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Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

721 Words3 Pages

Religion can cause conflict between two parties. When conflict arises, a war may appear or the two parties can separate themselves to try and not interact with each other, but often times the religion is not the main problem. The problem is the people that follow their religion. In Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, a conflict that arises when a group of strangers show up, and the Ibo tribe of Nigeria is forced to live with them and their new religion, Christianity. The one in charge of the Christian group, Mr. Brown, makes an effort to hold peace between them, things don’t go well after some people from both sides attempt to take matter into their own hands. Through Mr. Smith’s actions against the Ibo tribe, Okonkwo pushing away the …show more content…

Smith’s actions against the Ibo which shows that having a rigid mindset will limit the actions towards the other party. Mr. Smith always disliked having the Ibo people present in His church. Mr. Smith “saw things as black and white. And black was evil” (184). He never even saw the Ibo as people, but more of something that will ruin the church. In his mind, there was only the good and the bad, and he was part of the good while the Ibo represented the evil. Even though he believes he is part of the good, his actions show otherwise when he was grateful of Enoch for unmasking an egwugwu. Mr. Smith had “looked at him and smiled. It was a wan smile, but there was deep gratitude there” (189). This conflict of not accepting Ibos make the situations even more hostile. His reactions show how Mr. Smith doesn’t want to even try to make good connections with someone from another religion. His actions deliberately try to isolate his group from the other group. Mr. Smith’s actions to stay away from the other religion allows him to isolate himself by his strict …show more content…

Okonkwo always wanted for Nwoye to faithfully be committed with the Ibo religion, and it came as a huge shock to him when Nwoye showed up to his house as a Christian. Achebe wrote, “Okonkwo had driven him away with the threat that if he came into his compound again, he would be carried out of it” (182). Okonkwo hates the Christian religion that he believes is ruining everything. With Okonkwo chasing his son away after his became Christian, it shows how he puts his own religious beliefs over his family which further isolates him from his family only because he doesn’t accept Christians. Okonkwo also doesn’t want to even bother with peaceful interactions with Christians. Achebe wrote, “Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”(204). The first interaction from Okonkwo with the messenger was death. He didn’t even know him and decided that the messenger needed to die, only based on his judgement of his religion. If Okonkwo kills every person from a different religion, won’t everyone stay

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At first, Okonkwo was very set in his ways, and determined to appear manly and powerful to his clansmen, and this came into play when the white people entered into Umuofia, as he tried to fight back. Finally, when he did not get the results he was hoping for, he resorted to killing himself, displaying that stubbornness towards colliding cultures leads to violence and destruction. Overall, when two cultures collide, they can either both accept each other, leading to peace and prosperity, or try to claim superiority over the other, which results, most commonly, in destruction. Unfortunately, Things fall apart ended in the latter, but the other is possible for those with an open mind and a flexible

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What ultimately led to Okonkwo's untimely death was coming to the realization that his beloved Ibo culture would never be the same following his return from exile. Okonkwo faithfully practiced the traditions of his ancestors by having polytheistic beliefs, rituals, and his success stemming from farming the “manly” cop of yams. In the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe solidifies the depth religion reaches in establishing individual cultural identity. Religion is a vital component in all aspects of life in Igbo culture as it’s the fabric of their existence, and the white man uses that to his advantage. “The white man is very clever.

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Okonkwo wanted his tribe to fight back the missionaries in order to protect their Igbo culture but his persistence only led to his downfall. This can be seen when Okonkwo makes a rash decision to kill a messenger thinking Umuofia would fight back but ended up not fighting, “The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop.” In a flash, Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless.

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By Achebe writing that Okonkwo has given up this prevents him from succeeding in stopping the new religion as well, and shows his feelings which is also

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Okonkwo, along with the rest of the tribe, views Christianity as a threat to their current customs. Members of the Ibo tribe who feel unsatisfied with their cultures and traditions start to follow Christianity, which diminishes the superiority Okonkwo, and others in his position of power feel over their tribe. If there are fewer people following their culture, who had lower-level positions, to admire their victories, those victories quickly start to

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In the book “Things Fall Apart“ Okonkwo is a very strong man and from time to time he starts showing his true self. He has a lot of responsibilities and other things he has to do around the living environment and interact with lots of people. Okonkwo changes from being that strong man, to a man who feels like his tribe is not with him when he wants to go to war with the missionaries. For someone like Okonkwo a lot of people looks up to him and while in the tribe Okonkwo beats his wives and children. Not good behavior for someone who is supposedly looked at as strong.

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In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, religion is a powerful aspect of both the Ibo and Evangelist cultures. For the Ibo, gods, ancestors, and other powerful spirits are used to understand the world around them and better connect with one another. However, in this novel, the main focus of the Evangelists is to convert as many people as possible and turn them away from a “savage” religion, bringing them to God and heaven. Because these religions have goals that conflict with one another, the Ibo and white men have limited information and communication leading to extreme actions from people on both sides of this story. Achebe’s novel shows the misinterpretation and miscommunication about the Ibo and Evangelist’s religions that leads to violence

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In Chinua Achebe novel, Things Fall Apart Nwoye a young man under Okonkwo’s responsibility is affected positively by the introduction of western ideas into the Ibo culture. This being said Nwoye has found a passion for being apart of a religion not known by any local in Igbo called Christianity, to some it was a blessing and to others a disgrace. To Okonkwo he feels that anybody who converts to Christianity is a disgrace to their village. And how surprising is it that his own son converts to a Christian. And in his conversion he tries to escape his strict culture and find out who he is as a person.

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The story has many examples of the importance of community through tradition and religion, which also plays a major part in the story. For example, we see the community working together and supporting each other throughout the book, until change visits them and changes their culture and muddles their ideals. The introduction of the white man forever changes the Igbo culture which we see at the very end of the book when Okonkwo kills the missionary to try to bring war to drive the change out, and no one supports him. The community has changed, and Okonkwo hadn’t realized it, this change was destructive to both the Igbo culture and to Okonkwo, as he realizes that the change he is trying to prevent is inevitable, and the community he once was respected in and loved, had turned their backs on

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Similarly, Nwoye also resists the reputation of his own father by rejecting this masculine regime of Okonkwo and Igbo culture, showing feminine virtues instead. His intention to carry his beliefs on to his children is established when Okonkwo thinks to himself after he learns of Nwoye’s conversion to Christianity. Nwoye made the decision to leave Umofia after the realization that his views do not coincide with those of his society any longer due to the life time of exposure to the toxicity of Okonkwo’s masculine behavior. It is because he refuses to conform that Nwoye wishes to alter the reputation of himself and his family by joining a culture that he finds to reflect the values that he believes in, instead of those he was dejectedly forced into following by his

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