Things Fall Apart Essay

Many of the most influential occurrences in history occur when cultures collide with each other. This quote by Kevin Chau illustrates the truth about these collisions “The nature of culture is evolution. The practice of culture is adaptation.”(Kevin Chau) Upon the clash of two cultures typically one must adapt to survive else be consumed by the opposing culture. In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe suggests that when cultures collide with a lack of empathy for each other things will indeed fall apart shown by the British missionaries and the Ibo people in the novel, along with violence in Nigeria today, however the collision of cultures can also be deemed a positive thing shown by intercultural exchange throughout history.

In Achebe’s novel a lack of empathy is indeed shown through the British missionaries to the Ibo people. Foremost when the
One of the converts named Enoch went to a sacred Ibo ceremony and “fell on him(an egwugwu) and tore off his mask.”(pg.186) Unmasking an egwugwu is said to be “one of the greatest crimes a man could commit”(pg.186) Yet again the missionaries show a lack of empathy through imprisoning the Ibo clan leaders. During the “night the messengers came to taunt them and to knock their shaven heads together.”(pg.195) The effects of the missionaries actions lead to anger among the culture driven men in Umuofia such as Okonkwo. Yet they had not been angered to the point of pushing the missionaries out of Umuofia. However, when Enoch unmasked the egwugwu he had stoked the anger of the clan. In retaliation they confronted the christian church and “When the egwugwu went away” the Christian church “which Mr.Brown had built was a pile of earth and ashes.”(pg.191) Consequently the effects of the two cultures colliding without the