Things Fall Apart Civilized Essay

Chinua Achebe in his novel Things Fall Apart proves time and time again that, despite what some may think, the tribal people of Africa are indeed civilized. Throughout the novel, Achebe uses explicit examples to hint at the fact that the people are civilized. The reader is shown this through many examples, such as the clans justice system and their response when the missionaries come to their clan, that there is more sophistication to the Umuofian people than previously thought. When the Europeans missionaries come to the clan in attempt to convert the Africans to Christianity and strip them of their culture, the clansmen’s response is very peaceful. They hold a series of meetings to figure out how to respond to the threat. At first, they allow …show more content…
If the clan was truly barbaric, then they would have no logical thought process and would immediately resort to violence. Only Okonkwo acts with violence while the other clansmen give the outsiders a fair chance to leave before they resort to violence. Another example as to why the people are not barbaric is the fact that they have a fair punishment system, for example when a woman accidentally sets a cow lose into her neighbor’s property. While some countries would have harsh punishments for things like that, the Igbo people keep it simple and when the cow was let loose, the person “who at once paid the heavy fine” repented for their actions and fulfilled their punishment in a peaceful and positive way (114). The courts choose to punish people fairly as they have different punishments for different offenses. This is an action that barbaric people would not do. Another example of how peacefully the Igbo people deal with crimes is when Okonkwo accidentally kills a clansman. They do not immediately sentence him to death, but instead tell him he must leave for seven years in order to cleanse the