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Significance Of Twin-Killing In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

701 Words3 Pages

The Supernatural Beings that Bring Devastation on Society In pre-colonial Igboland the large percentage of multiple childbirths led to a very negative view of twins, accompanied by the sinister tradition of twin-killing. Around the globe the rate of twin pregnancies was close to 1.1% of all pregnancies. In Southwest Nigeria however this number is greater (Akinboro et al.). The pregnancy rate was closer to 4.9% of pregnancies resulting in twin births. In Igbo culture the women lived a very passive lifestyle doing what they are told to by their husbands. The case of twins, however, created a paradoxical shift (Bastian). The twins being the same person led to them both being killed in a very brutal manner. The idea that they were wanted and …show more content…

The twin births are seen as a great omen sent from the gods and twins are the great bringers of destruction. The earth goddess decrees that they are “an offense on the land” and if not punished for being born “her wrath will be loosed on all the land and not just the offender” (Achebe 125). The society sees them as evil children and lives in fear of the Earth Goddess’s wrath. These malicious practices not only highlight the people as almost savage like, but further makes Nwoye feel alienated by his own society. Nwoye leaves his family, culture, and religion because he feels like an outsider in his own society. Throughout his life the child sees the life of his family and feels very disconnected from it. As Nwoye eventually leaves his own village and throws away the Igbo culture he adopts the religion of christianity and the new ways of its people. Nwoye isn’t joining christianity, but instead running away from the Igbo culture as it does not answer the “vague and persistent question haunting his young soul-the question of the twins crying in the bush” (Achebe 147). The killing of the twins is pushing out Nwoye the same way it puzzles so many others. The idea that the twin killings is wrong is an idea shared by many. The malevolence is showing how this society has its problems. The Igbo culture is not as well refined

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