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Anderson McCord

Dr. BestSection 104

11/25/2013

Things Fall Apart

The closing thoughts of the District Commissioner in Things Fall Apartwere that he

could almostdedicate an entirechapter of his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes oftheLower Nigerto the actions of Okonkwo. This viewpoint that the District Commissioner

held was commonplace amongst Europeans, in that that western cultures have vast superiority to

the primitivetribesmen that were overseen by the Europeans, and in his eyes they are bringing

culture to the primitives by Christianizing/Westernizing the land, through this act the entire way

of life of the clans of Umuofia was destroyed. Chinua Achebe spends time describing throughout

the book the Umuofina culture and way of life, taking time to make note of rituals and habits that

have developed as the Umouofina had grown. At the end of the book with the Umuofina culture

has been assimilated into Christendom the Umouofina had their culture and history enveloped by

Western ideals thus destroying anything Okonkwo had to live for. In the Commissioners version

of events the tension created by the arrival of the white man is all but omitted, he does not

describe the damage caused by the fracturing of the culture and way of life that had existed in

place for quite a long time that was replaced by western culture and Christianity.

Prior to the arrival of the white man society in the Umuofina tribes were self-reliant and

rich in culture. Through subversion by the European powers and missionaries converting the

local population the old ways of the Umuofina tribes started to crumble. As the population

gradually became more accustomed to the European presence the Europeans begin to assume

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control over the positions of power society, driving out the Umuofina from the positions of

power governing themselves.

The assimilation of the Umuofina culture and Okonkwos death is the telling of an

individuals struggle during the westernizing of his culture. Considering that during this time

period Europeans were trying to westernize much of the world it is only imaginable the amount

of people that could have shared experiences of culture shock similar to that experienced by

Okonkwo. Consider the quote "Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm," replied he

white man. "They are pieces of wood and stone." (Achebe, 116); this statement made by the

white missionaries upon their arrival to Okonkwos village shows the intolerance of western

culture to the ideals of other less civilizedcultures. Upon discovering the opportunity to

influence culture in Africa many European nations started to exploit the African population for

either labor or money. Many of the Umuofina tribes were blinded to the damage that was being

done to their way of life by the luxuries that the Europeans brought and traded in the new

market. Slowly but surely the Europeans had worked their way into the African way of life. After

they had a good foothold in the African culture efforts were then made to convert a majority of

the population to Christianity. Okonkwos own son ends up being a Christian convert and

changes his name to Isaac. As the tribe starts to westernize it begins to abandon its customs and

traditions that Okonkwo held close. Okonkwo begins to detach from society having no place in

the new westernized tribe.

By the end of the novel the Umuofina culture had been subverted by the European

missionaries, having lost everything Okonkwo wishes to overthrow the Europeans control on

their culture. This is most exemplified by the quote spoken by the messenger before being struck

down by Okonkwo: The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting

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to stop (Achebe, 204). This however is not supported by the other clansmen who have

become complacent with European dominance in their region. Having lost his son to western

culture and his place among his tribesmen Okonkwo commits suicide.

Chinua Achebe does a great job in showing the often untold story of the struggle of a

civilization struggling to come to terms with European influence. He shows the destruction of

culture and tradition caused by westernization through much of the colonized world at the time,

and the fracture that it makes in the social structures that were already in place and then the

turmoil that results from the drastic social change that occurs afterwards.