Debbie Rull

9/29/14
English honors 12
Block D

Things Fall Apart Essay

In the book Things Fall Apart, the novel describes how the african culture was drastically
changed by the rise of european imperialism. In the novel, the protagonist, Okonkwo, had taken
many titles and achievements. He was once very wealthy and hardworking. He wasn't afraid of
anything except the idea of him becoming like his father, who was very lazy and poor. He had
then lost all of his things when accidently killed a young clan member during a funeral and was
sent to 7 years of exile. By the time he had arrived back home, he had discovered that the tribe
was taken over by Europeans who had intentions of colonizing the land. They eventually
weakened the tribe and Okonkwo lost his life from trying to stop that from happening. The
setting is Nigeria in the late 1880s, where Okonkwo, of the Ibo Tribe, had once been
successful and wealthy but was then changed by the very start of the arrival of the British. The
Igbo people were dominated when the European settlers brought their customs and religion
upon the tribe. This resulted a decline in their own cultural identity and historical background.
This was then resulted into the European share of the continent and the rise of white culture
killing off the african culture. Although there is some of the culture alive today, the population
modern Africa today do not embrace it enough.
Before the Europeans had arrived on African land, the tribes had their own laws and
land ownership they had to follow which was working for them. Their customs were their way of
living and decision making. Back when they had power over the tribes, the Igbo had used the
customs once presented by their ancestors. For example when Okonkwos uncle had offered

the Europeans the evil forest in hopes that they would die, but was then altered when the men
had survived in the forest. Which began the people in the Tribe to be confused and
frustrated.Then their settlements interfered with the customs that were being practiced by the
Igbo people. The settlers took the people out of their traditions to learn about christianity. The
result of this being that it almost ended with a war between the settlers and the Igbo people. The
war would distance the people more from their customs. The problem of the occurrence of
converts and christian even took the traditions and feasts out of the lives of the Igbo people. The
settlers showing their way of life distracted them and even if they would feast again it would be
the same since the Tribes have weakened. To real life events, Achebe had faced the same
events in his land. In the 1880s, the European nations took pieces of Africa to settle in. They
then managed to erase the culture and its background history by replacing it with their own
culture.
Since arriving to this continent, the Europeans have interfered and have disrupted the
practices and teachings of their custom with their settlements.The teachings of christianity are
then taught when they first arrive to missionaries. The people of the Tribe then betray
themselves for the new teachings taught by the settlers. Even the people who didn't care to
follow them they allowed the religion to go on within the community. This then distracted the
converts from their old ways and traditions which influences the decrease in their cultural
background. Which then results to the others in the tribe to lose all control within their homes
and councils. For example, Okonkwo had so much control before their arrival but was then
weaken by the fact that he had lost communication with the tribe leaders and how his son
Nwoye had taken Christianity. Results came from the beliefs of the religion which states that
there is only god and that god had a son who saved people. This information threw off the
traditional members of the tribe since they believe in ancestral worship and having more than
one god. Some people even agreed to this idea, which lead them to become converts. The
converts initially damaged the cycle of the tribe and from there it began crumbling. Once they

converted they did not bother to revert to their old ways and they even left the tribe. This
destroyed their population and the authority of the leaders since there were too many converts
outnumbering them. The rise of missionaries had gained the interest of the majority of the Tribe,
which had driven the Tribe lords away from their former level of authority that they had before.
That majority had then became humble believers of the church. Which had made the law of their
old religious beliefs invalid to their own and did not continue to follow. In this, the Tribe leaders
no longer had a demand or concern over the beliefs.
The Igbo people had succeeded in making a form of government, law, religion, social class,
holidays, and other areas of accomplishments, but they were all thrown off and were no longer
valued when the british arrived in their land. The accomplishments of the people began to have
no value since the settlers appeared to more dominant and more suitable for government. They
even constructed building that threw off the construction of the huts as they seem inferior. For
instance, Okonkwo had these barns and huts but it would look weak compared to the
Europeans court house and church if he had those things to that certain time. Their historical
background even began crumbling. the lack of ancestral praise or attention seem to affect the
memory of their existence and even lost the influence of the tribe since the other have
converted. Since their arrival, they haven't been practicing their beliefs and haven't stepped to
the cave once to observe the spirits of the ancestors. As a result, this angered people,
especially Okonkwo, and they had even attempted to meet with the DC to come to an
agreement of some sort. This eventually was notice as a trap to imprison the tribesmen for
trying act against them. When the tribe had began to fail, Okonkwo began seeing it and took his
own life after he had killed the messenger as an act to fight back. In other words, the Europeans
had came to the African regions simply to colonize with the land and goods found there. But it
had only managed to corrupt their way of life and erase their cultural history.
In conclusion, the rise of imperialism only had arrived to africa to only serve themselves
and no one else. they killed what made the tribes strong. they destroyed their way of life, their

beliefs and their background that identifies them. They inferred the religious practices, customs,
cultural identity and their social statuses by showing off their class, system, and technology.
They had ultimately lead to cease their tradition and land, which was then formed into
exploitation. The Europeans had basically arrived to reinvent another land like what they have
been doing with other pieces of land that are even overseas. Some countries that they have
exploited in the past have been able to keep their cultural identity but for africa, they have lost
more than that. For them they do not remember the first leaders or innovators in africa but they
can remember white achievers or politics. Racially speaking, it took about forty years to get a
black president in South Africa. Due to the exploitation, Africa is seen as one of the poorest
continents on earth. The europeans took all of resources and were then turned against. In the
1880s all of this was possible beginning for the people to face.

Work Citations
Things Fall apart- Chapters 17, 15, 20, 22, 25
Wikipedia