Igbo culture and society in "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe

Igbo culture and society in
"Things Fall Apart"
by Chinua Achebe

Every culture is a culmination of both the positive and negative elements in a particular society. How does Achebe present these contrary aspects of the Igbo culture in his novel “Things Fall Apart”?

Every culture or society is the sum total of its individuals. The society is the reflection of the perspectives, faith and beliefs of an individual. Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” is a remarkable example of the portrayal of the positive and negative elements in a society, and also of how a clash between them can lead to the disintegration of a culture. Achebe has presented the Igbo society in a very realistic manner. Although the country is unnamed, we know that the setting of the story takes place in Nigeria, where the native people are still continuing with practices which in the eyes of the whites are nothing but primeval and savage. Achebe weaves conflicts in his novel between man v/s man, and man v/s. society. The conflicts are manifested in Okonkwo’s inability to reconcile with the Change. Achebe gives a message through his novel that a man must change with time, and if that man does not act wisely and instead acts like a die-hard man like Okonkwo, he is hoisting with his own petard.

Achebe develops the theme of “traditional verses change through a powerful presentation of the beauty, strength, and validity of traditional life and values and the disruptiveness of change1.” The change in this novel comes with the advent of the missionaries, and this interference in the primal society of Umuofia leads to the collision between the good and the evil, the black and the white. But what in truth is really responsible for the fall of such a strong society is the Igbo? This essay explores whether it was the light brought by the Missionaries or the darkness embodied by the Igbo ethnic people themselves!

Most of the flaws in the Igbo culture are exposed with the advent of the Missionaries in Nigeria. “The white men send in missionaries to instill a religion that encourages peace as the beginning stages of colonization. If they can change the fundamental beliefs of the tribe, then they can control the natives more easily.2” Missionaries claim to have come here with a noble purpose; they want the savages to give up their culture where superstition and oracles are the order of the day. They preach to the natives, the concepts of Christianity, and also how they can become civilized people by embracing this religion. The “whites” condemn brutal practices such as the slaying of twins, exploitation of women, polygamy, oracles, superstitious beliefs, and indiscriminately waging war upon other villages. According to the “whites” the Igbo culture is an embodiment of animism and the fetish of the pagan, without any code of conduct or ethics.

But like every coin, there is another facet to this culture. The Igbo culture too has its beauty and its pride; the people believe in the poetry of life and are inclined to lead a simple life, far away from the maddening crowd. Their behavior highlights the most fundamental human character: sharing in the happiness and the sorrow of others. Okonkwo is shown as a cruel man in his treatment of his wives when “he is so carried away in his anger at his youngest wife that he forgets the ritual of the Week of Peace and breaks the rules of kindness and gentleness3” but he is an ideal man who adheres to the custom of his village where people believe “No matter how prosperous a man was, if he was unable to rule his women and his children he was not really a man.4” The other side of his nature is exposed when as per the Igbo culture he has to kill Ikemefuna. He is so upset that he doesn’t eat for the next three days. Not able to overcome his sentiments, he curses himself, “‘When did you become a shivering old woman? Okonkwo, you have become a woman indeed.5”

The people belonging to the clan of Okonkwo are not governed by selfish motives. They are very happy to lend a helping hand to others while at work. They have art and music that is truly their own, and have their own rituals, ceremonies and festivities. One of the greatest examples of their customs and traditions is the feast of the New Yam. It is through this festivity that the Igbo people thank the earth goddess and the source of all fertility, Am. Igbo culture is unique culture in itself, and just like any other culture it has its merits and demerits.

The Missionaries guide the “black people” about morality and education, and ask them to change with the changing times. It is not surprising that the missionaries create a mental and social turmoil in the Igbo society. Their arrival has resulted in a cultural clash. They are able to set even the fathers and sons at loggerheads, in the name of religion and morality. And when under the influence of the invaders a brother starts killing his brother, the culture is bound to disintegrate. “While deploring the imperialists’ brutality and condescension, Achebe seems to suggest that change is inevitable and wise men reconcile themselves to accommodating change. It is the diehards who resist and are destroyed in the process.6” It can be said that the people of the Igbo society end themselves up in a conflagration, which had been ignited by the missionaries.

Okonkwo, the tragic hero of this story is a man who represents his culture, and is never ready to renounce it even at the cost of his life. He is out of his wits when he finds his son Nwoye, besides others, embracing Christianity. He curses the white man, “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs bad.7” Things start to fall apart as there is chaos and disorder in the Igbo society. And by the time the truth dawns on the Igbo people, it is too late. They realize at length that “the white man came quietly and peaceably with the religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart8.” Okonkwo’s tragedy is the greatest example of the disaster that takes place with the merger of the east and the west. “He can’t take living under the rule of foreign men who don’t speak his language or know his customs. So, rather than bear the yoke of colonization, he hangs himself9”. It is the irony of his fate when he is not even given a proper burial since committing suicide is considered a sin in the Igbo culture.

Achebe portrays his Igbo society as a society that flourished on the pillars of art, music, poetry, democracy and its sound system of justice. It is a society that just needed how to change with the changing times. In my opinion it was not the Missionaries but the inner conflict in the Igbo culture that dug its grave. When the roots of a culture that is its people are fragile, nothing can prevent its fall. Doomed are the people who deliberately make themselves vulnerable and gullible to any foreign invasion, be it physical, mental or spiritual!