The Negative Effects Of Colonialism In Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe

The novel Things Fall Apart, written by the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. Things fall apart takes place in the fictional village of Umuofia, supposedly located in Southern Nigeria, before and during the relative time of European colonization. As a result of white European missionaries suddenly arriving to Umuofia, the people of the village are not certain how to deal with a sudden religious, cultural and lifestyle change that the missionaries bring with them. Colonialism by white missionaries left evident negative effects and change on Igbo society. European colonialism efforts destroy families, friendships and peace between the tribes. There is a clear proof of how colonialism’s changes ravage people and their overall way of life to a point …show more content…
The missionaries had not only built churches, but also schools in order to educate the villagers. These schools were completely taught by the missionaries and altered the ways of Igbo culture and the way they thought. In Things Fall Apart many of the villagers of Umuofia are angry at the fact that the mission schools teach of European culture, religion and values. Although Umuofia’s visit these schools, the majority of the people who attend them are the “white men” as education is a requirement for them but not for the Igbo people. In addition to this the Igbo people are reluctant to send their children to these schools. Igbo people are reliant on their language to differentiate them from other cultures as similar to many other types of societies. Despite this the schools set up and built by the missionaries only teach in English and not in the Igbo language, threatening to abolish or leave the Igbo language forgotten. They also rely on their language to differentiate their social class in their society. For instance, Okonkwo is considered a successful and wealthy man in comparison to Unoka (Okonkwo’s father) because he married many women, farmed many yam crops and defeated the strongest wrestler in Umuofia (the cat). Whereas in contrast, Unoka had only one wife, was a drunk, barely yielded any yams and died without attaining a title to his name (Achebe 6). In accordance to this, Umuofians named …show more content…
Igbo people are very secluded with what seems to be absolutely no knowledge to the rest of the outside world. This is due to the fact that in no point in the entirety of the novel do any of the characters refer to the rest of Nigeria or any other land outside Umuofia or the surrounding nine villages. Essentially, according to the villagers, the missionaries are aliens. Neither do any of the villagers seem intrigued or curious to what is outside of their known lands. Due to the fact that the Igbo villagers have never known anything other place outside Umuofia, everywhere else seems to be disregarded. This is why the Igbo accordingly do not allow their children and young ones to assimilate into the white missionaries’ religion, culture, education and reject the missionaries’ attempts to teach them a new language due to their devotion of their own Igbo language. In addition to attempting to assimilate the Igbo people, the missionaries change the way their society operates. Before the “white man” arrived, the Igbo had a judicial court system passed down for generations in harmony with their culture, values and beliefs. The Igbo court system was headed by their elders who are believed to be very wise and knowledgeable in their religion according to the Igbo. One of the many mistakes of the missionaries was that they changed the way their court system functioned by replacing the Igbo judicial system with