Achebe's Things Fall Apart

When two cultures collide and they ignore eachothers values it results in destruction of these cultures and consequences as seen through Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, slave trade in Nigerian history, and the Indian Ocean Trade. In Achebe’s text, two cultures colliding resulting in the destruction of those cultures is . The Igbo clan clashes with the christians and they will not agree on anything causing major conflicts. The first seen example of the refusal to accommodate the Christians is when the clan confronts the Christians about burning down the church after a clansman, Enoch, unmasked an Egwugwu, a spiritual representation. In addition, Enoch whose “devotion to the new faith had seemed so much greater than Mr. Brown” (Achebe, 159) had …show more content…
Once the Egwugwu made their decision, the missionary, Mr. Smith failed to stand his ground and “the red earth church which Mr. Brown had built was a pile of earth and ashes” (164). As this clash between the strong cultural dimension of religion between the Igbo and the missionaries occurred they weren’t even able to work out their differences peacefully through discussion. The failure to compromise caused the destruction of something important to both cultures, the unmasking of the Egwugwu and the burning on the Christian church. Furthermore, another example of the lack of respect between the Christians and the Igbo is when the most important clansmen are imprisoned and abused by the Christians. The District Commissioner has a condescending conversation with the clansmen and handcuffs them. They were imprisoned and “they were not given water to drink, and they could not go out to urinate” (167). While imprisoned, these men were insulted and humiliated through verbal and physical abuse. When these men returned, there was evidence of extreme physical abuse as the high status clansman, Okonkwo’s daughter, Ezinma, and friend, Obierka “had noticed the long stripes on