Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is a novel that takes place in a time of great conflict in a Nigerian village called Umuofia in the 1800’s. The inhabitants of Umuofia, the Ibo, are a very “tribal” type people whom bring a question to the thought of truly is a civilized society. In Things fall apart , the Ibo culture is depicted by the author Chinua Achebe, as being both civilized and uncivilized based on their primitive tribal ways, yet sophisticated social, civil, and justice system.
In the story the Ibo society shows signs of being civilized through their systems of unwritten laws of the the land , and civil justice systems. This comes to light when a daughter of Umuofia ( Ibo Village) is killed by a man from a neighboring village. When the girl was killed, the man who killed her was not brought forward, so to keep relations between villages good the Ibo accept the son of the killer, a boy named Ikemefuna as sacrifice to avoid war between the two villages. “How was he supposed to know that his father had taken a hand in the killing of a daughter of Umuofia,” (Achebe 16). This whole situation showed that the Ibo people are civilized because they …show more content…
Throughout the entire story, the main character Okonkwo, who is an abusive, completely overpowering, and unfair , is constantly beating his wives and denouncing the women’s overall importance in the Ibo tribe, along with completely objectifying them. “ A child belongs to its father and his family and not to a mother and her family,” (Achebe 133). Shown by this passage in the book, the Ibo as a people seem to value women very little , and almost not at all. So because of this unfair and barbaric treatment it is hard to consider the Ibo people to be civilized based on the fact that Okonkwo and most of the other Ibo don't think women have a very important part to play in civilized
In the story the Ibo society shows signs of being civilized through their systems of unwritten laws of the the land , and civil justice systems. This comes to light when a daughter of Umuofia ( Ibo Village) is killed by a man from a neighboring village. When the girl was killed, the man who killed her was not brought forward, so to keep relations between villages good the Ibo accept the son of the killer, a boy named Ikemefuna as sacrifice to avoid war between the two villages. “How was he supposed to know that his father had taken a hand in the killing of a daughter of Umuofia,” (Achebe 16). This whole situation showed that the Ibo people are civilized because they …show more content…
Throughout the entire story, the main character Okonkwo, who is an abusive, completely overpowering, and unfair , is constantly beating his wives and denouncing the women’s overall importance in the Ibo tribe, along with completely objectifying them. “ A child belongs to its father and his family and not to a mother and her family,” (Achebe 133). Shown by this passage in the book, the Ibo as a people seem to value women very little , and almost not at all. So because of this unfair and barbaric treatment it is hard to consider the Ibo people to be civilized based on the fact that Okonkwo and most of the other Ibo don't think women have a very important part to play in civilized