Igbo Culture

Up until the fictional novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe the only reverence material the unfamiliar white audience had for Africa was through Joesph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Achebe decided that he needed to make a statement to discredit the authenticity of Conrad’s savage portrayal of Africa through a glimpse into the civilized culture of the Igbo people. The tribe’s civilization was shown by their greeting tradition of breaking the kola nut, their respect for the mother of the household, and through their religious beliefs and traditions. The author, Chinua Achebe portrayed the Igbos as being civilized through the tradition of the kola nut with a guest. When the main character’s father went to visit a friend, one in which he owed money, he was still kind and offered Unoka the honor in breaking the kola nut, “Unoka accepted the honor of breaking the kola,” (Achebe 5). If the Igbo people were not civilized, then the man would have killed Unoka for the …show more content…
In Conrad’s work, Africans are portrayed as being wild and monstrous, “things monstrous and free,” (Conrad 33) and not as family men and women. When the wise old man states the common mantra of the Igbo people, “Mother is Supreme,” (Achebe 111) he is proving that Conrad was wrong, that the Igbo people value one another as people. Monsters cannot express feelings of honor and respect, which means that the Igbo people cannot just be wild monsters who run free without regarding others. No matter how hardcore one could be in the Igbo society, it is customary to value the mother as someone who is as honorable as a god in a sense. Conrad describes Africans as being unfeeling, selfish creatures, and not the caring and respectful people that they are. The mother figure and the respect that she receives, proves that the Igbo people value honor and family, both key in