The Challenge of Cultural Evolution In ‘’Things Fall Apart’’ Essay Example

Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart (1958), written by a Nigerian writer gives us an inside look at African Igbo culture and history as well as depicts the challenges the Igbo community has faced during their cultural evolution under colonization.  The novel also highlights the numerous pressures that society faces as it changes. Throughout the story, Okonkwo, the main character, is introduced as a person who is deeply rooted in his culture, traditions, and customs. If you are a person living in Igbo society, you are in a male-dominated culture. It is especially important for Okonkwo, to be able to demonstrate his masculinity. In Igbo culture when he kills Ikemefuna, for example, he forces himself on the Igbo men as a way to avoid looking weak. It is well understood that Okonkwo, who did not separate himself from his culture and faith despite all the strict rules, would of course take a stand against the newly arrived white men in Umuofia. He opposes the changes happening in Igbo society. As well as these struggles, his son Nwoye has decided to leave his father Okonkwo, even though it is difficult for him to leave his mother and siblings. And this was a great tragedy for Okonkwo. Another example we can point to is the dialogue between the Igbo society and the missionaries. The meeting between the Igbo society and the missionaries created many changes. It can be difficult for society to accept certain things, but they see that the person in front of them also has power. That has caused some confusion. The cultures and beliefs of people from another part of the world will be quite challenging to tribal people who have never been outside and have no knowledge of other cultures. We can say that the author touched on this topic when describing Igbo lifestyles in the story.

First of all, I would like to say that we can naturally welcome Okonkwo's opposition to cultural innovation. because he's a controlling person. And we can also naturally welcome Okonkwo's defiance of the sanctions of the missionaries who came to his country. The following examples highlight the efforts Okonkwo has made to protect Igbo society, and maintain his own dignity. Okonkwo faced many challenges throughout his life, which required him to make several difficult decisions. His sense of identity was altered by exposure to Western concepts. The first reason why his sense of identity was disrupted was due to his disagreement with the ideas he was exposed to. For all his life, Okonkwo has been a powerful man who is committed to the traditions of his tribe. He cannot respond to anyone who would challenge these traditions, so he uses violence to maintain his position. But on the other hand, the members of the tribe do not want to fight a war that they are not prepared to win.  In chapter 24, he kills the messenger because he is afraid of the destruction of his own culture and wants to put an end to it now. ‘’The white man whose power you know too well has ordered this meeting to stop.’’ In a flash, Okonkwo drew his machete. The messenger crouched to avoid the blow. It was useless. Okonkwo's machete descended twice, and the man's head lay beside his uniformed body (Page 185). The example here shows that Okonkwo does not allow this cultural evolution and wants to prevent cultural change. After that, he knows that he will be executed for killing a messenger, and he also feels that he can control his own destiny by committing suicide.  We can say that Okonkwo is a proud man because, by killing himself, he is acting in his own way, rather than letting the British men take him over. This situation, which caused the death of the Okonkwo character, tells a lot of things and made the end of the story tragic.

Okonkwo's son Nwoye, no matter how hard he tries to find favor in his father’s eyes first, has a different intellectual structure. And Nwoye bears a resemblance to his father Unoka, whom Okonkwo has never liked and does not want to look like. Ikemefuna, who joined the family later, is like his older brother and begins to teach Nwoye how to become a successful man. But by this time, Nwoye is getting beaten up a lot until he tries to be useful to his father. Although Nwoye manages to get his father's approval, he is always in a conflict.  On the one hand, he pretends to despise feminine things to please his father, while on the other hand, he misses the stories told by his mother. Especially, after the murder of Ikemefuna, Nwoye still has a hard time accepting his father's masculine values. There was a wave of pure anger towards his father. When the missionaries arrived in Mbanta and started working with the local people, Nwoye eventually joined the missionaries, joined forces, and reestablished his faith. All of this led to the fact that Nwoye fled to the missionaries No matter how much Okonkwo cursed that he had a feminine son, Nwoye escaped the unbearable cruelty of his father and was satisfied with this state of affairs. An example would be cultural evolution here, we can mention that Nwoye joined missionaries, went to church, and was supported by them (Page 132, Chapter16). Nwoye took a stand against his father and got out of his control. But he dreams of taking his mother and siblings with him because it was hard for him to leave his mother.

We know that the author has written about how much the Igbo community adheres to ancestral beliefs in this story. In the Igbo community, especially ancestral beliefs are fixed. For example, in episode 17., the missionaries need an area because they want to build a shrine. Uchendu and his peers do not want these people here, so they give the missionaries a territory from the Evil Forest. In this chapter, elders state that the missionaries didn’t understand them clearly. They believe that when they go to the evil forest and settle there, they will die. But a few days later, they see that they are still alive and not dead. Everyone was so confused (Page 138). And then they thought that the white man has incredible power. They used to say that he wore glasses so that he could see and talk to evil spirits. The missionary has gained his first three converts here. When they saw that newly arrived white men could change so much everything, the Igbo people were influenced by it, whether they wanted to or not. 

In conclusion, mankind has often been subjected to cultural changes. Sometimes this happened under very difficult circumstances. Even if it is a topic of targeted change for a good purpose, it is quite difficult to fall in line with the ideas of some acculturated people. We witness the tragic hero of the story, Okonkwo, hang himself. We see that Nwoye has offered himself a new life. Igbo people have also experienced disintegration in their lives. The author has explained this topic very well in the story about the difficulties of all the characters, the difficulties of cultural evolution.