Things Fall Apart Right

2. Page #______ What evidence is there in this chapter that the clans do not understand the white man’s way of life?

The start of the complications between white society and Native society began during the age of colonization when the English settlers viewed tribal people as uncivilized. They thought that hunting animals was barbaric and that the Natives should learn farming and Christianity. They misunderstood the Native Americans. Rather than pitiful, tribes viewed themselves as proud and strong communities with ancient roots and traditions. That wasn’t evident to Eleazar Wheelock, who had a grand vision for the Native Americans: educate them as he would English children, and train them to become missionaries who could spread the word of God to their Native brethren. Much like other colonists in his day, Wheelock thought the Natives would perish lest the

They are shown as tools in the process of destroying themselves as well as the native tribes. "...white people are only tools that witchery manipulates...It was Indian witchery that made white people in the first place" (132). By erasing or obscuring connections, this “White witchery” exploits the natives’ fear of the unknown. "When they look/ they see only objects... They fear/ They fear the world/ They destroy what they fear./ They fear themselves" (135). Christianity and science are equally potent challenges to stories which promote a larger sense of community and tolerance. Where science replaces the need for stories, disclaiming the value of stories while claiming to be the ultimate answer to all the ambiguous questions that plague the native people, Christianity encourages each person to stand alone in their relation to a life and a God far removed from material world. The greatest weapon that this witchery possesses is the ability to forestall change in order to manipulate the growth (or lack of growth) of the native culture. The paralysis of native culture is embodied by Tayo’s want to become lost and to vomit out "...all the past, all his life" (108) when faced with seeming chaos, brought on by the constant influence of

As Yehuda Berg said, “words have energy and power with the ability to help…[and] to harm.” Expanding upon his reflection to see varying social perspectives on American expansionist, colonial and slave society contexts, one notes that officials of European descent including Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and John Eliot converted white words and ideas into literal and figurative terms that they believed Native Americans mutually understood to persuade tribal leaders to adopt white mores. Accordingly, some Native Americans responded to these jabs of white coercion through outright resistance while others re-enacted white behaviors to receive preferential treatment from white leaders and gain social influence that had the potential to undermine white hegemony. Building off of these indigenous efforts to reclaim lost territory, many Southern black slaves adapted to the ongoing tolerance of church ministries and loopholes in slave masters’ restrictions to slightly advance African beliefs atop Christianity and syncretically empower black rituals. While white expansionists engaged in brief, unbalanced negotiations to judge and then exploit Native Americans, certain indigenous people broke out of the ongoing Eurocentric decorum of noble savagery with colonial authorities to pursue sociopolitical agency and many black slaves interbred Christian and African beliefs to fashion their own religious subculture over time. Thus, throughout these cases, both white and non white figures of

on harmony with all things was shattered by the white mans greed and control of all things.

the responsibilities of an old man as a young boy and had the mind set of

When Orleanna mentions this detail of what her family believed they could do in the Congo, it demonstrates the thought process most Americans and Europeans had whenever they thought of Africa. These people did not recognize that there were already cities, cultures, bureaucracies, and families living in a place that they believed needed salvation because white people who knew of Jesus were not present. It is mesmerizing to me that white people have such a difficulty leaving other people alone when they are not wanted. It as if they believe that a place with no whites is a place for sin and doom. They believe that without white men, the rest of the world cannot keep going on and are in “desperate need” for saving, whether it be spiritually or

White people were portrayed in different ways in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” and “The Passing of Grandison.” In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” they were portrayed as evil people who drove the Native Americans from their land. “If the paleface does not take away from us the river we drink.' 'Mother, who is this bad paleface?' I asked. 'My little daughter, he is a sham, - a sickly sham!” (663). It was later explained in more detail what the whites have done. “There is what the paleface has done! Since then your father too has been buried in a hill nearer the rising sun. We were once very happy. But the paleface has stolen our lands and driven us hither. Having defrauded us of our land, the paleface forced us away” (663). You can see that the Native Americans thought of them as horrible people, who killed many of their kind, just for the land they had that the whites wanted.

In Things Fall Apart, the church and the missionaries pose a threat and “cut apart” the Igbo culture. The white culture at first threatens Junior and his way of life, but then slowly Junior makes friends with the white culture. The white culture does not necessarily “cut apart” the Indian culture, but it definitely cuts Junior apart from the Indian culture. In Things Fall Apart, the missionaries ways of life intrigue a numerous amount of Igbo people.

It’s early in the morning; Aiyana wakes up with the entire disturbance, then she traipses outside her Teepee and catches a glimpse of white men in a group. The white men appeared decent, everyone’s thoughts were lucid and they could not figure who these people were and what they desired. The white group proceeded to Aiyana and she felt petrified, as if she had feeling like no other. “ Where is your leader?” interrogated one of the white men. Aiyana’s father-Azote, who is the leader of their tribe- walked up to the white men. “I’m the leader of this tribe, what is it that you crave?” declared Azote. “We would like to coerce the tribe to our culture,” One white man spoke.

Mr. Brown’s successor, Mr. Smith, was not nearly as open-minded as his predecessor; “He saw things as black and white. And black was evil” (184). Mr. Smith shows us the flaws in Christianity, as well as teaches us about the evil brought by many missionaries and their racist views. He not only sees things as “black and white” in terms of there being no compromise, but also sees the races as completely separate. He does not understand that they are all human, and that they all have equal rights.

They clearly made Christianity an entitlement for the privileged Liberian while they disregarded traditional beliefs and practices of the indigenous ethnic groups. Dr. Bizumic affirms that “having a unique religion is an important differential characteristic for many ethnic groups, but even when ethnic groups adopt world religions, such as Christianity, they may adapt them to fit their own ethnic groups” (Bizumic, B. (2015), p. 6). Sociologist William G. Sumner was the first to define the term ethnocentrism. He relates “ethnocentrism as tribal or ethnic group egocentrism: “view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything, and all others are scaled and rated with reference to it” (Sumner 1906:

The western Ideology came to America when the Europeans crossed over to the new world. Believing they had be instructed with a political and spiritual destiny they came to America thinking that they were spiritually and mentally above others. They rationalized the killings and destruction of the indigenous people. This framing left a ladder of those who were more superior to others based on their position. This frame work led to the development of the Anglo-Saxon myth in America. The separation caused our culture into separate and unequal segregation amongst the population. I believe the denial of racism’s magnitude and impact creates disunity in the body of Christ. We as whites can sometime operate with the assumption that the experience

White men are “like” brothers to the Indians in the sense that just as the great spirit couldn't save it’s nation of red men, god who walked on earth and treated the white men as equals will not save them. They may graciously receive this land but they will graciously lose it as well, it is the cycle which embodies all. All men gain to lose,red or white. There will come a time when the white men are pushed to the side and all but forgotten just as the red men

“Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably