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The Negative Effects Of Colonialism In Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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Colonialism is an important topic in the novel, Things Fall Apart that causes societies to flourish, but it also causes societies to fall. Ibo society is a society that functions best by itself with no competition from other societies. Ibo society is unstable as even small-scale colonialism can cause Ibo society to fail. However, the true reason for the failure of Ibo society is colonialism. Achebe portrays the use of colonialism as having harmful effects on Ibo culture and community. Achebe illustrates that colonialism has a negative effect on Ibo culture by dividing Ibo people, which results in the downfall of Ibo civilization. Before white men arrive to Ibo society, there is no sense of colonialism. In this atmosphere, the Ibo society functions …show more content…

One action that shows a negative effect is when Okonkwo kills himself as it states, “Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead” (207). The reason his death shows us one of the many negative impacts is because if the white man had never arrived, then Okonkwo would still be alive. Also, we can infer that if Okonkwo is having suicidal thoughts, then other Ibo people must be too. If these suicidal thoughts come to reality it is a terrible thing because it is against Ibo belief for one to commit suicide as it says, “It is against our custom… His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it” (207). Although some people may argue that colonialism positively affects Ibo society as the white men allow Ibo people to unite against one cause, as in the text it says, “We must root out this evil. And if our brothers take the side of evil we must root them out too. And we must do it now. We must bale this water now that it is only ankle-deep” (204). Although this claim may be true in some respects it is not entirely true as Ibo people seem to unite against one cause, but they do not actually take action. For example, after Okonkwo kills a messenger it states, “Okonkwo stood looking at the dead man. He knew that Umuofia would not go to war. He knew because they had let the other messengers escape” (205). These actions show us that the Ibo people are all talk and no bite, meaning their words do not describe their actions. Overall the process of colonialism, in which the white people attempt to take over Ibo society, leads to the end of Ibo

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Cultural collisions can have a negative or positive effect on people. Trying to change such a big part of you and the way you have always lived can be very hard on people. Others will choose to embrace it. Nwoye’s sense of identity was challenged with the introduction of Western ideas into the Ibo culture. Nwoye started out the novel sensitive and confused, but the cultural collision of the British colonists and Ibo people affected Nwoye, positively to the point of changing cultures and leaving his clan.

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Many stereotypes of African culture have emerged due to western literature and media and first hand accounts of explorers. Things Fall Apart offers a view into the truth and reality of African cultures, which are often misconceptualized by these stereotypes. Acebe shows how African society functions well without assistance from foreign travelers. In Things Fall Apart, Achebe counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by keeping certain words in the Igbo language, as opposed to translating them into English, to fight back against the spreading western culture and to embrace their own way of life. He also counters the imperialist stereotypes of Africa by using Igbo proverbs to show how their culture values many of the same things that western

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When Okonkwo first returns back from his exile and hears the news of the white man in Umuofia, his anger increases that no one is trying to fight them. Even after his friend Obierika tells him about how the village Abame was destroyed by similar white missionaries Okonkwo simply thinks “Abame people were weak and foolish. Why did they not fight back... We would be cowards to compare ourselves to the men of Abame” (175). Okonkwo 's aggression blinds him to the dangers of rebelling against the white man, that he is willing to risk the destruction of his whole village just to satisfy his ideology of respecting his religion.

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The novel, Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, defines an important literary example of the historical conflict of European colonialism in Nigeria during the

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The diminishing of the Igbo tribe by the white colonists terminates that goal for Okonkwo to succeed which leads

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This springs a collision between Okonkwo and Nwoye. Nwoye wants to become Christian and Okonkwo does not approve of what the white men introduced to the Ibo culture. There were other people in the clan like Okonkwo that went against their faith and claimed that everything the Christians believe in was false. Nwoye knows his father has a bad temper and so when Okonkwo found out that he wanted to convert, Nwoye knew that it would cause conflict, and Okonkwo would want to kill him. " Answer me," roared Okonkwo, "before I kill you!"

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This also represents the importance of image to him and shows that he is self-conscious about himself. “‘We shall not do you any harm,’ said the District Commissioner..” (Achebe 194). This is quite ironic since the Europeans ended up abusing Okonkwo and his comrades and eventually destroying the Igbo culture. In this quote the author is implying that in the European's’ perspective, they are doing a good thing for the Igbo in the Umuofia by changing their beliefs, but in reality they are destroying their culture which the foundation and the identity of the Igbo.

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Among those of the same culture, individuals who are adaptive and open-minded can be successful when there is cultural collision. When the Igbo and European cultures collide, Okonkwo gradually spirals out of control, losing everything he values and his own sense of self. From the beginning of the novel, Achebe depicts Okonkwo as a virile warrior and a successful farmer within the Igbo tribe. Reacting with violence to anything he considers “womanly” or “weak”, “He was a man of action and man of war” (10). Because of his reputation as a warrior he is highly respected by his community.

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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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Colonialism had brought a lot of social, economical and political changes to the colonized country, and these changes could be positive or negative. Chinua Achebe deals with both the good and bad sides of colonialism in Things Fall Apart. He neither blindly justifies colonialism, nor does he utterly disapprove it. Colonialism is evil when its purpose becomes looting the economy and hijacking the culture of the people. The title of the novel itself strikes a negative note as it indicates falling apart of things.

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