Things Fall Apart Research Paper

In Things Fall Apart there are many cultural collisions created by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture. One example of a cultural collision caused by the introduction of Western ideas into Ibo culture is when Okonkwo’s first son, Nwoye converts to Christianity. This causes a cultural collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye because Nwoye wants to become a Christian, but Okonkwo doesn’t like the white men or Christianity. This cultural collision is caused by the white men bringing in western ideas to Ibo culture. This collision is very important to the book because it leads to the destruction of Okonkwo and fuels his anger. This collision shapes the meaning of the novel as a whole by symbolizing many things

American author Christopher Hitchens once wrote, “Religion is part of the human make-up. It's also part of our cultural and intellectual history. Religion was our first attempt at literature, the texts, our first attempt at cosmology, making sense of where we are in the universe, our first attempt at philosophy.” I enjoy this quote because it acknowledges a key aspect of the human condition: our overwhelming desire to know and understand our place in the world. Religion, in turn, is our attempt at that, a construction of what we believe to be the relationship between us, our surroundings, and beyond. For two cultures, religion played an important role in everyday society: the Aztec Empire in Mesoamerica and the Islamic empires of West Africa. Now, I am going to compare and contrast West African and

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe features the character Nwoye, the son of one of the strongest and most powerful men in the village, Okonkwo. Okonkwo is scared of failure because that is what his father became, so he is incredibly harsh on Nwoye. When the western men invade, Nwoye is torn between two worlds: converting to Christianity where he can start a new life, orstaying loyal to his family and village. Nwyoe ultimately makes the choice to go against his father. Due to the arrival of western culture, Nwoye leaves his family, converts to Christianity, and changes his name.

Religion is characterized as an organized system of beliefs, values, standards, and traditions that are passed through generations from a specific group of individuals. Religion can be portrayed as a faith concerning one or more deities and encompassing various rituals, ethical principles, and ceremonies. Prior to European invasion, Native Americans thrived in hundreds of tribes and possessed different cultures, languages, clothing, and customs. Due to forced European conversion, Native Americans struggled to preserve their cultural background and were required to assimilate into modern American life. The repercussions of this massive destruction of Native American religion and culture is still prevalent in modern societies across the world.

Like language, religion is a foundation block of cultures.  Religion confers identity on people and influence dress, language, house types, and major community buildings.  Religions have sets of doctrines and beliefs, they generally have rituals.  Many have holy books and vast bureaucracies.

David Chidester defines religion as the ways of being a human person in a human place. He further goes on to describe it as “the practices and discourses that negotiate what it is to be human in person in relation to the superhuman or in relation to whatever might be treated as subhuman” (Chidester). As such religion can be said to encompass the beliefs customs and even the cultures of the people. It defines and shapes the human out view to life and how they relate to each other based on the morals and ethical guidelines outlined in the various doctrines governing the religions. Over the years, religion has been interpreted from different perspectives. Over time in history, religion was directly intertwined with the activities and the lives of the people. For instance, where the people practiced farming, they had deities or gods which were thought to control and protect the seasons which were an integral part of the farming activities. The same case applied to those who practiced pastoralism activities. In all aspects, the religion was in tandem with their activities.

One of Achebe’s challenges was to illustrate the Ibo’s religious system. Even though the Ibo people had little contact with the outside world, they had developed their own beliefs and practices that became essential elements in their everyday lives. The Ibo religion played a role in the way they raised their families, communicated, entertained, and governed their society. Similar to those of the early Egyptian and Greek religions,

As he embraces the new faith with open arms, he is being pulled in more and more to their practices and it was showing more and more throughout his daily life as he starts to follow the Christian beliefs, values, and ways of life. At one point, “He would return later to his mother and his brothers and sisters and convert them to the new faith”(Chapter 17, 152). This contributes to Achebe’s purpose of writing Things Fall Apart because it's giving information about how the Ibo culture changed, or what/who changed, after colonization. But as he falls deeper and deeper into the western beliefs, they start to conflict his interactions with his previous culture and his sense of cultural

Hannah Sousa H English 10 Ms. Murphy 10/30/15 Second Quarter Essay In the late 1800’s, the Igbo society was located in Nigeria. This was the time period of Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart.

Racial tensions dominate both the issues in Ferguson and the culture in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe causing the destruction of the status quo and pointless violence. In both cases, racial tension leads to inessential violence and death while causing the public to rise up and question what is going on in their community. In Things Fall Apart and during the unrest in Ferguson “innocent” people were killed.

Achebe and Adichie teach us about the importance of notice other culture around us and that their is always more than one side of a story. As I listen to the Adichie and read Achebe, I began to notice how much I don't know. How important Things Fall Apart is not only to teach us about African culture, but to know there side of how colonization began. All in all Things Fall Apart teaching us different cultures in the world, people, and that we should know more about the world we live in.

Different countries have people that hold many different views and beliefs. In Nigeria the Igbo area is located in the southern area of the country. And within this area is Umuofia, which is where the Ogidi tribe lives. These people have beliefs that rest strongly on religion and faith in god. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe takes a look at the life of an African tribe that has been isolated from the outer more technologically advanced world where science has become a part of religion proving that certain things live sickness are not caused by evil spirits. But the African tribe has no knowledge of this and they live in a society where there traditions, beliefs and there forms of communication differ from are own.

Secondly, the Christians unite the converts, but this unity does not prevent the new converts from demeaning others because of their religion or beliefs. When Mr. Kiaga, the missionaries’ interpreter, persuades the converts to accept the osu, or those who are cast out of the clan, Achebe writes, “‘Before God,’ he [Mr. Kiaga] said, ‘there is no slave or free. We are all children of God and we must receive these our brothers’”(136). The people are guided by Mr. Kiaga’s words as he teaches that they are all children of God and are, therefore, equal. One might think that converts would subsequently show the other religion in Umuofia an equal amount of respect as before, but they do not. While the church is still new to the village and does not perish in Evil Forest, Achebe says, “Three converts had gone into the village and

Furthermore, the Igbo society parallels agrarian societies of a lesser developed world before colonialism unlike British’s religion that has developed into a society of education through urbanization. The novel shows how the Igbo peoples are uneducated on the common understanding of humanity. For example, in Things fall Apart Umuofians believes that the killing of children, specifically twins is ethically right, believing that twins are a work of the devil. When the white man comes they learn the basis of fifth commandment which teaches that God is the decider of who lives and who dies. For this reason, a pregnant woman named Nneka had watched her twin children get killed multiple times. Her family had made her feel as if she has failed to fulfill her womanly duty so she converted to Christianity and found an accepting family. As Achebe states, “Nneka had had four previous pregnancies and childbirths. But each time she had borne twins, and they had been immediately thrown away. Her husband and his family were already becoming highly critical of such a woman and were not unduly perturbed when they found she had fled to join the Christians.” (Chinua Achebe 1958) This example really show how their religion could be deemed as uneducated because their society killed innocent children due to the fact that they were twins whereas in a Christian society they were

Religion is the basis of belief for humans, it is a belief that there is a higher being that watches over us guiding us, a belief that there is life after death and if we follow these beliefs we shall enter heaven the most beautiful place. However religion has also played a role in wars, religious conflicts in Ireland (Protestants and Catholics). Israelis and Arabs (Holy Land) and the Holy Crusades of the eleventh century (recapturing the Holy Land).