Chinua Achebe s Things Fall Apart - 972 Words

Jacen Buensalida Mrs. Smith English December 7, 2015 Unit 3 Embedded Assessment 2 In the novel â€Å"Things Fall Apart†, Chinua Achebe teaches us that two cultures are unable to thrive together when they are forcing themselves onto the other through his use of the main protagonist, Okonkwo. This novel, â€Å"Things Fall Apart†, is about the African culture of the Ibo people being invaded by western influences in which Okonkwo is trapped within the feud. This book depicts differences between the two colliding cultures, Okonkwo’s culture, and his response to the newly changing environment to present Achebe’s theme. A repeating pattern shown in â€Å"Things Fall Apart† is that the western cultures greatly differentiate from the Ibo traditions. A†¦show more content†¦Usually, they are ruled by their gods, but the invaders sense that as ridiculous and offers a â€Å"better† way to bring justice with administers. These two contrasting characteristics between the lifestyles sparked the kickof f of Achebe’s theme of cultures forcing themselves onto each other. In the book, the western missionaries were invading the Ibo culture. The main protagonist, Okonkwo, was a famous Ibo man known in the land. He sternly follows all of his tribe’s customs and is famous for being a powerful worker of a high title. Achebe described Okonkwo by saying â€Å"Nwoye and Ikemefuna would listen to Okonkwo’s stories about trial wars, or how, years ago, he had stalked his victim, overpowered him, and obtained his first human head.† (Achebe 54) to show that he is extremely belligerent. This warlike attribute will later play a role in Okonkwo’s response to the dramatic change. A feature shared by both lifestyles was a unique judicial system. In the book, the Ibo justice system was based on judgement from their several gods, rather than under a queen. An example of this divine judgement is when Achebe says â€Å"Okonkwo did as the priest said. He also took with him a