Yan Yaroshevich 3/23/11 AP English IV Destruction of a Culture When the missionaries in Things Fall Apart arrive to Umofia, they

cause drastic change in the peoples culture. They bring about some positive change by convincing the converted not to believe in or perform certain practices that include killing innocent people by casting them off to the evil forest, and providing human sacrifices to their gods. However, the growing influence they had over the youth of Umofia caused the entire culture of the people to change, disregarding all of its well-respected and long standing traditions. This is what led to the suicide of Okonkwo, whose death represents the death of Umofias culture as a whole. While the coming of the missionaries benefitted the people of Umofia, their arrival is ultimately detrimental to the people because it eventually leads to the destruction of their culture. The positive changes that the missionaries brought to Umofia come from their disapproval of certain Umofian practices that they understandably regard as negative. One such practice includes leaving newborn twins to die in the evil forest in order to not bring bad luck to the family. Their belief in the ogbanje, a child who dies repeatedly and returns to its mother to be reborn, leads to another practice in which the dead ogbanje child is mutilated and dragged across the ground into the evil forest. The missionaries convince the converts of Umofia to stop these practices and disregard these beliefs as they do not hold any value in Christianity: [your gods] are gods of deceit who tell you to kill your fellows and destroy innocent children. There is only one true God (Achebe 146). While these changes are seen as positive by the missionaries, Okonkwo and the elders of the village, who are some of the last remaining people of the traditional Umofian culture, do

not see them as postitive because they value every tradition and practice in their culture, including unpleasant ones. They value these traditions because they respect the gods for whom they are doing them. In addition to these practices, the people of Umofia have many other religious traditions that make their culture unique and respected. They believe in several different gods, unlike the missionaries who only believe in the Holy Trinity. They highly respect the words of the egwugwu, which are masked men who speak for the ancestral spirits of the village. They also make visits to the oracle Agbala, whom they come to for advice when it is needed. The detrimental outcome of the arrival of Christianity to Umofia is the destruction of their religion, due to the missionaries ignorance of this religion. The Umofians have a high regard for the egwugwu; when asked by one of the egwugwu the question do you know me?, the person being addressed would give an answer such as How can I know you, father? You are beyond our knowledge to show respect to the spirit (90). Egwugwu are held in high regard among the Umofians because they represent the spirits of the tribes ancestors, and they help people settle disputes as well. Unmasking an egwugwu in public is considered by the Umofians one of the greatest crimes a man could commit, and Enoch, one of the Christian converts, committed this crime (186). The Christians ignorance toward Umofian religion is once again shown in Mr. Browns answer to one of the Umofians questions. The man asks him If we leave our gods and follow your god who will protect us from the anger of our neglected gods and ancestors?, to which Mr. Brown replies: Your gods are not alive and cannot do you any harm They are pieces of wood and stone (146). Though this view is initially considered ridiculous by

the Umofians, who laugh at the statement, eventually more of them become convinced and join the Church, completely giving up all of their previous beliefs. In addition to the religious beliefs of the Umofians that were neglected by the Umofian youth due to the new introduction of Christianity, their customs and traditions were also forgotten about. Achebe emphasizes the richness of their culture from the beginning of the book. Among the many things that make them a unique culture are their love for wrestling, their different types of ceremonies, and their use of proverbs. The wrestling events help keep Umofia closer together, as everyone unites to watch them. Other such events include ceremonies, such as ones celebrating a marriage or for the egwugwu. These ceremonies unite the people of Umofia, some coming from different villages, to share palm wine and kola nuts, while listening to the music created by their flutes and drums. The use of proverbs is also much respected; Achebe says that proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten (7). With the many young Umofians being converted by the missionaries, these traditions are slowly forgotten as the converts go on to join the entirely different culture of the Christian missionaries. While the missionaries establish a government which they believe is good for the people of Umofia, many of the Umofians do not see it this way. They say that the District Commissioner judge[s] cases in ignorance, and he has court messengers who are greatly hated in Umofia because they were foreigners and also arrogant and high-handed (174). This government also includes a prison system which the Umofians were also not very fond of. The prison is for people who had offended against the white mans law, which is not fair to the people of Umofia because it means they have to follow a whole different set of rules than they are normally used to, and they have not been told many of these laws.

The reputation that the individuals in Umofia build and their respect are also lost with their culture and religion. There are many things in Umofian society that can make a man well respected. There are four titles which a man can have, and each of these must be earned with hard work. Having a large amount of yams can also gain peoples respect, because the more yams a man has, the harder he works to grow them. Having more than one wife is also viewed with respect among the Umofian people. These are things which many of the elders in the villages had, and their younger friends and family would look up to them and honor their achievements. However, when the missionaries started to take over, more Umofians joined the Church every day, until there was only a small minority of elders left, Okonkwo among them. Okonkwo had 2 of the 4 titles, 2 barns full of yams, and 3 wives, which is considered very successful and deserves great respect among the people in his village. As soon as the village turns Christian, however, there is no one left who can really appreciate his hard work, except the other elders. The coming of the missionaries to Umofia ultimately had a negative impact on the people because it led to the destruction of an important culture with unique religious beliefs and traditions. The ultimate outcome of the Christian colonialism of Umofia was a drastic change of the peoples culture. The youth of Umofia saw this as a positive change, thinking of Christianity as a new religion which will help them achieve their goals. However, from the elders perspective, it is a negative change, corrupting the Umofian culture, stripping hard workers of the respect they once held in their village.