Rituals Depicted In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, the beliefs of an afterlife and spirit world were strong factors in the daily events of an Ibo person’s life. These beliefs controlled their actions and thoughts all the time. The Ibo believed in not only personal spirits, but also in a supreme deity, the Creator of the world and the Ibo, as well as the minor gods and entities of the spirit world. To the Ibo, it was customary for one to approach a great and powerful man through his servants. Sacrifices were made to the minor gods and spirits, but when these fail to bring about the desired result, the Ibo went to the Supreme Deity for final intervention.

When we think about a European colonialist world view it is often based on judging a society by two major assumptions. These assumptions are the idea that other societies are filled with violent people without manners, and that their religious practices are a hedonistic affront to their own religion. These assumptions make it easy for European Colonialists to somewhat invade a land, and try to take it over. This practice of invading a foreign country is made even easier by the way European Colonialists dehumanize the native population and convince themselves that they are helping. Chinua Achebe’s book Things Fall Apart attempts to correct these misguided views of African societies by portraying a more complex culture that values peace, and the art of conversation. Achebe also tries to portray the idea that not all European people they come in contact with are aggressive, and misconstrued in their view of the African societies. Achebe tries to show us the value of his society through repeated views into conversations, religious practices, and encounters between people.Ultimately Achebe tries to show us that Africa’s complex cultures deserve more credit than taking up a chapter or two in a European colonialist’s book. This attempt at showing Africa as a complex group of diverse cultures goes directly against everything that European colonizers are working for because it humanizes a society they want to dehumanize.

Conflicts and struggles in a book help capture the reader 's attention. A reader is always has his or her eye out for the struggles a character throughout a book because that is the part of the book that captures the reader 's attention. Although, it is not always about the struggle and conflict, but the optimism the character feels whenever something goes wrong. A reader also wants to be assured that the character will look for the bright side in the situations and the events that happen. Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart showcases a great deal of conflicts and struggles for the characters. Although, the characters in the book who face any struggles or conflicts still try to hold on to the hope it will turn out good in the end.

There are millions of varying perspectives in the world on many different topics. Sometimes two different mindsets clash and disagree with one another. This is apparent in the work of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe gives a personal account of African life, culture, and customs in his book. He grew up in Nigeria, solidifying the reality that his take on their culture is the most natural, the one that will hit home. Also, since Achebe grew up surrounded by the culture so it is something intimately familiar to him. On the other hand, Joseph Conrad’s book Heart of Darkness makes Africa into a wild and savage place that needs to be ‘tamed’ by the white men and their ways.

“Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper.”

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.

What effects can fear have on a person? And how can these effects influence that person? Fear is defined in the Oxford dictionary as ‘an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm’. The tragic novel “Things Fall Apart”, written by the renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe, is an incredibly influential text. The novel is also an example of how fear can be utilised as an approach to characterisation. Achebe composed his novel in a manner, which portrays a complex and dynamic community to represent Nigerian cultures to a western audience. Achebe was able to attain this through the Ibo communities and the main character Okonkwo. In the beginning of the novel, Okonkwo is represented as a man of pride, success, and hard

Imagine having your lifestyle and culture by a group of unknown men who has contradicting beliefs, and single handedly changed in the course of your lifetime, some changes are for the greater good and vice versa. In the novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the people in the igbo culture lived with their culture being not tampered for quite some time with living in a polytheist religion, inequality in gender roles, and practices of ancient tribal rituals. Rumors started to arise from distant villages about unidentified white men with iron horses were roaming around land, converting and dissembling the way the igbo people lived with, but it took some years for those same white men to arrive and tamper with the village of Umuofia. Time

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a response to the European depiction of Africans and African culture. Today, prejudice of cultures, or groups of people, is displayed in the media on a daily basis. There has been efforts in the past several years to integrate culture and diversity in many classrooms across the nation to generate awareness and acceptance. By acknowledging the history of people and cultures from the past in literature readers are able to submerge themselves to several engaging perspectives that trigger reconsideration of stereotypes. Achebe’s novel corrects European formed essentialism and offers readers an Afrocentric perspective.

Abraham Lincoln once said “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart she tells a story about a culture deeply rooted in tradition that’s facing the prospect of change. The story gives the reader an insight on the reality of change and it effects on the characters. The aggravated circumstances of whether or not change should have advantage over tradition oftentimes involves questions of both societal and personal status and reputation. An example being the protagonist, Okonkwo, who opposed the incoming political and religious changes, for the idea that such practices are “unmanly” and in turn he would eventually be seen as weak and

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe conflict is almost inevitable when two cultures come into contact. Okonkwo has a normal life as a male villager he has to grow his yams and live normal but when foreigners show up conflict occurs. This is shown in the book by showing the villagers saying to the white men to build their church in the evil forest and the white men go on and do it. This attracts some of the villagers to this which leads to major conflict in the village and they start to attack each other by burning things and arresting each other. It does not have to lead to conflict right away but it does happen at some point hence the name Things Fall Apart when the Christians first arrive all is ok but later on it all breaks loose. By looking

My six word story explains that no matter how you decide to carry out your life, death plays in no one’s favor and by no one’s rules. Death is inconsiderate about how you presented yourself to the world, or how you struggled to gain the fruits of your labor. You could be an eminent business man during your time, only to be the victim of a homicide conducted by your best friend. This six word story applies to ´Things Fall Apart´ by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo lived his life with a hardworking and prosperous attitude. He held many titles, had several wives and children, and abundant fields of yam. Okonkwo showed no emotion, just strength and wrath. He believed that, “To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was

Things Fall Apart is a novel of a man whose life is dominated by both fear and anger. Okonkwo was very well known throughout nine villages and even beyond. As a young man he had brought honor to his village by throwing Amalinze, the cat. Amalinze was the great wrestler who for seven years was unbeaten from Umuofia to Mbaino (Achebe, 1994, p. 3). Drums were beaten and the flutes sang and the spectators held their breath, Amalinze was a wily craftsman but Okonkwo was as slippery as a fish in water. Okonkwo fame grew rapidly as he had taken down the cat. Everyone now looked up to him and saw him as fierce warrior of the clan (Achebe, 1994).

For many years anthropology has held a primarily western ethnocentric point of view when evaluating other cultures from around the world. Recently however, anthropologists have begun taking a more holistic approach when preforming ethnographies. After concluding that all cultures are equal and that no one culture is innately superior to the other anthropologists have not only taken other world cultures into account when studying a new one, but also experimenting with new ways to illustrate a more complete view of that culture. In Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart he paints a holistic image of the Igbo people in Nigeria and their culture. This book has given me several insights into what cultural anthropologists do when evaluating and a describing a culture. Within a given culture there are a myriad number of key aspects that anthropologists look towards to help them evaluate it. The foremost of which is their economy, hierarchy, descent, gender, and rituals. I chose Things Fall Apart because it offered substantial information on all of those points of interest. By using fiction and creating characters Chinua Achebe is able to show Igbo culture in its entirety. While other works have been harsh in the criticism of African life Things Fall Apart shows the Igbo for what they were not inherently superior or inferior, rather it is simply snapshot of what life was like among the Igbo culture.

Missionaries are a group of Christians whom are on a religious mission. Their sole purpose is to promote their religion in foreign countries. They ‘preach the gospel to all creation. ...and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’ (Matthew 28:18-20). One of the places the Missionaries had travelled to is Africa. Both The River Between and Things Fall Apart were written during the independence period of Africa. Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958 tells the story of Okonkwo whom is a member of the Igbo Tribe in Nigeria and his constant encounters with the Christian missionaries. The River Between written by Ngugi was published in 1965 and tells the story of