Things Fall Apart By Chinua Achebe - 1082 Words

Imagine, you are walking to the river to fetch water, when you spot a pale, ghostly man approaching off the horizon. He carries a book and is dressed peculiarly. Accompanied by a more familiar man, the two enter the village and request audience with the village head. Many, in this instance, understood things were about to changed. Lives would be ruined, and lives will be saved. We’ve seen many cultural collisions throughout history; such as, Nazi Germany or the Indian Removal in the United States. During the Scramble for Africa many native cultures were compromised and altered. For most tribes this intervention was seen as unnecessary. The Ibo culture was no exception. The majority of the Ibo in Umofia protested foreign influence in†¦show more content†¦He was especially hard on Nwoye who appeared to resemble a relative who was considered a failure. Nwoye had become happier after he’d met Ikemefuna, a role model of sorts. Ikemefuna was brought to their house hold as a peace offering from a neighboring village and would be dealt with later. Although Ikemefuna met Nwoye through less than pleasant circumstances, the two quickly became inseparable. Due to tragic circumstances, the two were severed apart by the swift movement of a blade, held by Nwoye’s father, Okonkwo. Ikemefuna’s death caused Nwoye to see his father and culture in another light, leading to his acceptance of a new religion with different values. The culture that had killed his â€Å"brother† and made his father a murderer was no friend of his. Nwoye was skeptical of the new religion at first ,but later became, â€Å"...a young lad who had been captivated,† (Achebe 147). Eventually, Nwoye recognized that despite the negative stigma on the Christians he felt he belonged with them. When he attempted to interact with the Christian community his father tried to strangle him! As a result, Nwoye left his family, â€Å"but he was happy to leave h is father,† and past obligations behind (Achebe 152). The lingering questions and hopes he had for his father were crushed. He set out with his new identity as a Christian, not the son of Okonkwo. Nwoye wasn’t certain of his identity, he was still in the process adolescents. Due to the complexity