Assignment Paper no. 14

Name: Rudrika Gohel

Course: M.A. English

Sem: 4

Batch: 2017-2019

Roll No: 31

Enrollment No: 2069108420180015

Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi Department of English MKBU

Email Id: rudrikagohel97@gmail.com

Paper No: 14

Topic:  Analysis of Igbo culture in Things Fall Apart

∆ Introduction...

The novel Things Fall Apart is written by the late Chinua Achebe, who was a Nigerian author. The setting of the novel is in the outskirts of Nigeria in a small fictional village, Umuofia just before the arrival of white missionaries into their land. Due to
the unexpected arrival of white
missionaries in Umuofia, the villagers do not know how to react to the sudden cultural changes that the missionaries threaten to change with their new political structure and institutions. So, let's look at the effects of European colonisation on Igbo culture.

Achebe’s primary purpose of writing the novel is because he wants to educate his readers about the value of his culture as an African. Things Fall Apart provides readers with an insight of Igbo society right before the white missionaries’ invasion on their land. The invasion of the colonising force threatens to change almost every aspect of Igbo society; from religion, traditional gender roles and relations, family structure to trade. Consequently, Achebe blames the white missionaries’ colonial rule and/or invasion for the post-colonial oppressed Igbo culture; this oppression can be seen in terms of the oppressed social coherence between the individual and their society. Furthermore, Achebe educates readers extensively about Igbo society’s myths and proverbs.

# In the writing of Things Fall Apart, Achebe describes the history of Igbo; he does so by

describing both the perfections and imperfections of their culture and traditions that made them different from Western cultures. For example, their beliefs in the power of ancestral gods, the sacrifice of young boys, the killing of twins and the oppression of women to name a few. In the novel, the reader is also made aware of the arrival of white missionaries in Umuofia as well as the reactions of Igbo to their arrival. Although the arrival of the missionaries had some benefits to Igbo, there were also a number of challenges that faced the future of Igbo.

Igbo culture.....

Every culture or society is the sum total of its individuals. The society is the reflection of the perspectives, faith and beliefs of an individual. Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a remarkable example of the portrayal of the positive and negative elements in a society, and also of how a clash between them can lead to the disintegration of a culture. Achebe has presented the Igbo society in a very realistic manner.

Things Fall Apart illustrates many different aspects of Igbo culture. For one, it shows us on may occasions they way they view religion. They are polytheistic, which means they worship many gods. Their gods and goddesses govern different aspects of the world and daily life, such as the earth goddess. Different rituals and customs go along with each god. We can see this in the week of peace, which is observed to honor Ani so she will bless the crops. In addition, some of the gods have Oracles. These are basically their mouthpiece on earth. The Oracles will sometimes be possessed by their god, and the god will speak through them and tell the clan what they need to do.

The novel also explores non-religious aspects of Igbo culture. For example, we see and hear about the different ceremonies and rituals that surround courtship and marriage. Men almost always have more than one wife, an important cultural aspect. We also see how the clan conducts aspects of war, and some of how they keep and enforce law and order. Over the course of the novel we get to see a wide array of different aspects of Igbo life and culture.

Daily life....

The Igbo people are also very clan-oriented. A clan is practically an extended family, and the lives of the members revolve as much around clan activities as around small family ones. Any family event is likely also attended by other clan members. The clans also keep in touch with one another, as we see when Okonkwo's wives travel to see friends in other clans, or when we hear news of other clans. Families who live in different clans keep up with each other and visit regularly as well. 

Okonkwo as a leader...

Okonkwo is alike a king to his people as well As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and So he ate with kings and elders. He is well known throughout the nine villages and even beyond. Extremely wealthy with three wives and some children. 

His motives were to be nothing comparable to his father and him fighting this unsettling fact drove him to his annihilation. Before admitting that he convinced himself as a child that someone who got no title(thinking about his father) alike if a dog received no leash. Later in Okonkwo 's life he had formed himself to be a brutal person by using his father 's failures to his advantage in gaining prestige in his tribe.

When the missionaries arrived in Mbanta, the mother land of Okonkwo, they did not achieve their goal of convincing people at the first time. They talked about the new and only God and tried to persuade the Igbo that they had been worshipping the false Gods of wood and stone, but the Igbo only thought that they were mad, some even went away while the missionaries were speaking. The novel Things fall apart depicts the cultural battle between the Igbo and the British: one was trying to keep its tradition, and one wanted to change those traditions by replacing them with a new religion.

Most of the flaws in the Igbo culture are exposed with the advent of the Missionaries in Nigeria. The white men send in missionaries to instill a religion that encourages peace as the beginning stages of colonization. If they can change the fundamental beliefs of the tribe, then they can control the natives more easily. Missionaries claim to have come here with a noble purpose; they want the savages to give up their culture where superstition and oracles are the order of the day. 

They preach to the natives, the concepts of Christianity, and also how they can become civilized people by embracing this religion. The whites condemn brutal practices such as the slaying of twins, exploitation of women, polygamy, oracles, superstitious beliefs, and indiscriminately waging war upon other villages. According to the whites the Igbo culture is an embodiment of animism and the fetish of the pagan, without any code of conduct or ethics.  The Igbo culture too has its beauty and its pride; the people believe in the poetry of life and are inclined to lead a simple life, far away from the maddening crowd. Their behavior highlights the most fundamental human character: sharing in the happiness and the sorrow of others.

The other side of his nature is exposed when as per the Igbo culture he has to kill Ikemefuna. He is so upset that he doesn’t eat for the next three days. Not able to overcome his sentiments, he curses himself, When did you become a shivering old woman? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed. The people belonging to the clan of Okonkwo are not governed by selfish motives. They are very happy to lend a helping hand to others while at work. They have art and music that is truly their own, and have their own rituals, ceremonies and festivities. One of the greatest examples of their customs and traditions is the feast of the New Yam. It is through this festivity that the Igbo people thank the earth goddess and the source of all fertility, Am. Igbo culture is unique culture in itself, and just like any other culture it has its merits and demerits.

Okonkwo, the tragic hero of this story is a man who represents his culture, and is never ready to renounce it even at the cost of his life. He is out of his wits when he finds his son Nwoye, besides others, embracing Christianity. He curses the white man, How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs bad. Things start to fall apart as there is chaos and disorder in the Igbo society. And by the time the truth dawns on the Igbo people, it is too late. They realize at length that the white man came quietly and peaceably with the religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.

It is the irony of his fate when he is not even given a proper burial since committing suicide is considered a sin in the Igbo culture.

∆ Conclusion...

Achebe portrays his Igbo society as a society that flourished on the pillars of art, music, poetry, democracy and its sound system of justice. It is a society that just needed how to change with the changing times. In my opinion it was not the Missionaries but the inner conflict in the Igbo culture that dug its grave. When the roots of a culture that is its people are fragile, nothing can prevent its fall. Doomed are the people who deliberately make themselves vulnerable and gullible to any foreign invasion, be it physical, mental or spiritual.

#Work cited...

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/things-fall-apart/about-things-fall-apart