Igbo people

satisfies the thirst for control as well as superiority. The colonization of Africa first began in the late nineteenth century and extended into the late twentieth century, when the British wanted holdings on more land. During this period of time, people, especially the native Africans, faced imperialist aggression, diplomatic pressures, and military invasions from the Europeans. In Chinua Achebe’s renowned novel, Things Fall Apart, the conflict between European powers and the resisting natives…

stresses the message through the Umuofia Clan, an Igbo tribe who faces corruption in both their custom and the new changes in society as British colonization takes over. In Things Fall Apart, missionaries and the white court are seen as the challengers to the traditional social structure of the Igbo tribe. At the…

“Fortunately, among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father.” (Achebe 9) This quote is significant to the novel because it tells the reader Okonkwo's motives for all his actions during the course of the story. Okonkwo wanted to be the complete opposite of his father and everything his father represented. He wanted to be judged by his own accomplishments and not the lack of his father's. In Igbo culture, since you are valued by your own…

pacifying an angry and ever watchful god, these rituals do have only a transient soothing power to the gods above. The traditional practices that are pronounced in this novel are simply perplexing to an Igbo clan outsider and in the end cause a major rift between the conquering Christians and the local peoples in this region of Africa. Looking back and examining these now vanished African cultures, we can see the increase of empirical education corresponded with a decrease in superstation,…

Suicide in the Igbo culture is considered Nso ani. In the book “Things Fall Apart,” Nso ani is described as a religious offense of a kind abhorred by everyone, literally earth’s taboo (2, A Glossary of Ibo Words and Phrases). The Igbo culture frowns upon the act of a man taking their own life and this act is considered taboo and evil. The clan finds that a person who commits this crime is considered shameful and does not receive a proper burial and is instead thrown into a bush (1). The clansmen…

issue but with different nuances. Things Fall Apart is one of Achebe’s best writings to explore this issue due to many of the times it serves as a foil to Western Society, as well as, the interactions between the Christian missionaries and the Igbo people. I am not the only one who thinks…

There is an Igbo proverb that goes, “When a man says yes, his chi also says yes” (Achebe 27). Things Fall Apart,by Chinua Achebe, is a story set in the Igbo society of Nigeria about a man who struggles with his chi and trying to change his fate. In the Igbo society, chi is seen as a personal god, almost like karma, that helps a person make the right decisions and keeps them safe if they deserve it. Chi plays a crucial role in understanding the deeper meaning of the events in Things Fall Apart…

“Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, is a novel about the tragic fall of Okonkwo, the protagonist, and the Igbo culture. The novel takes place in Umuofia, a village in the eastern part of Nigeria where the Igbo culture is seen. Religion and faith play a substantial role in the novel and are possibly the main reasons the novel plays out the way it does. If the religious and faith aspects of this novel were not as strong, then the novel may have turned out differently. Achebe shows how the…

of resembling his effeminate and disreputable father. However, Nnoromele alternatively suggests that Okonkwo’s suicide was not the manifestation of weakness and defeat, but rather a gallant act according to the Igbo ideals. To justify this claim, the critic characterizes a hero in the Igbo cultural belief system, as an individual with, “great courage and strength to work against destabilizing forces of his community, someone who affects, in a special way, the destinies of others by pursuing his…

Both pieces of literature parade the problems that can arise when different cultures come together. In Things Fall Apart, conflict between the village and the Christian missionaries lead to people dividing up and fighting with each other. When Okonkwo returns from exile after seven years and tries to rally the people to rebel, he kills a missionary, which leads to Okonkwo losing faith in Umuofia and his eventual suicide. He takes his own life because if he stays alive, the missionaries would…