things fall apart clash of culture
Things Fall Apart was written by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe in the twentieth century. It is seen as the typical modern African novel in English. It was first published in 1958 by William Heinemann Ltd in the UK in 1962. The title of the novel comes from William Butler Yeats' poem "The Second Coming". Achebe was born in 1930. Achebe mostly writes his novels in English as Igbo language was hard to understand as this language originated from various types of dialects. This essay will discuss the clash of cultures the Igbo community faces with the coming of the British colonizers and Christian missionaries in the novel Things Fall Apart.
Set in pre-colonial Nigeria in the 1890s, Things Fall Apart highlights the clash between colonialism and traditional culture. Achebe's father was among the first to be converted in Ogidi, around the turn of the century. Achebe himself was an orphan raised by his grandfather. Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. The tension about whether change should be confidential over tradition in the patriarchal society often involved questions of personal status. Okonkwo, for example, struggles with the new political and religious orders generated by the Europeans because he felt that they are not manly and that he himself will not be manly if he tends to join or tolerate them.
To some extent, Okonkwo’s condemnation of cultural change is also due to his fear of losing social status. His sense of self-worth is dependent upon the traditional standards by which the society judges him. Another example would be when Okonkwo returns from exile, he does not adapt to the change brought in by the colonizers. In fact his disapproval of western culture leads him to suicide. On one side Okonkwo is being presented as a strong character by attaining his culture, but on the other hand he was a coward leading himself to suicide. So the clash of culture brought tensions in the Igbo society
Set in pre-colonial Nigeria in the 1890s, Things Fall Apart highlights the clash between colonialism and traditional culture. Achebe's father was among the first to be converted in Ogidi, around the turn of the century. Achebe himself was an orphan raised by his grandfather. Things Fall Apart deals with how the prospect and reality of change affect various characters. The tension about whether change should be confidential over tradition in the patriarchal society often involved questions of personal status. Okonkwo, for example, struggles with the new political and religious orders generated by the Europeans because he felt that they are not manly and that he himself will not be manly if he tends to join or tolerate them.
To some extent, Okonkwo’s condemnation of cultural change is also due to his fear of losing social status. His sense of self-worth is dependent upon the traditional standards by which the society judges him. Another example would be when Okonkwo returns from exile, he does not adapt to the change brought in by the colonizers. In fact his disapproval of western culture leads him to suicide. On one side Okonkwo is being presented as a strong character by attaining his culture, but on the other hand he was a coward leading himself to suicide. So the clash of culture brought tensions in the Igbo society