Essay on Things Fall Apart

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The book “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe has many important sociological perspectives. Many of the characters in the book play important roles in order to create a society. Towards the end of the book, the “white men” begin to move into the village, bringing the religion of Christianity with them. Although the villagers have a current religion that believes in multiple gods, the white men begin to convince people to convert. This in result causes uproar in the village because some members convert, while others push the white men away and decide to be faithful to their current religion. One example of downward mobility in the group is Okonkwo’s banishment. Since Okonkwo accidently pulled the trigger of a gun, killing Ezeudu, he was …show more content…
This would allow people to have a choice on what they wanted to do in their lives, rather than being forced into it. Although the white men did not physically force anyone to join their faith, having their community intertwine with those of the villagers caused many issues because they were two opposite extremes attempting to live and associate with one another. In the story, Mr. Brown, a priest of the Christian faith was partially ethnocentric. The reason for this was because he thought that if he had enough people from the village convert to Christianity, he would in return gain more control of the village and Africa. Mr. Brown’s main goal was to take over the Igbo’s resources in order to benefit himself and the British community. Most people would argue that Mr. Brown was not ethnocentric because he was kind and allowed the villagers to make a decision, but it is this characteristic of Mr. Brown that made him ethnocentric. His kindness was a tactic to show the Igbo people that the British people are good-hearted and will allow them to have freedom for the rest of their lives. Also, Mr. Brown’s tactic was in comparison to Mr. Smith’s, which was mainly forcefully converting the Igbo people. This allowed the villagers to see that Mr. Brown was a good person, and if they converted to Christianity, then there is a possibility of having more people with his same characteristics. In my opinion, the most important message of this novel is having your own beliefs, and
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