In the book, “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Culture and the role of customs is a huge factor affecting the story. As Wendell Pierce says, “Culture is the intersection of people and life itself. It’s how we deal with life, love, death, birth, disappointment… All of that is expressed in culture.” That quote does a fantastic job of explaining what culture means to the Igbo clan. It directly affected every single member of the culture every single day of their life. They had some practices that we see in modern day customs, as well as very questionable practices that we very much frowned upon. Which raises the question, did the old traditions of the Igbo society have more of a negative than positive impact on Okonkwo and the people of
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He states, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” This makes me begin to wonder if it was Igbo’s own weak rooted society that made them dig their own hole of destruction. Another notable quote that stood out to me was found in the story. Obiereika, Okonkwo’s best friend said, “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” He also stated after seeing the tragic, pitiful death of his beloved friend Okonkwo, said to the district commissioner, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” This is very ironic because of how much the culture changed, but how Okonkwo will still be buried with the same disrespect as he would’ve in his old Igbo culture because of the sin he has committed. Our societies drive on the cultures we live like. As I have mentioned before, a nation’s culture is dependent on how its people live. If they live with great pride in their country or society, it will have stronger roots, but as we clearly see in the story, if not everyone is not on board with how things are going, the roots become weaker through time and fails to uphold their culture’s traditions and values. Consequently, causing everything to “fall
He states, “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.” This makes me begin to wonder if it was Igbo’s own weak rooted society that made them dig their own hole of destruction. Another notable quote that stood out to me was found in the story. Obiereika, Okonkwo’s best friend said, “He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.” He also stated after seeing the tragic, pitiful death of his beloved friend Okonkwo, said to the district commissioner, “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog…” This is very ironic because of how much the culture changed, but how Okonkwo will still be buried with the same disrespect as he would’ve in his old Igbo culture because of the sin he has committed. Our societies drive on the cultures we live like. As I have mentioned before, a nation’s culture is dependent on how its people live. If they live with great pride in their country or society, it will have stronger roots, but as we clearly see in the story, if not everyone is not on board with how things are going, the roots become weaker through time and fails to uphold their culture’s traditions and values. Consequently, causing everything to “fall