The Blood-Dimmed Tide
Further allusion to the poem is seen in the text as well. In the scene where the entire town of Abame is demolished and all the residents are killed by the colonizers, the narrator says, “Their clan is now completely empty. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood.” (Achebe, 140) Here, the allusion to The Second Coming is apparent since it refers to the lines “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere; the ceremony of innocence is drowned.” (dingo.sbs.arizona.edu) The apparent allusion is seen in the similar imagery of the emptiness and drowning of innocence as a result of the colonizer’s anarchy. The imagery of the water turning into the color of blood refers …show more content…
While Things Fall Apart reflects the African perspective of colonialism and their role as victims, it does not deny that the Igbo society does not have flaws. This is validated when Umuofia’s independence is lost, “it is due to cracks in its own structure, unhappy and outcast people whose desire for a different way of life allows Christianity, and with it the colonial project as a whole, to take root.” (Samatar, 64) There wouldn’t have been room for the missionaries to so greatly influence the Africans if their system wasn’t flawed before their arrival. Religion plays a major role in the Igbo society and is the guiding principle for Igbo people, influencing all political and social decisions. (Mishra, 5) However, on the contrary, the people of Abame do not respond to the Oracle’s prediction that “the strange man would break their clan, and spread destruction among them” (Achebe, 138) resulting in the colonizers demolishing them. Nwoye, for example, who disliked some Igbo rituals like killing newborn twins, was easily proselytized to Christianity. These flaws allowed the missionaries to attack the Igbo’s ‘weak spot’ by tempting them with modern …show more content…
Achebe thematically alludes to the chaos that arises as a system collapses. Achebe reflects the colonizers’ intrusion and its destruction of the society’s stability and unity leading to the falling apart of the culture, in his epigraph, by drawing a parallel between the relationship of the falcon and falconer and of the Igbo and their culture. For a country to evolve, it must be left to develop on its own without the interference of
Further allusion to the poem is seen in the text as well. In the scene where the entire town of Abame is demolished and all the residents are killed by the colonizers, the narrator says, “Their clan is now completely empty. Even the sacred fish in their mysterious lake have fled and the lake has turned the color of blood.” (Achebe, 140) Here, the allusion to The Second Coming is apparent since it refers to the lines “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere; the ceremony of innocence is drowned.” (dingo.sbs.arizona.edu) The apparent allusion is seen in the similar imagery of the emptiness and drowning of innocence as a result of the colonizer’s anarchy. The imagery of the water turning into the color of blood refers …show more content…
While Things Fall Apart reflects the African perspective of colonialism and their role as victims, it does not deny that the Igbo society does not have flaws. This is validated when Umuofia’s independence is lost, “it is due to cracks in its own structure, unhappy and outcast people whose desire for a different way of life allows Christianity, and with it the colonial project as a whole, to take root.” (Samatar, 64) There wouldn’t have been room for the missionaries to so greatly influence the Africans if their system wasn’t flawed before their arrival. Religion plays a major role in the Igbo society and is the guiding principle for Igbo people, influencing all political and social decisions. (Mishra, 5) However, on the contrary, the people of Abame do not respond to the Oracle’s prediction that “the strange man would break their clan, and spread destruction among them” (Achebe, 138) resulting in the colonizers demolishing them. Nwoye, for example, who disliked some Igbo rituals like killing newborn twins, was easily proselytized to Christianity. These flaws allowed the missionaries to attack the Igbo’s ‘weak spot’ by tempting them with modern …show more content…
Achebe thematically alludes to the chaos that arises as a system collapses. Achebe reflects the colonizers’ intrusion and its destruction of the society’s stability and unity leading to the falling apart of the culture, in his epigraph, by drawing a parallel between the relationship of the falcon and falconer and of the Igbo and their culture. For a country to evolve, it must be left to develop on its own without the interference of