The purpose of this paper is to design a portfolio on the basis of the novel by African legendary author Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. In this paper, certain things have to be covered because the novel displays various issues and it is built on various themes. These themes have to be addressed in a unified whole and further research will be done on a particular theme. The novel has dealt with many societal and personal things from the colonization in Africa to the demise of the protagonist Okonkwo. These themes have been dealt with the author very subtly and he has portrayed the characters in a well-defined manner. The literary criticism of this novel shows that the contemporary African society has not been that much knowledgeable about the culture of the British and there had been many clashes regarding the culture.
Development of the topic
The topic has to be developed in this segment by bringing the international aspects and comparing with the other international cultures. The contemporary period when this novel was brought out, there was an utterly chaotic situation in the African continent. The term ‘multiculturalism’ has come into effect from the mid-twentieth century and it has been a defining criterion in the various countries and continents (Modood, 2013). The clashes among cultures have become a common phenomenon in this scenario. The political activities of the minority groups, the multiculturalism and feminism have been operating within the society very actively since it requires the attention and recognition of the people in the society. The focus that has been there in this novel is the Igbo culture and the complexities have grown from this culture as compared with the Christian culture (Bynum, 2012).
The cultures have collided at different points within the novel. The effects of this cultural clash have been felt at both the societal and the individual level. Many misunderstandings have been created in this novel because of these cultural differences. The problems have been faced by the contrasting cultures (Moran, Abramson & Moran, 2014). The reverend smith who is shown as uncompromising has remarked the Africans to be ‘heathens’. The Christian missionaries had come to Africa for spreading the Christianity among the people there. The native people or the Africans had categorized them to be ‘foolish’. They had realized that a culture which has no similarity with that of theirs cannot be unified at any cost. The two cultures had great mismatches so there will be no similarity in the behaviors and attitudes or approaches of the people who belonged to those Igbo and Christian cultures (Joseph, 2014).
The author of the novel, Chinua Achebe had noticed that the behavior and point of view of both these cultures towards the other one has been not at all satisfactory. Achebe had opined that the native Africans needed to change their viewpoint about the Christians just as the Christians needed to do the same. He has been regarded as an African writer who has been ‘Europeanized’. This entire novel has been looked upon as a novel to be reflected as an act of atonement for the chief protagonist Okonkwo. The novel was written to be the social reflection of the colonial period of the British in the African Igbo society (Eskay et al., 2012). The British imperialism had strated its dominance in Nigeria in the late nineteenth century and in the beginning of the twentieth century. The clash had been on as for deciding the reigning power of the state of Nigeria (Juffermans, 2015).
This clash of cultures had continuously been harming the traditional African igbo culture based in Nigeria. The Western norms and values were imposed on the traditional Igbo people but they were against this forceful imposing. The fact is that the country of Nigeria had been suffering from different problems like the internal dilemma within the country. Though, they tried to reorganize their country in an entirely new way, they had ended up in further disillusionment in the post independent era. Another novel that was set against the background of Africa was the one written by Joseph Conrad named Heart of Darkness (Firchow, 2015). The Nigerian culture has been the focus point in the Things Fall Apart. Achebe has asserted many times that Nigeria has its own cultural history. He wrote this novel in English because he wanted to show that the Nigerians and the whole Africa had progressed in the times of British colonialism. The African civilization had made its progress in many ways in this critical period.
In the novel Things Fall Apart, the people have criticized the colonial powers because they have felt that had been imposed the obligations set by the British imperialists and the preachers of Christianity. In the novel, the Igbo values have been depicted by Achebe before the time the European imperialists had entered the village. They believed that the Igbo people had their own culture, dignity, values, ethics, and cultural values (Bamgboje-Ayodele & Ellis, 2015). The problems arose when the European colonialists began to enter the premises of Nigeria. The novel is designed in the Igbo land that was situated in the western part of Nigeria. The novel has been set in the cities of Mbanta and Umuofia. He has been displayed as the greatest warrior of the clan of Umuofia and he has been revered and honored by his native villagers. He was exiled to Mbanta in the later period of his life. The problem within the Umuofian state arose that they had some typical forms of laws and customs within the society. These were beyond the understanding of the people there. This later caused them to convert into Christianity as this religion was more understandable. (Bamgboje-Ayodele & Ellis, 2015).
Asia has been one of the main breeding grounds for multiculturalism and the British have dominated the various parts of the continent for a long time. Asia has been looked upon as the ‘Third World’ because they are not so much developed as one of the most developed countries in the world. In Asia too, the problems of multiculturalism has been an important one and many things have been in question for the people in the Asia (Van Bremen & Shimizu, 2013). The native people in Asia, specially India, Singapore and Malaysia have faced the jaws of British colonialism and the oppressions caused from it. China is also one of those countries that has experienced British colonialism. They too had their oown norms, values, ethics and obligations like the Africans. The Africans did not put up much resistance in the earlier years because they had been facing their internal challenges at that time as well. However, the Asians had put up much resistance against these colonial oppressors (Van Bremen & Shimizu, 2013).
As the novel Things Fall Apart shows, the basic themes of multiculturalism are very evident in both Asia and Africa (Nagy, 2014). This has to be compared because the readers of the novel must identify the practical situation rather than just taking it under consideration as a fictional piece of literature. The observers and the researchers have found that the urban growth and urbanization in Asia had been stunted at that time because the oppressors had wanted to design the things in their own ways. The Asian cities have a great deal of cultural diversity between them. This has been reflected in their multicultural aspects of celebration of festivals, the different kinds of religion in the countries. Migrants have come from different cities and countries converging themselves here. The British have spread the Catholicism in many of these countries and the spread of English has been rapid as well. This has resulted in the success of their purpose. There have been many real life characters such as Okonkwo of Things Fall Apart. The countries like Singapore and the cities like Jakarta in Malaysia, Bangkok in Thailand has faced the multiculturalism effects in great numbers (Benet-Martínez, 2012). After their independence from the hands of the British colonialists, it has been found that they have developed a lot from that of the pre-independent period of the countries. On the contrary, the African countries such as the background country of the selected novel, Nigeria has not been able to come up with such development as the Asian countries have done after the colonial period of the British imperials (Cain & Hopkins, 2014).
Findings and Conclusions
After the brief description of the novel’s background about multiculturalism and the comparison with Asia, it has been found that the main characters and the background of the novel has been described here with the effects of colonialism on the lives of the Nigerian people. As per the requirements, the scenario has been compared with that of the Asian contingent as well. The Asian people have faced the same context as that of the African people in Nigeria. Chinua Achebe has showcased this scenario of multiculturalism in the colonial period of Africa. The Christian missionaries have shed their influence on the lives of the poor native villagers as well despite the protests of Okonkwo.
References
Bamgboje-Ayodele, A., & Ellis, L. (2015). Knowledge Management and the Nigerian Culture–A round peg in a square hole?. The African Journal of Information Systems, 7(1), 1.
Benet-Martínez, V. (2012). Multiculturalism. In The Oxford handbook of personality and social psychology.
Bynum, C. (2012). Christian materiality: An essay on religion in late medieval Europe.
Cain, P. J., & Hopkins, A. G. (2014). British Imperialism: 1688-2000. Routledge.
Eskay, M., Onu, V. C., Igbo, J. N., Obiyo, N., & Ugwuanyi, L. (2012). Disability within the African culture. Contemporary voices from the margin: African educators on African and American education, 197-211.
Firchow, P. E. (2015). Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. University Press of Kentucky.
Joseph, R. A. (2014). Democracy and prebendal politics in Nigeria (Vol. 56). Cambridge University Press.
Juffermans, K. (2015). Local languaging, literacy and multilingualism in a West African society (Vol. 20). Multilingual Matters.
Modood, T. (2013). Multiculturalism. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Moran, R. T., Abramson, N. R., & Moran, S. V. (2014). Managing cultural differences. Routledge.
Nagy, S. R. (2014). Politics of multiculturalism in East Asia: Reinterpreting multiculturalism. Ethnicities, 14(1), 160-176.
Van Bremen, J., & Shimizu, A. (2013). Anthropology and Colonialism in Asia: Comparative and Historical Colonialism. Routledge.
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download