"THINGS FALL APART"   Term Paper ID:16459 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: (Chinua Achebe). Ibo culture & need for balance between change & tradition in era of social transformation.... More...

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Paper Abstract: (Chinua Achebe). Ibo culture & need for balance between change & tradition in era of social transformation. Paper Introduction: Get The Balance Right Given that knowledge and experience are valuable, what should constitute that knowledge and experiences is open to different interpretations. Some assert that a pursuit of knowledge should be highly focused, probing into one niche of the human experience as far as possible. Others take the position that knowledge should be of a broader scope, attempting to elicit the common truths as well as the differences of the worlds that we interact with. Knowledge should be placed in perspective to other knowledge; there should be a balance between general and specific. When there is conflict in one part of the world, there are often changes and repercussions that reach further than local Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Okonkwo declares "Wemust fight these men and drive them from the land," but his appeals areuseless. Whereas Nwoye is isolated from the community for abandoningtradition, Okonkwo is isolated for zealously embracing it. . . And black was evil"(Achebe 169). As themembers of the world are brought effectively closer to each other bytechnology and communications, the chances for war, as well as peace, areincreased. Thus, when the tribe fails to respond to the claims of themissionary, the spark of Nwoye's attraction to the church grows. The osu, or outcasts of thecommunity, are kept on the fringes of society and not allowed to enjoy inits wealth of offerings. Andwhat is the result? The fact that the villagers do not energetically resist the whiteman's religion but instead appear passive and apathetic indirectly leads tothe conversion and alienation of many individuals, particularly Nwoye.Nwoye is lost to the new religion not because of its ideas, but due to thepoetry of it. Thus, the mothers of such childrenoften feel alienated. "Our own men andour sons have joined his religion and they help to uphold his government"(Achebe 161). "He did not understand it. When Okonkwo finally learns of Nwoye's interest in thewhite man's religion, Okonkwo tries to kill him, beating him with a heavystick until Uchendu intervenes. There is even a division between young and old. The natives unfortunately retain the traditions thatbind them to passivity and grudgingly tolerate the changes that werepulling apart the fabric of their society. The ability to retainthe kernel of his traditional values (the essences of Christianity) andpermit a degree of change provides him his power - he is able to achieve asuccessful balance. The"knife" cuts at the weaknesses of the very traditions that hold the peopletogether, appealing to and cutting away the outer fringes of Ibo societyfirst. The overall result is that theyare too tolerant of the new religion encroaching upon their lives. Hishatred of the blacks creates equal hatred on the blacks part towards him.A situation of "no compromise" is created. When there is conflictin one part of the world, there are often changes and repercussions thatreach further than local boundaries. Similarly, twins are considered evil and arepromptly abandoned in the evil forest. Now he has won ourbrothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. Hisfeelings for the church grow as his fellow clansmen do little to turn thechurch's tide. An abominable religion has settled among you," saysone of the oldest members of the umunna (Achebe 155). Similarly, to what degree that change is "good" or "bad,"constructive or destructive will differ. "It is notour custom to fight for our gods . Mr. Brown's great success at establishing the church among thevillagers is due to his "policy of compromise and accommodation." Herigorously promotes his beliefs and institutions among the Umuofians, butremains flexible enough to accommodate their needs. Therefore, knowledge beyond our own particular time and placeis one of the first steps toward this compromise and balance. One of the greatest sins that could be committed is to killa fellow clansman. Each event that occurs is both uniqueand at the same time part of a greater common human experience. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We wereamused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. For after the church arrives, then comes the white man's governmentand stronger connections to the outside white world, greatly increasing theinvaders' power organizationally and militarily. By taking such drastic measures, healienates his people and isolates himself. Constantly, he attempts to temper Okonkwo's rash actions.Though not lacking all conviction, he is furthest from the extremes. Okonkwo "lefthold of Nwoye, who walked away and never returned" (Achebe 141). . For without mutual understanding, therecan be no true mutual respect, which in turn is necessary for meaningfulcompromise. seemed to answer avague and persistent question of the twins crying in the bush and thequestion of Tkemefuna who was killed" (Achebe 137). . "He saw things as black and white. The Ibo people permit the whites to enter andsettle, hanging on to their traditions ever more tightly as they believetheir gods will protect them and drive out the intruders. As the outer fringes of society spin off, pulling successive layersaway with it, things fall apart. He hates Mr. Brown's policyof compromise. His complete intolerance eventually leads to thefinal yet futile uprising of the community against the colonizers. . However, knowing that the answers lie not in the extremes butsomewhere in the center is a beginning. Once the whites are fully established, the situation is only madeworse when the Reverend James Smith arrives. In Things Fall Apart, African society isthreatened by Christianity impinging upon it, whereas in Yeats' poem,Christianity is threatened by a primitive, animalistic figure slouchingtoward it. Heis portrayed as a positive character, stable and calm among the chaos. The clan saw no reason then for molestingthe Christians." The initiative to repel the Christians quickly falls tothe wayside as soon as there is a sign that the gods are still protectingthem. "Ifear for you young people because you do not understand how strong is thebond of kinship. Achebels Things Fall Apart, beyond simply examiningtraditional Ibo life and its first encounter with the whites, deals greatlywith the dynamics of conflict and change. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. As the relations grow worse between the church and the villages,members of the tribes become polarized. /The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Arefull of passionate intensity." He wrote during a time of drastic andviolent change in Europe with several events in mind including the collapseof the Russian front to the Germans in 1917, the Bolshevik revolution,Lenin's surrender of territory at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and thetroubles in Ireland increasing in violence and bloodthirstiness (Archibald114). Yet when Okoli,the convert accused of the deed, falls ill and soon dies, they quickly stoptheir actions. The new converts are often themost fervent of all Christians. On theother side are those who are now ready to rise up against the invaders. Yet, the message is the same as Achebe's. This conflict again arises from a lack of balancebetween tradition and change on the parts of the community and of theindividual. Things Fall Apart. To anextent, they are all aggravated by a lack of moderation between thetraditional and new values or situations, a sort of cultural or individualhubris. Within the novel we see culturalconflict, internal communal conflict, and individual isolation. Responding to theirstern comments, he replies that he did it to avoid being called weak. As retaliation for the slaughter of thesacred python, they decide to ostracize the Christians. Nevertheless, conflict and changeare universal. In Umuofia, the individual that seems to lack conviction isObierka, the wise old man that provides Okonkwo with thoughtful advice. Everyone waspuzzled. Obierka says, "The white man isvery clever. When the missionaries requested a plot of land toconstruct their church, the Mbantans happily offered an area of the evilforest, believing that the whites would quickly be destroyed by thesinister forces and powers of darkness there: "The inhabitants of Mbantaexpected them all to be dead within four days. The Ibo tradition is very clear and rigidin its rituals and beliefs, providing for a strong "social glue" bindingmany clansmen together, but not all of them. He finally realizesthat traditional Ibo life and its inflexibility is not for him. "It is already too late," says Obierka sadly. He has put a knife onthings that held us together and we have fallen apart" (Achebe 162). Okonkwo, rigidly upholding many of his people's traditional warriorvalues leads the cries to expel the whites from villages but it is toolate. Often we are tooset in our ways to compromise, but compromise we must. Let us not presume to do so now,"says one of them. he could not be. In Things Fall Apart, we see the great forces of the whites workingto tear apart the natives' communities, but we are also aware of growingdivision within the community. Okonkwofinds himself standing alone among a crowd of his clansmen, bloody machetein hand and white messenger at his feet. The novel displays a universal need for a balance betweentradition and change, meaningful compromise must be made particularlyduring periods of social transformation. No! For thisreason Achebe probably chose "Things Fall Apart" as his title. At the time in which accommodation andmeaningful compromise was most necessary, there is nothing but intoleranceand inflexibility. Get The Balance Right Given that knowledge and experience are valuable, what shouldconstitute that knowledge and experiences is open to differentinterpretations. The Christian religion was allowed totake root among them until it had gained such strength that they could nolonger resist it. Oneof the first to realize the threat of the settlers, he calls for armeduprisings but is met with resistance by the rest of the tribe. Some assert that a pursuit of knowledge should be highlyfocused, probing into one niche of the human experience as far as possible. Once the church has been established and has obtained converts, theIbos are virtually powerless to do anything, held within the constraints oftheir own religion and traditions. . Thus, the novel reaches beyond its specific time and place, notonly criticizing white invasion of African territory, but also moregenerally commenting on the dynamics of all cultural conflict and change. The more and more rigidly his father and the village adhere totheir customs, the more and more isolated he feels. The missionarieshad come to Umuofia and "had built their church there, won a handful ofconverts and were already sending evangelists to the surrounding towns andvillages . . Throughout hislife, Okonkwo drives himself to be more of a man than anyone else,especially his lazy father. Works CitedAchebe, Chinua. "How do you thinkwe can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?" continuesObierka (Achebe 162). . The extent of that change, though, isvariable. Okonkwo andNwoye are the two prominent characters illustrating the isolation of theindividual from society. More than ever, our actions affect and are affected by those ofthe rest of the world. Of all the characters in the novel, he is the mostthoughtful and contemplative. In "The Second Coming," Yeats proclaims "Things fall apart; thecentre cannot hold;/Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,/The blood-dimmedtide is loosed . They take his death as a sign that the "gods were stillable to fight their own battles. In practical terms it is hard to say what the "right" balance wouldbe. Unable to survive with his non-compromising, traditional father, he is forced to leave. His wifehad played him false" (Achebe 143). And located somewhere in thecenter is one of the primary factors toward the creation of balance:mutual understanding among nations, regions, and parties, wherever thereis ideological or other division. The settlers and theircustoms begin to pervade every aspect of Ibo life. New York: Fawcett Crest, 1959.Archibald, Douglas. Yeats' prophetic visions are delivered in a uniquely mythical style,invoking archetypical images and creating a universal message. but many of [the clan's leaders] believed that the strangefaith and the white man's god would not last" (Achebe 133). Knowledge should be placed in perspective to other knowledge; thereshould be a balance between general and specific. It was the poetry of the newreligion, something felt in the marrow. Inthe late twentieth century, our world is like Umuofia. In doing so, he takes his tribe's warriorvalues to their limit, even participating in the sacrifice of his adopted"son," Ikemefuna, against the advice of the elders. Instead of pulling Nwoye back into the folds of theclan, he is quickly isolated and rejected for deviating from tradition. With our current ability to destroy the world manytimes over, we must not sit back and expect our gods or anyone else tohandle everything for us. In the novel we see great cultural conflict aggravated by animbalance between traditional and new values, instead of alleviated by abalance between the two. Thus, there is no way to violently revolt against theChristians without putting their own clansmen at risk. One of the elders, he is thoroughlyknowledgeable concerning his people's traditions and their history, but heis also conscious of the present and the new conflicts presented to thevillages. New York: Syracuse UP, 1983.----------------------- 12 In the end, his over-zealousness and his lack ofmoderation and balance, leads to his isolation and destruction. Foralthough Things Fall Apart recreates and analyzes a particular place andsituation, its themes of conflicting cultures, conflict within societyitself, and the isolation of the individual, are all related to universalissues. Nwoye is silently tornup inside by the rituals his people vigorously practice but seem somehowstrange to him. Conflict will forever occur in aspects of our lives, and consequentlythere will always be change. One slaughters the sacred python and oneunmasks an egwugwu, acts almost unthought of among the natives. Their inability to "speak with one voice" in the beginning to effecta compromise and modify their traditions leads to the destruction of theircommunity. The first day passed andthe second and the third and fourth, and none of them died. Butinstead of regretting his harsh actions toward Nwoye, Okonkwo begins towonder how he could even beget a son such as him, "degenerate andeffeminate." "Perhaps he was not his son. Their strong traditions provide too high an obstacle to surmount; itis much easier for them to entrust their community to their gods. Herecognizes the threats and the changes ready to occur, but does not takedrastic action. Connectinghis story of the colonization and exploitation of Africans by whiteChristians with a white, western poet such as Yeats reinforces theuniversality of Achebe's message. The hymn . Closely related to the conflict between cultures and among segmentsof society, Achebe's novel also displays the conflict between theindividual and larger society, creating individual isolation. The villagers'tolerance of the white man ironically rises from their rigid belief intheir own religion and its powers. Similarly, he feels uncomfortable with the warrior valueshis tribe holds and his father takes to an extreme. Others take the position that knowledge should be of a broader scope,attempting to elicit the common truths as well as the differences of theworlds that we interact with. Theirinflexible adherence to traditional values eventually leads to theirnecessary abandoning of them once the whites come to dominate their lives. And then it became known that the white man's fetish hadunbelievable power" (Achebe 139). Yeats comments that "the centre cannot hold" and the "best lack allconviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity," parallel Iboland's disintegration and the destructive polarization and conflict withinthe community. Yeats. Unlike his predecessor, he does not even claim to besomewhat flexible he affects no balance, creating increasing conflictbetween the two cultures. With thisin mind, this paper discusses Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. He now knew they would not go towar and he truly did stand alone. As the white man's power grows, polarizing the village,compromise becomes less and less likely. Regardless of the term, Umuofia fell apart because of the extremesput upon it from the outside, and the extremes that resulted within it. He prefers to listento the "womanly" tales his mother tells him, instead of his father's battlestories. 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