Pre-Colonialism And Post-Colonialism In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, presents the result of colonization of the Ibo people by the European missionaries. The Ibo culture is threatened to change by the European influence. Villagers are divided between resisting a new lifestyle or embracing it for better opportunities in society. The struggle to keep Ibo traditions alive is reflected in Okonkwo and Obierika’s relationship to one another. Okonkwo represents the resistance of change by keeping traditional values in high regard while, Obierika signifies the openness to opportunity by questioning the current Ibo values. The arrival of European missionaries persuades the exchange of traditional Ibo methods, customs, and community for Christianity, resulting in the community to fall apart.

“We have albinos among us” (Achebe 141). The words vocalized by Uchendu, a wise African villager and Uncle of Okonkwo in the novel Things Fall Apart by author Chinua Achebe. Achebe does an excellent job at giving the reader an insight of life before and during the beginning of English imperialism over Africa in the 1800’s. This essay will identify and explain the effects imperialism had on the African villages.

The novel “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe, is a tale based on the traditional beliefs and customs of an Ibo village during late 1800’s Africa. Through the telling of this story, we witness the remarkable depth of Igbo culture through its functions of religion, politics, judiciary and entertainment.

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

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe discusses the rise of an Igbo chieftain who came from great poverty to power and the eventual loss of Igbo traditions, rites, and the influence of his clan through his eyes due to western imperialism and colonialism. The intended audience for this novel is very broad, but if we tried to define it would primarily be people who have not experienced the Igbo culture and westerners or people who speak English. In this essay I will be focusing on the last six chapters: chapters 20 to 25. These chapters highlight the loss of power and customs of the Igbo people who have succumb to colonial rule. I fell Achebe is rhetorically effective and

were. In this text several concepts will be questioned and analyzed, such as the importance of

The novel Things Fall Apart was written in 1958 by a late Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart alludes to the effects of European Imperialism on Igbo culture. This novel begins in a fictional town called “Umuofia”, on the boundary of modern day Nigeria. European missionaries arrive in Umuofia, uninvited and especially unwelcomed. Upon the missionaries arrival, Umuofia’s cultural tradition is shaken to its core and tampered with by the Europeans. The effects of the Europeans on the Igbo culture in Umuofia alter the village’s religion, political structure, and the Igbo peoples way of life.

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

One of the main impacts that led the Igbo people to their collapse was their indifference to outside sources and also their conflicts within their community. They didn’t want to take anyone else’s opinions or ideas into consideration and just did things how

In the late nineteenth century, Africans were introduced to colonialism. The British invaded their lands and brought upon them their cultural knowledge, values, and beliefs. Chinua Achebe’s novel, “Things Fall Apart,” dives into the cultural conflicts that met the people of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria and British missionaries. Members of both groups fell victim to ethnocentrism, negatively evaluating one another’s culture according to the preconceptions originating in the customs of their own culture. This ultimately resulted in chaos and violence amongst the tribesmen themselves and against the missionaries.

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

A question someone would more than likely not ask themselves is what they would do if they invaded a culture or had their own culture invaded. For most, this question seemingly does not apply to them because of the “civilized” world in which they live in at that moment; however, it is that specific mentality and cause-effect consequence that author Chinua Achebe explores in his novel Things Fall Apart. This novel follows the main character, Okonkwo, of an Igbo tribe, through his life’s story. A major theme that presents itself at the end is the consequences of not caring for another’s culture regarding colonialism. So, the question is set: what would someone do if they were trying to invade a culture or had their own culture invaded? In the novel Things Fall Apart, one possibility is explored, and that is the people whose culture is being threatened will act violently which causes the perpetrators to act violently as well. Kwame Appiah discusses a cosmopolitanism’s view of the world and uses common ideas such as do to others what you want done to yourself, and pursuing conversation with people who are not like oneself. These two ideas will be used to explore an event in Things Fall Apart, so that an alternate view can be offered on a situation if it were in the context of a cosmopolitan’s world. In a cosmopolitan world, the people of Abame would have had conversation with the colonialists to try and negotiate a mutually beneficial setup whereas the colonialists would have

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was wrote in 1958 as a response to European Literature viewing Africans as savages who were then enlightened and found peace and safety by the Europeans. Chinua describes the Igbo people and showed the culture and showing the way of life of the Igbo people. This book shows this powerful and eye opening look into the complex society of these tribes and villages and how law and order is run. The major theme that is I will focus is that traditional development of the Igbo tribe alone and with the influence of the Europeans.

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is a modern example of postcolonial literature and is one of the most influential pieces of its genre. Postcolonial writing presents important themes and lessons of justice, equality, and freedom that can be applied to present times. It reminds us of how important our freedoms are and why we need to protect them. The colonized write about their exploitation and show how there is persecution in their colonized society. Postcolonial authors use specific methods to undermine their colonizers and reveal their backward logic. Things Fall Apart has various examples of meta-narrative, decolonization struggles, and colonial discourse worked in throughout the novel. Chinua Achebe’s writing styles showcase these techniques to subvert his European colonizers.

Colonialism is “The process which, in the context of Western Europe, began about 1500 with European conquest, settlement and exploitation of territories in America, the East and Africa (Cook 78).” It is when a great nation invades another country with imperialistic motives. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, is a clear depiction of colonialism as European Missionaries entered into the fictional African villages with the purpose to assimilate their cultural beliefs and practices on the people of “Umofia,” “Abame” and “Mbanta.” Achebe creates the fictional novel based on the historical events in his native Nigeria where European colonizers invaded and distorted the life, beliefs and cultural practices of Nigeria. As stated by Emenyonu and Uko “Things Fall Apart, he portrays the events of the late 19th century and early 20th centuries Igboland as marking the end of traditional Igbo civilization and the ushering in of another civilization, the Christian–oriented civilization of Western Europe