How Did The Ibo Culture Change

Words: 658

Pages: 3

Open Document

In a certain story, the Ibo culture has many different customs and beliefs than the western missionaries that come in later on, the Ibo culture starts to change when the missionaries bring a new religion, which causes a lot of misfortune for everyone. This story is called Things Fall Apart, which is written by Chinua Achebe, and it travels the life in the Ibo village Umuofia, and what they go through. Throughout the story Okonkwo changes in a few different ways in response to the missionaries coming to Umuofia and conveying a new religion to the natives. When the missionaries come to Umuofia, they convey a new religion with them that changed the people, especially Okonkwo. Before hand, he was someone entirely different. The author of Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe, offers an example of this by declaring: “although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time” (Achebe 17). This exhibits how he was different because it shows that he was one who worked for what he wanted and didn’t pirate money. He was known among the …show more content…
Before he would have most likely thought things through, and made a decision based off that, and for the things that would maybe require a meeting of a couple people, he would go to the Oracle. But, after the collision he didn’t do either. He just did things out of sheer anger. During the story Achebe makes this apparent by asserting: “In a flash Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniform body” (Achebe 198). This describes Okonkwo’s resentment because he killed the messenger. He killed him because of what the missionaries had done to the village. The man was killed due to the fact that they were changing the Ibo culture, which Okonkwo couldn’t stand, so he took action to defend his culture, and his

Essay on Things Fall Apart

Nigeria. At an early age, he was educated in English and when he got older he attended a government college located in Umuahia. Later he graduated from Ibadan University College. After studying at college he gained a greater appreciation for his culture and so he traded his Christian name for his present name, Chinua. Today, Achebe has written a variety of: novels, short stories, poetry, essays, and children’s books. A lot of Achebe’s fans often wonder why he writes some of the books he writes and…

Words 526 - Pages 3

Sexism In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, is about the Ibo tribe and how the colonists eventually come along and destroy their culture. Achebe’s protagonist, Okonkwo, is a male chauvinist who detests the weak and secretly fears change. Throughout this book, one also learns that women in this time and place were seen as inferior to men and were labeled by various stereotypes. The women in this book are led to believe that they are only good for housework and that they have no voice, especially if…

Words 939 - Pages 4

Things Fall Apart Essay

apart, a novel about cultural differences that impacted the way Ibo tribe lived their lives in an extraordinarily large ways. this book covers how you can manipulate the way a society lives by merging it with a new one. The book focuses on a man of many titles named Okonkwo who has lived his entire life following the customs of the Ibo people. However all of this changed when the white men moved in. Similar to the book, I will focus on how okonkwo was impacted by the westerners arrival. Even though okonkwo…

Words 1008 - Pages 5

Nwoye Manliness Analysis

definition of manliness. When the new culture came to the clan it helped him embrace himself and showed a positive outlook on colonialism. Nwoye started out in the novel as weak and sensitive, but the cultural collision helped him grow and realize that it was time for him to find a place that he would fit in and where he doesn’t have to be afraid of Okonkwo anymore. Nwoye’s change in sense of identity was not only for him to escape his father, but to escape the Ibo culture as a whole. Ultimately, Nwoye…

Words 677 - Pages 3

Essay on Things Fall Apart: Overtaken by Religion

by Chinua Achebe, Achebe conveys the struggle between the Ibo people and the missionaries. In the beginning, the Ibo did not worry about many troubles, until the missionaries enter the picture. This causes many changes within the tribe. However, despite the external factors of the white missionaries, the absence of the greatest warrior led the Ibo tribe to irrational thinking and actions ultimately bring them to their downfall. As the Ibo people begin to disintegrate, the white missionaries play…

Words 1012 - Pages 5

Things Fall Apart Rhetorical Analysis

Battling Beliefs One of the amazing qualities of human beings is the ability to practice different cultures, religions, and traditions. What is even more outstanding is that human beings have the ability to question their own cultures, religion, and traditions. It is one thing to go on living the life that a person was born into, but the ability to query and challenge the ways of their parents and ancestors is a true mark of intelligence. Throughout history, many people have encouraged transitioning…

Words 1545 - Pages 7

things fall apart Essay example

a small Ibo’s village, and the novel's protagonist warned against western culture in order to keep the traditional Ibo culture. Okonkwo uses violence to avoid the inflow of western culture, but many of his clansmen did not agree with that. Finally, Okonkwo realizes his clansmen do not support him at all, so he hangs himself at the end of the novel. Most of the novel talks about how Caucasians use their ways to assimilate Ibo clansman in order to rule the village easier. In the beginning of the novel…

Words 937 - Pages 4

Nwoye In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

1. How has Nwoye changed? In Chapter 16 of Things Fall Apart, we find out that Nwoye has been with some of the Christian missionaries that has arrived back in Umuofia. Because of this, Obierika decides to visit Okonkwo (three years after Okonkwo has been exiled). However, Okonkwo did not wish to speak about Nwoye and it was only from Nwoye’s mother that he heard some of the story. Six missionaries, along with a white man travelled to Mbanta to tell the villagers that there is only one true God…

Words 431 - Pages 2

things fall apart Essay

The changing world of the Ibo has caused things to ‘fall apart’. How does the Achebe demonstrate the impact of the changing world on Okonkwo? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. - Marian Ung For the novel “Things Fall Apart” – Chinua Achebe, a lot of events has been trigger that revolve around the Ibo to cause a changing world in the customs for things to “fall apart”. The world around Okonkwo who is the main protagonist of the novel is he was one of the greatest living warrior alive…

Words 1559 - Pages 7

Culture of Ibos Essay

The Culture of Ibos Presented by: Presented to: Professor of Intro to Anthropology Table of Contents Title Page………………………………1 Table of Contents………………………2 Introduction/Research………………….3 Literature Review………………………4-9 References……………………………..10 The purpose of this project is to explore, describe, and explain the culture of Ibos, pronounced ee-bo. While gathering information on this area of Nigeria that I was unfamiliar with I have gained great knowledge of not…

Words 2800 - Pages 12