Western Imperialism In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

The novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe discusses the rise of an Igbo chieftain who came from great poverty to power and the eventual loss of Igbo traditions, rites, and the influence of his clan through his eyes due to western imperialism and colonialism. The intended audience for this novel is very broad, but if we tried to define it would primarily be people who have not experienced the Igbo culture and westerners or people who speak English. In this essay I will be focusing on the last six chapters: chapters 20 to 25. These chapters highlight the loss of power and customs of the Igbo people who have succumb to colonial rule. I fell Achebe is rhetorically effective and

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tries to bring back up cultural, social, and spiritual basics of traditional Igbo (Ibo) existence from the year 1850 and 1900. The novel cannot be fixed like other societal and political old times of Ibo society since it is a fictional novel. However, the novel describes disagreements and anxiety that occurred in Igbo society. It also shows changes initiated by colonial ruling and Christianity. Colonialism affected the people in the Ibo society by destroying of their family’s relationships, friendships, their religion or even created fights between the tribes. Additionally, Christianity attracted the people of the Igbo society. Igbo and other societies were changed considerably due to this variety of

Chinua Achebe’s, Things Fall Apart, is a story of a traditional village in Nigeria from inside Umuofia around the late 1800s. This novel depicts late African history and shows how the British administrative structure, in the form of the European Anglican Church, imposed its religion and trappings on the cultures of Africa, which they believed was uncivilized. This missionary zeal subjugated large native populations. Consequently, the native traditions gradually disappeared and in time the whole local social structure within which the indigenous people had lived successfully for centuries was destroyed. Achebe spends the first half of the novel depicting the Ibo culture, by

The experiences of African women differ greatly throughout the continent. However, African societies have generally tended to be largely patriarchal. Women have held subordinate status to males in their communities. Authors such as Aje-Ori Agbese, Mariama Ba, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie concur on the prevalence of patriarchy and general oppression of women throughout African society, past and present, each placing emphases on the aspirations for greater equality for women on the continent.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe follows the African village of Umuofia as it transitions into a colonial society. The story follows the respected clan leader, Okonkwo, as he navigates and responds to the consequential paradigm shift. Motifs of respect and masculinity feature prominently throughout as a means to discuss socioeconomic conditions in Umuofia prior to colonization. Achebe opens his novel by characterizing Okonkwo as a strong and direct man before detailing the aftermath of a clash between two clans. Here, the characters’ interpersonal relationships are developed, and a dichotomy is drawn between the village’s and Okonkwo’s respective views on manhood and responsibility. While the village in general adopts more lenient stances, Okonkwo’s hardline, old-fashioned approaches represent fundamental beliefs in the Umuofian culture that ultimately assist the English in colonization. Using the manifestations of masculinity in societal expectations, respect, and conflict resolution, Chinua Achebe posits that the colonization of Umuofia is not solely the result of European interference; it is also the result of divisions within the nation due to outdated standards that rendered its people susceptible to colonization. Achebe’s piece serves as a social commentary

Things Fall Apart depicts the downfall of an Igbo community in Nigeria. The book follows the story of a protagonist, Okonkwo, a well respected leader and warrior in his community, during the eve of colonialism. More specifically the book highlight missionary journeys to the Igbo communities, including Okonkwo’s and whose presence was initially received with, welcomed with open arms or aggressive resistance. Through Okonkwo, we experienced how three villages responded to “white men” invading their land and how they imposed their custom and beliefs upon the African people. In the end, Okonkwo believes he failed as a great warrior which correlates with great prospering African communities that failed once

Since the civilization of the African continent the natives were seen as uncivilized and wild. Achebe throughout Things Fall Apart works to counter these very stereotypes. Set in an Ibo village in Nigeria during the start of European civilization, the book focuses on the main character Okonkwo and his prideful life to give insight on the true nature of Ibo culture. Achebe uses the abstract concept of the patriarchal society and importance of conversation to humanize the Ibo people.

While there are many novels written about white colonization in Africa, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart illustrates the views of the Nigerian people in Igbo. Achebe wrote the novel as a response to other books about the colonization of Africa, which were typically written by white men. Joseph Conrad, among many other authors wrote African characters as unintelligent and primitive humans who were better off after the colonization of Africa. Achebe shows the reader that the people of Igbo had a fully functioning civilization with a developed religion, language, and political system pre-colonization. They were not just a helpless, uneducated civilization waiting for someone to come and reconstruct their system, but rather an equal society with a different way of maintaining their people.

In conclusion, as it is seen within Things Fall Apart, Europe’s colonization of Africa did have a devastating effect on the native peoples identities. In his novel, Things Fall Apart, author Chinua Achebe shows how the cultural collision brought upon by the introduction of western ideas to Ibo culture caused one character, Okonkwo, to respond violently. Things Fall Apart was written in 1958, and its purpose still resonates today. It shows us how to see from another perspective, even if that perspective has long

The widespread influence of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart not only has earned it a number of accolades, but also led to its reputation as one of the most influential works of fiction by an African writer of all time. According to an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the novel has sold about eleven million copies in fifty different countries, was a part of Harold Bloom’s 1994 selection of the canonical works of world literature, and The Sunday Times named Achebe one of the “1,000 makers of the 20th century” for his work. For many years, literary representations of Africa had been immersed in negative conceptions of reductive romance, primitivism, and colonial sentiment. With a fresh new perspective, Things Fall Apart

It is often said that Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart is one of the leading examples of postcolonial literature out of the African continent. The book’s setting takes place in a small fictional village, Umuofia who was rich in their culture and traditions, suddenly had to react to cultural changes, by the white missionaries that came in and threaten to change their government structure, institutions and every aspect of their lives. Chinua Achebe’s purpose of writing Things Fall Apart was to educate and inform people of the rich Igbo culture, and to show and blame the White missionaries that came in a destroyed their culture through colonialism, metanarrative and valorization of cultural identity.

Things Fall Apart is a 1958 novel and literary work by Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian Author. The novel depicts the rural life in small Nigerian fictional village just before the white missionaries and colonizers landed into Nigeria. In the novel, Achebe explores the challenges that the local ‘Umuofia’ faced due to a sudden cultural imposition from the Europeans. The novel is also a representative of the wider picture of African cultures and the socio-economic changes that characterized the colonial era. Ideally, Achebe’s literary work shows clearly that the colonization, introduction of a foreign religion and foreign cultures threatened to tear apart the indigenous cultures of the Igbo people (Achebe, 154). Again, Achebe effectively draws the

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is markedly relevant to our current course of studies in World History, as it tells a story based on European Imperialism in Africa. Coming off the heels of our Imperialism unit, this post-colonial novel provides very helpful context on different civilizations’ perspectives throughout the Age of Imperialism; aside from analyzing death tolls, descriptions of conflicts, and names of countries, it was previously hard to envision what life was actually like during that time. Reading the story of the Umuofia Tribe supported the concepts learned during class, and seemed to wholly represent (in a more relatable way) what we had previously researched. This information was valuable to a deeper understanding of the unit, and will help me better grasp future learning throughout our course of studies.

Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, is an excellent example of postcolonial literature. Throughout his novel he uses colonialism and colonial discourse and challenges the cultural stereotypes of the Igbo people.

Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart achieves the postcolonial purpose of humanizing the victims of colonization from history’s dominating cultures because it shows the colonized as dignified and respectable. This is because of the way Achebe shows the colonized people before the colonizers came and laid waste to their entire culture; he lets the reader understand more about the victim and therefore evokes a stronger feeling of sadness when the missionaries ruin their way of life. By letting the reader see the Ibo people pre-colonization, Achebe is humanizing them and causing the reader to care more about the events that befall them. Achebe causes the reader to feel empathy through his chapters of the Ibo people before the missionaries arrived.