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Anderson McCord Dr. Best Section 104 11/25/2013

Things Fall Apart

The closing thoughts of the District Commissioner in Things Fall Apart were that he could almost dedicate an entire chapter of his book The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger to 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 primitive tribesmen 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

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 civilized cultures. 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

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.