Igbo Culture Change

In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe reveals various violent traditions within the Igbo culture being changed. Throughout the novel, the arrival of the white settlers and missionaries force the Igbo people to change some of their cultural traditions. The beliefs and traditions of a given culture encourage cultural violence and practice upon the members. The main character, Okonkwo, proves to be a major catalyst for change in the Igbo culture due to his unconventional beliefs. While Hoegberg argues that the violent Igbo traditions take a turn due to the practice violating a principle the people wanted to uphold, it is evident that the violent traditions simply change over time, especially when impacted by the interference of the Europeans pushing
While this is a great point, the missionaries eventually pull Igbo people into their own culture, breaking some traditions. The people who did not fully agree with the Igbo traditions decide to break away and confirm to Christianity. For example, Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son, does not believe in certain rules and is interested in Christianity. A couple years into Okonkwo’s exile, Obierika stumbles upon Nwoye among the missionaries in Umuofia. Obierika decides to visit Okonkwo for an explanation. “He finds that Okonkwo does not wish to speak about Nwoye. It is only from Nwoye’s mother that he hears scraps of the story” (Achebe 144). Okonkwo believes Nwoye is a disgrace to the family and never wishes to speak of his “womanly” self again. Due to the Europeans converting members of the Igbo clan to Christianity, they are forced to change their cultural traditions. As Obierika said, “it is too late, our own men and our sons have joined the ranks of the stranger” (Achebe 176). These illustrations display the conditions for questioning and constructive change of violent traditions are present in the Igbo society (Hoegberg 60), but simply from the amount of time and new actions interfering with their own culture putting them in