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Differences Between Igbo And White Missionaries

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Analyzing conflict through cultural perspective The distinct perspectives of the Igbo and the white missionaries cultures validates the conflict between them by emphasizing their similarities and differences. These similarities and differences allow the reader to understand why the two cultures are interacting the way they are. The similar connections made between the cultures and the completely differing values allow for their to be conflict and conversion between the Igbo and white missionaries. The book mainly emphasizes the differences between these two cultures, however there are a few similarities between the cultures. In chapter 16 when the white missionaries try to convert the igbo, it says “...the missionaries burst into song. …show more content…

The fact that the missionaries only worship this one god while the igbo people believe in many different gods is a huge part of their differing perspectives. The white missionaries tell the igbo people “All the gods you have named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. There is only one true God and he has the earth, the sky, you and me and all of us,” (Achebe 146). This attitude that the white missionaries have toward the igbo’s religion causes conflict to increase even more because not only do they have completely different religions but the missionaries are flat out telling the igbo people that everything in their religion is wrong. Overall the igbo culture is based off nature and is all they have ever known, so when this new culture tries to take over it causes a lot of conflict . The few similarities and multiple differences between these two cultures makes it clear that the igbo and the white missionaries do not have the same point of view. When you have a situation like this conflict is bound to arise, religion causes many wars and just like in Things fall apart differing perspectives on culture and religion are causing

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One of the first notable similarities are their speaking style. In the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave and Slave Owners, they all spoke in an olden english kind of accent, used the old language writing style and similar harsh words. One of the quotes from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave is: “I have often sung to drown my sorrow, but seldom to express my happiness.” and a quote from Slave

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Once again, Nwoye found peace away from his father when the Christian missionaries came to Mbanta, the motherland where Okonkwo and his family were exiled to. Nwoye converted to Christianity and escaped the force of his father in their household. Okonkwo, of course, didn’t support his son’s decision and was completely against Nwoye leaving behind the tradition the Okonkwo followed so deeply. A paragraph in chapter seventeen reflects on Okonkwo’s thoughts. “To abandon the gods of one’s father and go about

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This angers Okonkwo so much that he physically starts hurting Nwoye which is historically tolerated in the Igbo culture. He has grown up with Okonkwo being violent towards him and his family. The reader can allude that Nwoye is drawn to Christianity’s condemnation of violence. Therefore when he hears that Christianity is a lot less violent and is displayed more calmer in the readings that are given around the village, Nwoye is immediately sold on the idea of

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“Although Nwoye had been attracted to the new faith from the very first day, he had kept it a secret. ”(112) He was afraid to be different and show who he really was. He was always around when they would preach and he even started to remember some of the stories they told. Eventually he was tired of hiding it and when he just couldn’t handle his father anymore he ran away.

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Because the missionaries do not respect the Igbo religion, tension in villagers like Okonkwo increases. Once the white missionaries arrive in the village of Igbo they immediately start criticizing the natives religion. One missionary even told the people that “they worshipped false gods, gods of wood and stone.” completely

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This was a fateful act because it could urge Umuofia to attack the missionaries, but Umuofia decided to not go to war. Okonkwo explains how the white missionaries have come in and converted all the Igbo people into their religion until their own tribes become too weak to fight back against them. The white missionaries described by Okonkwo, “brought a lunatic religion, but he had also built a trading store

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In Igbo culture it is acceptable to beat women and look down upon them? Women are below men in this culture and in the eyes of the Europeans that is wrong. In Things Fall Apart sexism is shown in many ways such as the abuse of women, social expectations and the power of males. But the Igbo culture views that as normal while the rest of the world despises the cultures way of treating women. Although Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart shows traces of gender equality among the Igbo, the European audience views the culture as sexist.

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Chukwu is their primary god along with others, and the Igbo fear him. They believe that their souls were given to them by ancestors and that they will eventually pass their soul down to their grandchildren. The spread of Christianity was not welcomed by all, but it found a way to sneak into the lives of all the Igbo people. Achebe uses these ideas to show the Igbo were civilized people who had their own beliefs before Christianity replaced the Igbo religion and ultimately changed their lives

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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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This decision came after the sacrifice of Ikemefuna who was 16 | P a g e almost a brother to Nwoye. Nwoye was totally against the decision made by Igbo to kill his brother, hence he protests against this act by joining the church and choosing to attend school. His father on the other hand is not at all pleased with Nwoye’s decision to join Christianity. Although Okonkwo is disappointed in his son’s choice he does not act on it. It is then assumed that Okonkwo somehow expected this kind of behaviour from his son as he always saw Nwoye as “weak and woman-like” (Strong-Leek 2).

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During the arrival of the white men to Umuofia, it states in the text, “The missionaries had come to Umuofia. They had built their church there, won a handful of converts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns and villages” (143). This may seem like nothing, but these converts are the result of colonialism. White men begin to impart colonialism on the Ibo people by converting Ibo people to have Christian beliefs as this is what the white men believe in. These new beliefs negatively change Ibo society because it causes them to lose citizens and their civilization to lose power.

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