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Uncivilized In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

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What makes a society civilized is the culture has a social order characterized by a government, a system of justice, a social structure, and some kind of spiritual belief system. What makes an uncivilized society is when they do not show respect, they do not have social systems or technologies that are seen in modern societies, and not showing any concern for people or for the proper way to behave towards people. The Igbo society is uncivilized. Reasons why they are uncivilized is men are allowed to beat their wives, people that they think are haunted they put them in the Evil Forest, and they have to follow the Oracle even if it says to kill someone.

The men in Umuofia are allowed to beat their wives. According to “Things Fall Apart”, “One day as Ezinma was eating an egg Okonkwo had come in unexpectedly from his hut. He was greatly shocked and swore to beat Ekwefi is she dared to give the child eggs again”(Achebe,1959,p.76). This is considered uncivilized because Okonkwo does not care if he hurts his wives physically he will just beat them if they do something he does not like or say something he does not like. …show more content…

Some people might think that the oracle is a bad spirit and gives bad commands. According to “Things Fall Apart”, “Yes, Umuofia has decided to kill him. The Oracle of the Hills and the caves has pronounced it”(Achebe,1959,p.57). The reason why Ikemefuna had to die is because it was apart of a religious ritual and it is the law to follow the oracle’s laws. However, the oracle isn’t only there to kill people it is there to give advice and to help the people in the village when they came to with misfortune. The novel states, “The story was told in Umuofia, of how his father, Unoka, had gone to consult the oracle of the Hills and the caves to find out why he always had a miserable harvest”(Achebe,1959,p.16). Okonkwo’s dad was desperate to know why he was struggling to grow his

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