“The white man is very intelligent… He put a knife to the things that held us together and we fell apart. » Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart is an excellent example of African literature that demonstrates the clash between cultures and peoples that occurred across the African continent as a consequence of European colonialism. The novel is set in the 1890s in the lower region of Nigeria and paints a creative picture of the complex social institutions and traditions of Ibo culture before its contact with Europeans. The consequences of this contact are quickly revealed as Achebe artistically introduces the reader to the changes that have taken place at various levels among the indigenous Ibo people of the region. The author's choice of the title "Things Fall Apart" was not simply a creative decision but a message on the book cover alluding to the changes taking place in the novel: a culture and people literally falling apart because of their contact with white Europeans. missionaries and colonialists at the end of the 19th century. The manner in which Achebe constructed his novel demonstrates the motivation behind his work and his desire to create an accurate representation of one of Africa's many indigenous ethnic groups. His novel not only adds to the richness of precolonial and colonial African history by shattering stereotypical European portraits of Africans, but it does so while taking care not to stereotype what one might consider the typical white European colonialist. His writings deny any claim of an indigenous group of socially backward Africans and instead give voice to indigenous Africans who were underrepresented and exploited by colonialism. In choosing how he would portray the white European colonialists and missionaries, he very intelligently decided to come up with various depictions of the white man, such as the benevolent Mr. Brown, the zealous Reverend Smith, and the ruthless District Commissioner. Achebe carefully introduces and develops the novel's protagonist, Okonkwo, and the Umuofia clan to which he belongs in the lower region of Nigeria. He describes Okonkwo's village, Iguedo, and conveys his full understanding of its culture, people and traditions. From the first page of the novel, we learn that in this village men gain their social status through physical triumphs, that the spirit world and nature are highly respected, and that instruments and songs are an integral part of the culture. His choice of vocabulary adds to the fullness of each description and his decision to integrate words from the Igbo language into the narrative, for example agbala and iyi-uwa, allows him to capture the rhythm of the language while achieving a great level cultural revitalization. . The message that Achebe wanted to send to the audience of his novel is that "things are falling apart" for the people of Nigeria under British colonial rule, but it is imperative to read and analyze the stories in the novel to fully understand what this means. it's collapsing. It captures European and African perspectives on colonial expansion and race relations and shows how family values, norms, religion, justice and gender roles were among the many "things" that collapsed upon contact with Europeans. When Okonkwo returns to Umuofia after seven years of exile with his family, he is struck by the profound change his clan has undergone and by the fact that his people pay no particular attention to the return of their warrior. “The newsreligion, government and commercial stores were very much in the eyes and minds of the people. There were many who considered these new institutions evil, but even they spoke and thought of nothing else, and certainly not of Okonkwo's return... Okonkwo was deeply distressed. And it wasn't just personal grief. He mourned the clan, which he saw break and fall, and he mourned the warrior men of Umuofia, who had so inexplicably become like meek women (pp. 182-183). Upon his return, Okonkwo notices that the white man has changed his world by imposing a new religion on his people: Christianity. Furthermore, he noticed the new form of European government – ​​with a strict judicial system and administrators like the district commissioner, and new institutions for commerce and agriculture – such as stores stocked with European products and new rules to control production and trade. White and black missionaries had brought with them a new religion that spoke of the Holy Trinity and one God who had a son without ever having a wife. These missionaries spoke through an interpreter, sang traditional hymns, and accused the African people of worshiping false gods. “The white man…told them of this new God, the Creator of all people and of all men and women. He told them that they worshiped false gods, gods of wood and stone. He told them that... The wicked and all the pagans who in their blindness bowed down to wood and stone were thrown into a fire that burned like palm oil. But good men who worshiped the true God lived forever in his happy kingdom (p. 145). The Igbo people did not understand how they could be expected to believe that the gods they had worshiped all their lives, the same gods who had dictated the prosperity of their crops and procreation each year, did not simply did not exist. They feared that if they abandoned their gods and followed the white man's God, their gods would overpower them with the deepest wrath. “These men must be crazy,” they [the inhabitants of Umuofia] said to themselves. How else could they say Ani and Amadiora were harmless? And Idemili and Ogwugwu too? (p.146) » Before the foreign ideals proposed by Christianity were implemented and even accepted by many people in Umuofia, the original polytheistic religion, largely based on rituals, consultation of oracles, ancestral spirits and of the commanding god Chukwu, acted as one of the major stepping stones to Ibo society. Unlike the original polytheistic religion that dominated Okonkwo village, Christianity offered the opportunity for men of lower status to be treated equally with those of higher status, because under the God of man white, all men were equal. How can anyone be expected to waste years of worship and an entire religious culture at the behest of another man? This imposition of a new religion is a prime example of how Ibo culture disintegrated. Once religious changes began to occur, it became apparent to the Igbo people that this was not the only change that would occur in Umuofia. The imposition of a new form of government under the British colonialists in Nigeria would disrupt the original, highly patriarchal and collective political system developed by the ancestors of the Ibo people. As Achebe demonstrates, decisions were not made by a leader or individual, but rather by a council of male elders. Religious leaders were also called upon to decide.”