NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
"Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart is a brilliant masterpiece of Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe who is as well as Ben Okri is one of the founders of the national Nigerian Literature. Chinua Achebe succeeded to create a comprehensive picture of a traditional village culture of Africa. On one hand the author tries to attract attention of the entire world to the riches of the African traditional culture and on the other hand he is appealing to his native people to remind them on the uniqueness of their culture. Chinua Achebe as well as Ben Okri tries to return the national identity of Ibo people in particular and Nigerian people in general. It was vitally necessary to return the African self identity and self esteem because the African culture was depreciated by the Europeans and what is worse, Africans accepted such depreciation.
The colonization of Africa by a white man apart from direct loses brought to Africa white culture which suppressed the traditional culture and religion and this is the most humble effect of the colonization. African culture was treated as a culture of wild savages opposed to the civilized European culture. The apologists of such attitude towards traditional culture are presented as savages in their ignorance as it was with District Commissioner, who appears at the end of the novel and who is ignorant about the life and the culture of Igbo people. The traditional religion values of Igbo people are annihilated by the whites who try to direct Africans to Christianity. If we leave our gods and follow your god, " asked another man, "who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?"Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm, " replied the white man. "They are pieces of wood and stone. " When this was interpreted to the men of Meant they broke into derisive laughter. These men must be mad, they said to themselves.
How else could they say that Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? And some of them began to go away. ' 1 Chinua Achebe describes the Igbo people as a society with traditions which if studied properly may be considered as those with high level of democracy. Justice and fairness are the dominating laws of the Igbo community.
The wealth can not influence the decisions of the community. The author reveals the injustice of Igbo society but this injustice is neither more nor less than that of the British rule. The conflict of the new white culture versus national culture is in the epicenter of the novel and this conflict reflects the process of self identity of the newly independent states in Africa. A traditional village Umuofia is characterized by the typically village culture, the customs, rules and rituals has been passed from generation to generation. The author does not try to give the idealized narration of the community life but he tries to explain the significance of the cultural inheritance for Igbo people. The conservative traditionalism is one of the main characteristics of life in the village.
People have inherited it and the life of the individual is subordinate to the interests of the tribe. The author does not try to present the life in a village as a brotherhood of men (Imagine, J. Lennon), but this is a place of traditional values where the collectivity plays a significant role. Sometimes these traditional aspects may seem cruel and grim as in the episode of Ikemefuna killing 2. The story of Okonmo, a powerful leader of the community who lived a good life with a good compound and respect of the villagers and does not want to accept the new realities of the colonialism is one of the central in narration.
Okonmo was banished from community for the accidental killing a clansman. He is fighting against colonialism alone. The accident when the son of the snake priest ate the sacred python after being converted to Christianity is a very indicative one 3. Actually this python could symbolize the cultural and religious values of Africans eaten by the cultural values of the colonizers.
It is sadder that this annihilation of the native values has been accepted by the Africans. While reading a book one may note the westernization of the language. The narration changes from alive to more chronological one in the style of the western tradition. If it is assumed that a language is the most important aspect of the national culture, it indicates the westernization of the African community, which means steady loss of cultural values and traditions.
Things fall apart is a state in which community changed when Okonmo came back compared to that before his leaving the village. The process of the mutual exchange of the cultural traditions between the intruders and the Africans takes place, but while Africans study the new cultural elements with the interest, the whites study them to find the means to eliminate local cultural traditions. In this way Mr. Brown learnt a good deal about the religion of the clan and he came to the conclusion that a frontal attack on it would not succeed 4. The theme of colonialism is one of the central of the novel. The colonialism is revealed as harmful from the point of view of culture phenomenon.
The colonial rule brought some positive values of the western civilization, but it also brought much more factors which eliminated the traditional African culture. One of the main topics of the novel is to reveal the real aims of the colonial intruders to reshape the cultural, spiritual and tradition environment of the Africans. Such activities influenced greatly not only African culture but the entire world. A great part of African tradition had been lost and this is a loss of the entire world and not only of Africa. Bibliography Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart, New York: Doubleday, 1994 Citation Things Fall Apart, 1958 Things Fall Apart, pp 37 44 Things Fall Apart, p. 185 Things Fall Apart, p. 181
Free research essays on topics related to: one of the main, things fall, cultural traditions, chinua achebe, african culture
Research essay sample on Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe
