Traditions In Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe’s critically acclaimed novel Things Fall Apart tells the story of a decorated and powerful chief of the Igbo village tribe named Okonkwo. Okonkwo is a strong independent man who came up from nothing in his life and refused to return to earth as the same way he started, he believed he was destined for greatness. Perhaps Okonkwo’s most driving factor for this is his father died a beggar and he became disgusted how his father went out with no achievements or accomplishments to his name. Okonkwo is very prideful as a result of his humble upbringing and believes that the only way one can be successful is through Old Ways of the Igbo Tribe. As a result, Okonkwo is hell-bent

In the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, religion, an indispensable tradition is celebrated within the Igbo people. The Igbo people, hosts gatherings, worship, and celebrate their ancestors. They are polytheistic, in other words, they believe in many gods. The Igbo people also believe in sacrifices to their ancestors and crimes are considered as sins. Their ancestors and gods serve as a role model, or a sculpture, to whom they worship and sacrifice in Igbo society. However, the arrival of the European Missionaries not only brings tremendous changes to Igbo religion and culture, but also creates conflicts among them.

Novels and plays often depict characters caught between colliding cultures-national, regional, ethnic, religious, institutional. Such collisions can call a character’s sense of identity into question. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, there is a cultural collision that takes the form of the missionaries coming to Umuofia and forcing their religion upon the people. Different people react differently to this clash of cultures, ranging from simply conforming to going as far as killing somebody.

The Igbo culture is very unique. It is vibrant, lively, and full of traditions that have been around since the founding of the tribe. Some of these traditions include rites of passage. These rites of passage signify a change in the life of a person in the Igbo tribe. The rites of passage in the Igbo culture occur at birth, when a person reaches the age in which they want to build a family, and at death.

During the African colonization period, Western beliefs greatly impacted the African mindset and belief system. In the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the impact of Western beliefs is very evident. The novel focuses on pre- and post- colonial life in Nigeria. It was among the first novels to be recognized globally by an African author, and it is widely read in modern African literature. The story is about the fall of the main character Okonkwo as well as the Igbo culture. European beliefs clashed with the traditions that are rooted deep into the society of this Nigerian community. The Igbo, especially Okonkwo, at first try to fight the influence of the evangelists; nevertheless the arrival of Christianity largely affects the Igbo religion,

In the two following excerpts, “Breaking Traditions” by Kathleen Ernst and “A Family Affair” by Gina DeAngelis and Lisa Ballinger, each author supports that war transformed women’s lives. The excerpts reveal many ways that women’s roles changed greatly during the wars and can be effectively shown by taking the excerpts apart.

In the novel “Things Fall Apart” One character tells us how his culture become great to fall apart at the end of everything to killing himself. The response to the cultural collision by the western ideas into the ibo culture we got from what happen is that why did he get mad and wanted war so bad. From what he did and to what he killed himself for might have been to protect his tribe from being attack by the white men and his tribe or better meaning is for peace.

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.

Igbo Sacrificial Rituals: What Are The Reasons Behind Them? Sacrificial rituals are practiced in many places in Nigeria and all across the world. Sacrificial rituals are when you give away something precious to you, in return for something beneficial to the individual who enacted the ritual. Good fortune, protection, destruction, and so forth are some reasons behind the use of sacrificial rituals.

The principles of Igbo give much specific information on who the Igbo people are and helps the reader understand more about them. In the article Igbo Political Systems by Uzoma Onyemaechi it states, “The Igbo social structure is defined by the bloodline... The family is the center or the nucleus into which the he child compound is formed.” In other words, this shows that the Igbo people rely a lot on family since it is defined by their bloodline. Also, a common law of theirs is that in an Igbo community, elders are respected and honored (Onyemaechi).

How can staying true to one's culture benefit them? More often than not, cultural assimilation is seen as a consequence of migration. And the introduction of the Europeans into the Ibo society is no different, although in this case, it was more beneficial than detrimental to the Ibo. Enoch, a character in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart accepts the Western ideas, and changes when his identity is tested, which evinces that a change in culture has potential to be advantageous.

When one hears the word “collision”, the mind tends to construct a negative image such as crashes destruction. However, despite the negative connotation, collisions can result in many more outcomes than destruction. Collisions between two cultures, for example, has the power to impact and shape the character of those who are searching for their cultural identity. Correspondingly, the cultural collision among the Ibo people and Western ideas leaves a great impression on Nwoye.

Religions around the world share similar fundamentals but can differ tremendously depending on what is being practised. Although, there are some practises that are not accepted throughout our world. Human nature tends to be frightened or uncomfortable with what we do not understand and therefore, we judge. It is not uncommon however, it is psychologically proven that the human brain follows “The Crowd Effect.” Simply put, when an individual is placed in a group scenario, the bias of the individual can be strongly influenced. Whether or not the accepted truth is fact or fallacy. Having the ability to be open minded and not jump to conclusions would have a great effect on our societies today.

The kola nut was a major symbol of the Igbo tradition.

When I came to realize that the Igbo people aren't that much different from us, I looked for further examples that supported my belief. For examples, at the first reading of the ritual of breaking the kola nut and drinking palm wine, during the visit of a guest or during a festive occasion, I was intrigued but then understood its principle by relating it back to our culture. Do we not have similar customs, of asking a friend whom we haven't seen in a while if she would like to "go out and get a beer," of when we go to a party to bring some "party favors" to share with people? There are other examples of positive similarities, but I then decided to focus on the faults we have in common with the Igbo.