Universals In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Every culture has their own ideas of art, literature, customs and other original views according to their culture. These ideas about one’s culture are called universals. People have their own universals but the great part of universals is not having them but also sharing them with other cultures. By sharing universals of one's culture with others it can change people from another culture. When one applies Kwame Anthony Appiah’s idea of Universals in Cosmopolitanism to the character, Nwoye in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Nwoye would change through the sharing of religion of the white men and other ideas. Nwoye could change throughout Things Fall Apart by the love he shared with other cultures about Christianity. Appiah states in Cosmopolitanism, “Once we have found enough we share, there is the further possibility that we will be able to enjoy discovering things we do not yet share” (Appiah 97). What Appiah is saying here is that once different cultures find shared ideas, they can start to appreciate new customs found between the two cultures. Nwoye was immediately drawn to the idea of Christianity when the missionaries and white men came into the picture. Once Nwoye had the idea of Christianity in common with the missionaries, he started to enjoy finding new universals within another culture other than his own. Nwoye shows love for the new ideas by his actions, for example, “After passing and repassing by the church, Nwoye returned home” (Achebe 150). By Nwoye’s actions of walking …show more content…
Universals are important to share with other cultures because it can influence people for the better, like in Nwoye’s case. He is able to be changed to be more similar to the missionaries and he strayed from his original culture through the new ideas and universals introduced to