THINGS FALL APART ESSAY
LOSSING CULTURAL IDENTITY (A VIEW FROM POSTCOLONIAL CRITICISM)
Chinua Achebe was born on 1930 in Ogidi a town in the southeastern part of
Nigeria and died on 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a novelist, poet,
professor and one of the main representatives of modern Anglo African literature.
His life was divided into his regional and ancestral culture and his parent’s culture.
His father Okafo Achebe and his mother Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam were
converted to the Protestant Church Mission Society (CMS) in Nigeria. In this way,
from the very beginning they wanted to implant their new thinking to Achebe but he
never admitted. Consequently, his novels and literary works are based on his
ancestral customs, traditions and the political power that were of huge importance
for Chinua Achebe. Some of his novels are: Anthills of the Savannah (1987), A
Man of the People (1966), Arrow of God (1964), No Longer at Ease (1960) and the
oldest and focus of this essay named Things Fall Apart (1958).
Things fall apart, is a novel that reflects how life used to be in African
communities before the arrival of white men to the hinterland of Africa. During the
pre-colonial period, that is to say between 1500 and 1800, Africa was divided into
kingdoms or states such as Savanna States, Akwa Akpa and Igbo States which
had their own political, religious and social organization; but after the arrival of
white men and the growing demand of slaves during that period, suffered an
imminent collapse. In this way, Things Falls Apart shows the way people used to
live and reside in Africa through the story of a particular Igbo community named
Umuofia where inhabitants had their own politics, religion, social organization,
values and traditions; and how the arrival of missioners (white men) overthrow a
culture that was strong and well constituted. For this reason, after reading “Things
Fall Apart” it results shocking to realize the way in which the arrival of missioners
and Catholicism made this well-constructed community to lose its cultural identity
in terms of customs and beliefs.
Cultural identity in short terms is the set of traditions, language, religion,
believes, customs and many other elements that make a community unique and
that identifies the people that conform it. In “Things Fall Apart” book, people from
Umuofia had a well-constituted community with ancestral traditions, beliefs,
language and religion. This is reflected in the fact that they had positions of power
gained by being stronger and an excellent warrior like the main character Okonkwo
who had a huge fame around the community for being the one that defeated
“Amalinze the Cat”. Also, people in Umuofia believe in many gods and in an oracle
named Agbala who was the religious leader of the community. They also had
traditions for marriage and communal ceremonies for every season of the year.
Besides, they had a political and social organization where the oldest men were
the ones that took the important decisions for the community and were the ones
that placed the penalties to the people that broke their laws. During chapter
thirteen (13) Okonkwo accidentally killed a child with his gun and had to leave the
community for 7 years because this was a severe penalty. This decision was taken
by the oldest men as a proof of their power inside the community.
From a postcolonial criticism point of view, proposed by Lois Tyson, we
could state that missioners made this community to lose its customs and beliefs in
the way that they introduced a new thinking among people about religion and life
styles without worrying about the local traditions and inhabitants. That is to say,
they infringed upon Umuofia’s culture despite of the opposition and unconformity of
people from the community. In this way, taking into account that missioners were
not well received, we could state that there was a clear oppression and desire of
colonialism.
As soon as the missioners arrived, the community trusted on their own
beliefs like the “evil land” and these kids of beliefs made them an easy region to be
colonized. One could say that missioners were intelligent when trying to enter in
the community. For example, in chapter seventeen, page 75: “It was not very easy
getting the men of high title and the elders together after the excitement of the first
day. But the missionaries persevered, and in the end they were received by the
rulers of Mbanta. They asked for a plot of land to build their church”. It is clear that
they wanted to impose their religion and own god as a beginning in their
colonization purpose but having the seal of approval of old men to avoid war.
However, I don’t think that missioners were intelligent but disrespectful since
they treat people form Umuofia like inferior. According to Lois Tyson (postcolonial
criticism) “The colonizers believed that only their own Anglo-European culture was
civilized, sophisticated, or, as postcolonial critics put it, metropolitan. Therefore,
native peoples were defined as savage, back‑ward, and undeveloped. Because
their technology was more highly advanced, the colonizers believed that their
whole culture was more highly advanced, and they ignored or swept aside the
religions, customs, and codes of behavior of the peoples they subjugated”. In my
point of view, this was exactly what happened in “Things Fall Apart” because as
soon as missioner got a location inside the community to build their church, they
started to pass over the local religion to gain followers and change their ideas and
even language. For example, in chapter sixteen, page 73: “All the gods you have
named are not gods at all. They are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows
and destroy innocent children. There is only one true God and He has the earth,
the sky, you and me and all of us.” In this way, they were passing over Umuofia’s
religion being it an important element of culture inside this community.
All in all, the arrival of the missioners was something of a huge impact for
people in this community since they were losing their own cultural identity; being
religion and the “idea of god” strategies from the missioners to enter in the
community to overthrow the customs and the beliefs that were important for people
in Umuofia and that constituted their cultural identity.