonkwo and the village Umuofia and examine how

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe follows the African village of Umuofia as it transitions into a colonial society. The story follows the respected clan leader, Okonkwo, as he navigates and responds to the consequential paradigm shift. Motifs of respect and masculinity feature prominently throughout as a means to discuss socioeconomic conditions in Umuofia prior to colonization. Achebe opens his novel by characterizing Okonkwo as a strong and direct man before detailing the aftermath of a clash between two clans. Here, the characters’ interpersonal relationships are developed, and a dichotomy is drawn between the village’s and Okonkwo’s respective views on manhood and responsibility. While the village in general adopts more lenient stances, Okonkwo’s hardline, old-fashioned approaches represent fundamental beliefs in the Umuofian culture that ultimately assist the English in colonization. Using the manifestations of masculinity in societal expectations, respect, and conflict resolution, Chinua Achebe posits that the colonization of Umuofia is not solely the result of European interference; it is also the result of divisions within the nation due to outdated standards that rendered its people susceptible to colonization. Achebe’s piece serves as a social commentary

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe explores the controversy over women’s roles in the Nigerian society of the Ibo people. Achebe’s main character, Okonkwo, finds himself caught in the struggle between his own misogynistic views and the more complicated interpretations of femininity in his society. Although the women in Things Fall Apart seem to be an oppressed group with no power, the deep-rooted beliefs of the culture reveal an attitude of reverence

In the novel “Things Fall Apart,” Chinua Achebe reveals the customary traditions of the igbo people and the challenges these traditions can cause. He backs up his claim with the use of symbolism, proverbs and dialogue. Achebe’s purpose is to inform us about the challenges each tradition faces. In an excerpt from the novel, Achebe starts of with a dialogue between Okonkwo and his wife Ekwefi.

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” In Achebe’s award winning novel, “Things Fall Apart,” he wants the reader to learn that we need to take away experiences from the past in order to keep the Ibo culture alive. The story is told through three generations of a family, Unoka (the grandfather), Okonkwo (the father), and Nwoye (the son), who are all a part of the Ibo culture. By comparing the lives of Unoka, Okonkwo, and Nwoye, Achebe tries to secure a platform of understanding- of believable and symbolic characters, Achebe builds empathy in the western reader.

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a religious, ethnic, and cultural collision. This collision is seen in the village of Umuofia when Westerners come to “civilize” and bring Christianity to the Igbo tribe. Once the Westerners arrive, their presence in Umuofia bring many conflicts to a head between Okonkwo, one of the tribes most prestigious members, and the Westerners, who have come to settle Nigeria. Okonkwo’s experience of cultural collision between Western culture and his own exemplifies Okonkwo’s unwillingness to change which ultimately leads to his downfall.

Imagine a person who has been successful and independently for years living by their own personal standards. Now imagine that same person having every aspect of their life changed and controlled by a ruler who says the person’s way of living are outdated and savage. Also, imagine that if that person refuses to follow these new rules, and sticks with their original ways of living, that person will see his or her demise. Would this person be happy? Things Fall Apart, written by Chinua Achebe, is a story written to show Christian missionaries and colonists invading African clans with the intent to take over and reform every aspect of the African clans’ traditional culture, customs, and traditions with their modern culture, customs, and traditions that they are executing their plan wrong, as cultures do not easily blend. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe shows how old culture, customs, and traditions do not easily blend with modern culture, customs, and traditions through the event at Abame, the conflicts between the church and the Ibo clan, and Okonkwo’s ultimate demise and failure.

A master at providing alternative context to Africa and concepts of decolonization, Chinua Achebe wrote a great amount of literary work, including, Things Fall Apart (1956) and A Man of the People (1966). The first novel, occurring both before and during Nigeria’s neo colonial period, depicts the relationship between Okonkwo and his Igbo tribe in Umuofia. With an identity heavily dependent on his social status and structure, Achebe’s protagonist communicates his extreme distaste for the entrance of European colonizers:

In the world today, there are over 7 billion people alive each with their own goals and thoughts in their mind. With the 7 billion different thoughts in the world similar thoughts converge and create a community of the similar mind and eventually form something called culture. Every culture is different and unique. In Kwame Anthony Appiah’s novel “cosmopolitism,” in the chapter “Whose Culture is it anyways,” he talks about how citizens from different countries should learn about the cultures of the other countries in the world to make the world a better place.