Imperialism In Things Fall Apart

Culture is something that all people live by; They’ll follow their culture blindly even if they believe it to be wrong or immoral. Obierika in Things Fall Apart is a perfect example of someone following their culture blindly. In Things Fall Apart the protagonist, Okonkwo, has a devastating downfall all due to the fact of European colonization in his village and surrounding ones. In the novel, Things fall Apart, Chinua Achebe uses the character, Obierika to illustrate how one’s customary beliefs on ethnic and institutional collide with the rise of British colonialism in Africa, thus leading to the unraveling of the Ibo Culture. In part 1 of Things Fall Apart, Obierika experiences a cultural collision in the area of ethnic when his clan decided

Okonkwo’s gun accidentally went off and killed a young man in his clan. Okonkwo was exiled from Umuofia for his crime against the Earth goddess as a punishment. The Oracle had ordered that his compound, farm, and livestock be destroyed, and one of the people participating was Obierika, Okonkwo’s greatest friend. The author says, “ When the will of the goddess had been done, he sat down in his obi and mourned his friend’s calamity.” (pg. 125) Once the task of destroying Okonkwo’s land and possessions had been completed, Obierika sat down and thickened about what happened, the narrator says “ mourned”. This is saying that Obierika was deeply saddened by what had he had done. This reveals that Obierika didn't really want to be apart of burning Okonkwo’s compound and belongings. By the narrator using the word “ mourning” he unveils that Obierika’s culture forced him to do something that he did not believed to be so wrong that he showed great sorrow for what he's