Things Fall Apart Research Paper

“He has put a knife to on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). This was said in reference to the white men who infiltrated the Ibo people in Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart forges a new trail in American Literature that emphasizes the effects of colonization from the African perspective. Throughout the novel, a man named Okonkwo battles his fear of failure while desperately clinging to the traditions of his clan. White missionaries arrived towards the end of the novel and with them, came their western traditions and ideas. The timing of the arrival is essential to the the support of the oppression the missionaries place on the clan because it is well established that the Ibo people have culture

The white men in the novel did not acknowledge that there was any other way of doing things, so they implemented a code of law that none of the Ibo had agreed upon. An example of an oppressor is the District Commissioner. He went to the extreme of westernizing the clan and did so with force and brutality. The district commissioner told the six men of the clan that they would not do them any harm if and only if they cooperated with their form of government (194). If they refused, they would be hanged (196). This forceful action taken by the District Commissioner does not show that the Ibo are uncivilized, but that the white man is ignorant and arrogant. The Ibo people had their own way of settling disputes such as this one, but the District Commissioner ignored these customs and assumed that the English way was the only right way and everyone would fall into step. Part of this English way was the addition of trials and prison. People of the clan would be arrested, tried and thrown into prison for crimes against white man’s law that were the customs of the clan (175). This governmental oppression of the white man was both, violent and forceful. The clan had their own governmental setup and did not need or want the white man’s