Religion In Things Fall Apart

Because of the lack of acceptance from his family, especially his father, he is forced to make a choice between his new culture, or his loved ones. He chooses to leave, and when ask by his father’s friend, obierka, Nwoye says [quote about Okonkwo not being his father]. Okonkwo doesn’t take it well either stating to his children [the thing about them being dead to him or something]. This action shows Nwoye’s willingness to value his new faith in Christianity over his own blood. His troubling past with his father and sense of belonging makes it easy for him to change his life for the better by leaving. The missionaries offer Nwoye a better alternative to the oppressive life he is living, which gives him peace of mind as he leaves his family behind. In the wake of Nwoye growing up and struggling to find himself, he managed to go through a cultural shift and completely change his identity. As some Ibo people also choose to convert also, the missionaries gain more and more power over the village. Things begin to fall apart for the Ibo clan as they are divided because of the forces within themselves. The village of Umuofia is ultimately destroyed because of the split between the people living there. Although Nwoye never felt quite in the right place before, he finds peace of mind in his new sense of self, and easily forgets his past to start a new and better

In the book it says that “ ”Where have you been?” he stammered. Nwoye struggled to free himself from the choking grip. “Answer me!” he roared again. Nwoye stood looking at him and did not say a word.” Which shows how Okonkwo reacted to finding out that his son had an interested in the new culture. This greatly affected the way Nwoye saw his father, Okonkwo. After that it says that “He went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write.” Nwoye did this mostly to get away from his father he also disowned him from being his father. Finally Chinua Achebe uses Nwoye to show how hard it was for some people to share their acceptance with the new culture and the consequences it could

9. “Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye, was then twelve years old but was already causing his father great anxiety for his incipient laziness. At any rate, that was how it looked to his father, and he sought to correct him by constant nagging and beating. And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth.”

Nwoye’s father, Okonkwo angered by Nwoye’s conversion felt that Nwoye had disgraced his elders and his family. Moreover, found himself saying that he was cursed with a Nwoye for a son and that he was just like his grandfather Unoka. “How then begotten a son like Nwoye (Achebe 146).” Nwoye had finally felt free from his father’s stubborn and violent ways when he converted to Christianity. Also in the meantime destroyed any father-son relationship that Okonkwo and Nwoye had but Nwoye was not bothered by the hate from his father.

○ In Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, talks about how he prefers the stories of wisdom his mother told him, over the violent stories told by his father. "He still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell, and which no doubt told to her

To begin, Nwoye reacts to western ideas by embracing European culture. Nwoye begins to accept the idea of Christianity and considers joining their community. The narrator explains, “He went back to the church and told Mr.Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write”(Achebe 152). Nwoye’s decision shows his acceptance of European culture through assimilation. Furthermore, Nwoye willing departs from his family, rejecting his old culture to embrace a new one. The abuse from Okonkwo drives Nowye away from his old culture. The narrator explains, “But he was happy to leave his father”(Achebe 152). Nwoye accepts the new culture with a new identity, showing how his original culture does not

And so Nwoye was developing into a sad-faced youth” (Achebe 13). This shows the relationship between Okonkwo and his son. Things start to get better when Ikemefuna, a sacrifice from a nearby village, comes to live with them. Ikemefuna becomes a brother figure and a mentor for Nwoye. He acts more manly in order to please his father and it works.

However in chapter 16 on page forty seven, it was just poetry with a new religion in it to Nwoye something that he felt within him. It opened his eyes realizing that his own father did so many injustice making him hate and lose respect for him. He also appeared to be relieved about the twins crying in the bush and Ikemefuna death after he heard the christians preach. It made him have peace for his own soul. Later on in the novel in the beginning of chapter seventeen when it says “Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he kept it secret. He dared not to go too near the missionaries for fear of his father,” he was in fear to show others in the village and his father that the western culture had an effect on him. Although Nwoye kept on going to the church secretly, it was not long that his father knew about it. Okonkwo was furious to find out and disowned him by saying that he is no longer a son to him and to leave the village because he is a great disappointed to their society. He left, but was glad to do it in the thought of returning soon for his mother, brothers, and sisters to introduce them to this new faith, christianity.

In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe it is demonstrated how the Ibo culture slowly deteriorated from their own culture. The Western ideas influenced a different impact on certain characters, this also included characters like Okonwo and his son Nwoye. Many from the Ibo culture were confused by the merge of the European people slowly but subtly trying to enforce and covert their religion upon them. The books ending explained why the book was written in the first place, which was to “break the silence” that existed from the unheard side of the colonized people. The novel explained the impact Nwoye encountered with Western ideas was a clear and positive one. Nwoye felt like he resonated, was wanted, and more suited in the new culture

Nwoye was very open and accosted to the coetaneous Western culture. From the beginning, Nwoye was infatuated with the beliefs and concepts of the ‘white men’. However, he still was slightly doubting himself if he should fully engage in the admittance of Christianity. “...Nwoye passed and repassed the little red-earth and thatch building without summoning enough courage to enter.” (112) In the second part of the novel, Nwoye finally sees that he can be his own individual. He discovers that he does not have to live in the world where he was dissatisfied with who he was, and not falter with the idea of being a failure from his father. “He lelt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul.” (110) Nwoye felt the hymn in his soul, which gave him courage to finally have his own eccentricity. During part two of Things Fall Apart, Nwoye finally admits that he is now fully in conjunction with the Western religion and accepts it. When Nwoye subsequently decided to entirely dedicate himself to the ‘white men’s’ religion, it did not come without a price. Okonkwo repudiated his son. He no longer considered Nwoye as his son. “...Nwoye was not worth fighting for. Why, he cried in his heart, should he, Okonkwo, of all people, be cursed with such a son?” (114) Okonkwo was cynical of Nwoye from the inception of the novel, but since Nwoye catenated with the Western religion, it triggered Okonkwo’s lost in all

In Things Fall Apart, the witch doctor’s many unorthodox forms of treatment for Ekwefi’s ogbanje, or evil spirit, show how the values of religion and society can lead the members of the Igbo tribe to commit atrocities. After the witch doctor diagnoses the cause of death, he gives Ekwefi many treatments for getting rid of the ogbanje, one of these being the mutilation of a baby’s corpse in order to keep the evil spirit away. The witch doctor then throws the scarred body of the child into the Evil Forest, where it presumably rots away and is eaten by wild animals. Unnecessary violence like the murder of twins, and the murder of Ikemefuna is not the fault of an individual, but the result of a society that has told African people these acts of violence are not only good, but necessary in order to maintain order.

This story maintained a constant theme of conflict. Nwoye, lives in perpetual fear of his father. Okonkwo constantly chastises his son and finds a fault with everything he

Okonkwo’s culture tells him to beat what he cannot fix, this idea evolved from his father, his mother culture and the lazy ways that came with it. The major factors that shape Nwoye’s view on a culture are his father, his mother culture and the white man. Along with Christianity he completely destroys the values of Okonkwo’s culture. “ Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, but he kept it a secret”(Achebe 149). Nwoye is too afraid of his father, as is, symbolically the clashing culture afraid of the mother culture and the outcome of the clash. The notion of the white man, along with Christianity assimilates Nwoye and his culture. And the factors above shape the view of what he wants a culture to be.

Religion is the service and worship of God or the supernatural. In the book “Things Fall Apart” written by Chinua Achebe there is a diversity of religion in the clan (Umuofia) they live in. This causes an uprising in christianity which leaves the clan with new ideas and new beliefs. Umuofia believes polytheism, which means they believe in more that one god. The christian religion only believes in one god which is transformed into three total versions.

Nwoye is Okonkwo’s eldest son who Okonkwo considers unforgivably emasculate and very much like his father, Unoka. As a child, Nwoye usually receives the brunt of his father’s criticism and remains feeling unwanted. Eventually, Ikemefuna comes to fill that void and Nwoye, in his adoration of his adoptive brother, begins to takes after him. Also In a take strange way, Ikemefuna fills the role of both father and brother for Nwoye, providing him with a peer to share his thoughts and a person to look up to. As Ikemefuna rubs off on Nwoye, Okonkwo begins to find more favor with both of the boys. As a result , the three begin to form an unbreakable bond, or so they thought.