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Igbo Tribe

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Every country has its own way of life. DIfferent countries value different things like traditions, and their types of literature. Often times certain types of people or countries are stereotyped. this has happened to the Igbo tribe of Nigeria. One such stereotype is that the people of the Igbo Tribe were thought be be as savages. In defence to these assumptions Chinua Achebe wrote the novel Things Fall Apart. Achebe’s defence to these are that the Igbo people are civilized in culture, religion, language, and government.
Culture is important to the Igbo people the quote” After the Week of Peace every man and his family began to clear the bush to make new farms. The cut bush was left to dry and fire was set to it. The rainy season was approaching when they would go away until the dry season” (Achebe 32). This event the Week of Peace is an important element to the Igbo culture. During the Week of Peace they didn’t do much because it was the week before they planted the yams. Yams are a big part of the Igbo society. They take great pride in their yams and value amity by having a yam festival. Language is another important element in this novel. Many characters use proverbs in their …show more content…

In the quote”The only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansmen, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was of two kinds male and female. Okonkwo had committed the female, because it had been inadvertent. He could return to the clan after seven years”(Achebe 124). It shows that the tribe had their own set of laws before colonization. In the example Okonkwo accidentally kills a clansmen. There are two different types of crimes male and female. This shows that they have a level of degree of how bad the crime is sorta like the U.S government with first, second, and third degree murder. Okonkwo’s crime was female so his punishment wasn 't as

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(T.F.A Pg. 124). The way that the clan took about Okonkwo killing a clansman was different than how they took him beating his wife, Okonkwo didn’t get a big punishment for beating his wife like he did for killing a

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The proverbs in Things Fall Apart allow for a deeper look into the Igbo culture and their beliefs. Sayings that initially seem to drive Western and African societies further apart end up pushing them together when the meaning is deciphered. An example of this is the proverb, “Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break” (19). Basically it's saying that as long as everyone's equal all is well, but as soon as someone decides to takeover let them have bad luck.

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They did not believe in women 's roles. Okonkwo verbally shut down the importance of woman in the society along with the other men and Ibo. When Okonkwo was upset with his wives or any other woman in his life he would abuse them to show who has a seniority. Letting the village exile him was disappointing because it showed that he no longer had power. Through committing suicide he held all the power in his life.

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Okonkwo hates change, and he feels that the missionaries have brought about change through their religion, which has started to affect other aspects of traditional Igbo life and its people. He feels that the men have gotten weaker, hence him feeling proud when the warriors start acting like warriors again in his mind when the village agrees some violent action must be taken against the white man. When the village crier announces that there will be a meeting to discuss what to do about the foreigners following Okonkwo and the other prisoners getting released, Okonkwo is very excited. However, once the meeting gets interrupted by court messengers during a speech about how the white man is desecrating their gods and ancestral spirits, things take a turn for the worst. As soon as the head messenger tells the crowd to disperse “Okonkwo drew his machete.

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Based on the definition that a civilized society has “a well-developed culture, an effective government, and that it treats the people who live there fairly.” The Igbo and British cultures presented in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” both show how and what a civilized society looks like. One reason why both the Igbo and British cultures are successful is because they have a well-developed culture. The definition of a well-developed culture is “the process of enabling cultural activities, including the arts, towards the realization of a desired future, particularly of a culturally rich and vibrant community.” The Igbo’s have a well-developed culture because everybody has a certain role in the culture and they stick to that role and listen

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In the text, “ The only course open to Okonkwo was the flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman, and a man who committed it must flee from the land. The crime was two kinds, male or female, Okonkwo had committed a female. He could return to the clan after seven years” (Achebe 124). If Okonkwo was not there , the young boy would still be alive and Okonkwo would still be in Umuofia , his fatherland and had all of his items.

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He was too proud to let his tribe give up their warlike history. He was to proud and self-assured to accept his son's choices. Okonkwo is a sad character whose pride has constantly led him down the crooked path. Achebe shows that being proud isn't a constructive thing for the future. That development can only occur when pride is put aside, and people think logically instead of

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The Cambridge Dictionary defines a “civilized society” as one that has “a well-developed culture and an effective government, and which treats the people who live there fairly.” Based on the definition that the dictionary provides, the Igbo and British cultures presented in Chinua Achebe’s, “Things Fall Apart,” both fit this definition. As you look deeper under the surface you start to see that both are not as civilized as they seem. From the beginning of the novel, “Things Fall Apart,” it becomes evident that the Igbo have a very well-developed and thought-out culture.

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Many aspects of their lives have men as the prominent heads of their households, but women also have some importance in many of the concepts. In the novel Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe presents the idea of how Igbo culture and religion define the roles for each gender and examines how unequal roles in society can lead to conflicts between each gender in order to illustrate how they can lead to permanently damaged relationships. The main driving forces behind gender role beliefs in Things Fall Apart are a result of the ideologies set by the Ibo people. Their culture dictated men as stronger people who did more work, while women were dictated as individuals who were weak and inferior because they did household activities.

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