“Blindly following ancient customs and traditions doesn’t mean that the dead are alive, but that the living are dead” (Ibn Khaldun). There are the benefits and costs that come along with any religion or custom, but as seen in the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe demonstrates how the consequences of the customs of the Umuofia tribe outweigh the benefits. While many of the tribe members of Umuofia all follow the tribe’s customs, one member in particular who is well respected, lives by the village's customs especially by the rule of masculinity, his name is Okonkwo. As a child, Okonkwo grew up with a father who was seen by the village more as a woman than a man, and all because he showed his emotions and rather play the flute than fight.
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For example, when the missionaries arrived they “had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta” (144) and when they wanted some land the village decided to give them a piece of land from “the Evil forest” (149) as Uchendu said to his fellow peers. The villagers were not used to the ways of the missionaries and especially to their religious beliefs. Trying to get rid of them they decide to give them land, but land from the Evil Forest thinking the missionaries would be killed by the Evil forest but instead the missionaries were able to build their church and remain in the village. Also, Okonkwo’s son Nwoye turned to the missionaries and joined their religion as Nwoye “felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain” (147). Nwoye felt he belonged with the missionaries and their religious beliefs, and since the village does not accept new cultures it caused Okonkwo and Nwoye to drift apart. Nwoye tries to visit his father when he returns from the motherland “But Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again, he would be carried out of it” (182). To Okonkwo culture is more important to him rather than family, because even if Nwoye joined a different religion at the end of the day it was still his son but that meant nothing to
For example, when the missionaries arrived they “had caused a considerable stir in the village of Mbanta” (144) and when they wanted some land the village decided to give them a piece of land from “the Evil forest” (149) as Uchendu said to his fellow peers. The villagers were not used to the ways of the missionaries and especially to their religious beliefs. Trying to get rid of them they decide to give them land, but land from the Evil Forest thinking the missionaries would be killed by the Evil forest but instead the missionaries were able to build their church and remain in the village. Also, Okonkwo’s son Nwoye turned to the missionaries and joined their religion as Nwoye “felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain” (147). Nwoye felt he belonged with the missionaries and their religious beliefs, and since the village does not accept new cultures it caused Okonkwo and Nwoye to drift apart. Nwoye tries to visit his father when he returns from the motherland “But Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again, he would be carried out of it” (182). To Okonkwo culture is more important to him rather than family, because even if Nwoye joined a different religion at the end of the day it was still his son but that meant nothing to