Cosmopolitanism In Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe tells the story of the struggle between a split African tribe, the nobleman and the outcast. As the title implies the struggle only goes downhill. In one chapter the church members struggle to accept the outcast, the osu. When one applies Kwame Anthony Appiah’s idea of conversations between cultures in the Cosmopolitanism to the Umuofia people joining the culture of the Church in Things Fall apart, the converts would be more accepting. However, the congregation should have been more cosmopolitan if in fact they had listen to missionary Mr. Kiaga, who argued the osu could join. The congregation could have realized that the two groups could have interacted in conversation and let the osu join the Church.
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This is an important in understanding how a Cosmopolitan would have reacted to the incoming of the osu. If the Congregation had acted more cosmopolitan, they would have been willing to lay down their differences. Despite differences, there can still be conversation and they can live in harmony: “We can live in harmony without agreeing on underlying values” (Appiah 78). The osu would not just have been kicked and shunned but there could have been conversation. They could have sat next to the osu instead of moving away and talked together. Differences do not have to …show more content…
If the church allowed the osu into the church that would drastically change the culture. The culture has worked for many years and it is does not seem right to change tradition. However, the biggest thing that the church has to realize is that the culture can change. They would not have been so upset with the new arrival of the osu if they realized that there can be changes in a society. The outcasts do not have to stay on the outside but there can still be conversation. This conversation might lead to changes (such as the osu cutting their hair). Yet a true cosmopolitan would be okay with change: “Cultures are made of continuities and changes, and the identity of a society can survive through these changes…” (Appiah 107). A society can change even when the identity is not lost; the osu do not always have to remain outcast to keep the identity of a culture. If the congregation was more cosmopolitan the would have allowed the osu to enter into the congregation and realize that the society could change.
If the congregation was more Cosmopolitan the congregation would not have been angry at the osu for coming. They would have realized that different cultures can live together and that conversation is necessary. The osu would not have been shunned as Mr. Kiaga suggested. The culture can change and accept the osu. If the church had been more cosmopolitan they would not have been angry at the osu for coming and not caused