Conflicts between Good and Evil
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.
Tradition Verses Change
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 change.” 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? Here I will explore whether it was the light brought by the Missionaries or the darkness embodied by the Igbo ethnic people themselves! …show more content…
“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 easily. (Things Fall Apart Ch#16) 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
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.
Tradition Verses Change
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 change.” 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? Here I will explore whether it was the light brought by the Missionaries or the darkness embodied by the Igbo ethnic people themselves! …show more content…
“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 easily. (Things Fall Apart Ch#16) 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