Throughout the late 19th century, powerful European countries took their reins on Africa, exploiting the continent of its natural resources as well as its people. Chinua Achebe’s 1958 novel Things Fall Apart captures these detrimental effects of European colonization through the perspective of the African tribes themselves, specifically the Igbo people of Nigeria. The three-part story follows the life of Okonkwo, a strong and heavily revered clan member, whose village becomes disrupted by the arrival of Christian missionaries, whose teachings begin to radically shift the tribe’s culture into utter chaos. Eventually, the village falls into the hands of British imperialists, and as a result, Okonkwo commits suicide, losing all hope
…show more content…
Within the Igbo society in Things Fall Apart, the villages were entirely patriarchal, where the social status of a man was determined by the amount of titles and property to their name, and men of high titles were often the ones with authority over the people. Thus, with the introduction of Christianity, the rank system shifted dramatically; as the missionaries taught the villagers, a group of social outcasts, known as efulefu and osus, were empowered by the priests to pay no attention to the “heathens” and that the “Lord shall have them in derision”. As the outcasts (including Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye) gained confidence in the newfound faith, the village society radicalized dramatically as the people, convert or non-convert, rejected the authority of the clan leaders; whether by silently accepting the pervasive British presence or committing inconceivable acts of defiance, such as removing the mask off a tribal judge and killing the village’s sacred animal. The influence the missionaries had in diminishing the social classes of the Igbo people is remarkable in that the priests’ message purposely fostered instability within the clan, and promoted such a division that the people could no longer remain united together in the way they had previously; the efforts of the missionaries
Within the Igbo society in Things Fall Apart, the villages were entirely patriarchal, where the social status of a man was determined by the amount of titles and property to their name, and men of high titles were often the ones with authority over the people. Thus, with the introduction of Christianity, the rank system shifted dramatically; as the missionaries taught the villagers, a group of social outcasts, known as efulefu and osus, were empowered by the priests to pay no attention to the “heathens” and that the “Lord shall have them in derision”. As the outcasts (including Okonkwo’s son, Nwoye) gained confidence in the newfound faith, the village society radicalized dramatically as the people, convert or non-convert, rejected the authority of the clan leaders; whether by silently accepting the pervasive British presence or committing inconceivable acts of defiance, such as removing the mask off a tribal judge and killing the village’s sacred animal. The influence the missionaries had in diminishing the social classes of the Igbo people is remarkable in that the priests’ message purposely fostered instability within the clan, and promoted such a division that the people could no longer remain united together in the way they had previously; the efforts of the missionaries