Things Fall Apart Analysis Essay

Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe Literary Analysis “Okonkwo was deeply grieved. And it was just not personal grief. He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women,” (Achebe 183). This quote is referring to the immense disappointment the clan has caused Okonkwo to endure. When Okonkwo was first exiled for seven years, he expected to return himself to the same clan he had been forced to leave. Although, in his time gone the missionaries arrived, enforcing their religion of Christianity among the people of Umuofia. Many people fell for Christianity, meanwhile others were too afraid to fight for what they believed in. Okonkwo, being once one of their leaders, knew that he had taught the clan better, especially the men. He guided the men of Umuofia to fight, to unite with one another, and to not be soft like women. Okonkwo

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, colliding cultures takes a significant part in Okonkwo’s sense of not only himself, but the whole clan’s identity as well, precisely by the means of their religion, beliefs, and traditions to the work as a whole. In Things Fall Apart, religion is one of the most important aspects in Okonkwo’s sense of himself and the clan when the two cultures of the missionaries and the clan collide, leading to the tragic death of Okonkwo. For instance, “‘There are no other gods,’ said Mr. Brown. ‘Chukwu is the only God and all others are false. You carve a piece of wood—like that one (he pointed at the rafters from which Akunna’s carved Ikenga hung), ‘and you call it a god. But it is still a piece of wood,’” (Achebe 179). This quote is pure evidence as to how religion becomes a conflict when both cultures collide, creating tension among the two cultures. The missionaries charged into a land that wasn’t theirs, the land of Umuofia. They