Introduction
The book “Things fall apart” speaks of the collapse or the disintegration of the Igbo culture. The setting is in Nigeria, in the 1890’s. It shows the tense interaction between the Igbo and the Christians and the clash of both cultures. As the Christians preach and try to win converts, they encounter a high degree of resistance as the people cling to their many gods, magic and definitions of taboo behavior.
The Conflict between Christianity and Igbo Culture
The Europeans arrival in Okwonko’s village creates havoc. First of all the Christians believe in one God. He is three in one as He exists in the trinity form. That is God, the father, Jesus the son and the Holy Spirit. The Christian missionaries inform the people that the gods they serve are not real. The Christians accuse the people of worshipping gods made of wood and stone. The preacher calls them the brothers and sons of God. The people find it difficult to believe that their God can have a son but does not have a wife. They also laugh at the White man’s statements that the gods of the Igbo people cannot do any harm to the Christians.
When Okwonko listens to the sermon thinks that the preacher is mad. The Igbo culture is different. First of all, they do not believe in the worship of one god. They have several gods. The concept of the trinity is also difficult to understand. However when the people sing the religious songs, he is strangely stirred in his spirit. Nwoye on the other hand is comforted over the death of Ikemefuna’s death when he hears the religious songs. The songs come to be known as the “poetry of the new religion.”
The people are not pleased with the missionaries and when they ask for a piece of land to build a church, they offer them land in the forest in the hope that something evil will happen to them. The people give them land in the evil forest.
The Igbo culture also believes in Magic. In the Evil forest, the people bury people and the powerful charms of the magicians. The people believe in magic so much that when the missionaries do not die, they start to believe that the white man’s magic is more powerful. When three people convert to Christianity after seeing that the Whites do not die after spending several days in the Evil Spirit the villagers get worried. They quickly point out that at times the evil spirits can give an allowance of twenty-eight days to the offending person before they punish him for his sins. However the white men do not die after one month, the church ends up winning several converts.
In the Igbo culture, when a woman gives birth to twins, it is an evil thing. The people take the twins immediately they are born and they are left exposed outside to die. The Christians believe in the sanctity of life. Through this belief, the church is able to win new converts. Take the example of Mneka. She is a woman who the last four times she had been pregnant she had given birth to twins. Now she has no children as they are all left to die. She finds refuge in the church. She is pregnant again and does not want to lose her children.
Believing in the Christian culture brings in a lot of conflict. When Okwonko is told that his son Nwoye was seen among the Christians he beats him thoroughly till Uchendo tells him to stop. However, Nwoye loves the Christians. He has decided he wants to enrol in a missionary
school as he wants to learn how to read and write. The people do not like the Christianity culture as they deem it to be disrespectful of the hierarchies in their culture. The Christians consider the people who have no titles in the community. They treat all the people in the same way.
The Christians further do things that bring in a lot of conflict. Later, they rescue twins who had been thrown to the forest. Some of the converts, zealous and excited about their religion, go to a village proclaiming that all the gods being worshipped are false. They tell the people of their intention to burn the shrines. Enraged the village people beat the three converts mercilessly. The village people are sure their gods want them to do something about the new religion. When a man called Okoli dies, this event goes further to reinforce their beliefs that the gods are angry. Okoli is a convert who had killed a snake. The people ban the converts from clan membership.
The Christians offer a home or safety for the outcasts in the community. Many outcasts convert to Christianity in order to be accepted. The Igbo converts at first move away from the Osu or the Outcasts but the missionary explains to them that the converts will not die because they have cut their hair or broken other taboos. The Igbo converts are encouraged not to abandon their faith. Christianity gives the people who suffer in the Igbo culture some hope.
Most of the people do not like Christianity as they see it advances colonialism. Once the Christians build the church, they bring ammunition and their laws. After a while the Igbo people will find themselves under colonial rule. The White people bring new laws to the people. They build a courthouse that has a district commissioner. The Igbo laws of administration are no longer sufficient in dealing with the people.
Conclusion
The traditional beliefs and the Christian beliefs are very different on religion. Only a few people convert to Christianity as the rest of the village people observe the activities of the White people quietly but with a wary eye. The missionaries represent the coming of the colonialists for many of the Igbo elders. With such thoughts, the Christian beliefs are utterly rejected.
Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor books. 1994. Print.
