Things Fall Apart 1

Monrada Teewunda (DD) English 1209 Ms.Laurin Werner December 3, 2018 The Differences and Perspective of the White and African in Culture from ​Things Fall Apart A book,​ Things Fall Apart​, is written by African author, Chinua Achebe. It is published in 1958 and it is the era that people do not know much about the other religion, culture, and tradition. The white people know about Africa from the people who has an experience, so they only know the story of Africa in one side. Those authors mostly describe Africa in a negative way because it can attract the people. In ​Things Fall Apart​, Achebe has the inspiration from the colonization. He writes since the starting point of the white come to Africa and spread their religion, Christianity. In ​Things Fall Apart​, Chinua Achebe emphasizes how the white build their culture as supreme by using negative perspectives, racial differences, and different positions to disdain Igbo culture. The perspective of the white to African people is very obvious. They look down to the color and it happens for the long time. It is from ​Things Fall Apart​ that is published in 1958, “one of them was that a District Commissioner must never attend to such undignified details … the title of the book, after much thought: ​The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger​” (Achebe, p. 209). He is the white who has the experiences in Africa. From his thought, he thinks African is strange from him. The title of his book is shown that the information include the negative things. So, it shows that they look down on the African for the long time. Wainaina (n.d.) contends, “make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat” (p. 1). The books that they write about Africa almost based on bias and opinion. Most of authors include many negative words and focus about the negative events or very weird events. They try to write about something that very weird and avoid the

Monrada Teewunda (DD) English 1209 Ms.Laurin Werner December 3, 2018 normal things that happen in Africa. From the interview of Achebe in 2000, this is how he responds to the question about colonization: This is what I try to tell my students: this is one great thing that literature can do —it can make us identify with situations and people far away. If it does that, it's a miracle. I tell my students, it's not difficult to identify with somebody like yourself, somebody next door who looks like you. What's more difficult is to identify with someone you don't see, who's very far away, who's a different color, who eats a different kind of food. When you begin to do that then literature is really performing its wonders. Achebe is the voice of Africa along with the title of the article, The African Voice. He talks about how the other people can judge the African from the book. So, the literature have a huge effect because many people believe in it. However, they do not know it’s reality but they already believe in what they read. The way to attract the other people, Wainaina (n.d.) mimics about the white authors who write about Africa, “In your text, treat Africa as if it were one country. It is hot and dusty with rolling grasslands and huge herds of animals and tall, thin people who are starving. Or it is hot and steamy with very short people who eat primates. Don’t get bogged down with precise descriptions” (p. 1). So, the white always write about Africa in the negative ways. The consequences from this make the reader also think negative about Africa because the readers are also the white people. ​Things Fall Apart​ is difference because the author is African and it is about the Africa in the another point. Achebe shows that it is just a difference in culture. From Things Fall Apart​, it shows the difference between the white which is Christian and the color which is Igbo people. According to the text, “if only you agree to cooperate with us. We have

Monrada Teewunda (DD) English 1209 Ms.Laurin Werner December 3, 2018 brought a peaceful administration to you and your people so that you may be happy. If any man ill-treats you we shall come to you rescue, But we will allow you to ill-treat others. We have a court of law where we judge cases and administer justice just as it is done in my own country under a great queen, I have brought you here because you joined together to molest others, to burn people’s houses and their place of worship. That must not happen in the dominion of our queen, the most beautiful ruler in the world” (Achebe, p. 194). The Christian think that their culture is better than Igbo culture because they have a law and also they have a queen. They have their own leader who administer the country. The situation as committing arson never happen in their lands, which is administered by the queen. So, they think the African culture is bad and try to spread about their own culture. Achebe (2000) talks about his novel, “the society of Umuofia, the village in ​Things Fall Apart​, was totally disrupted by the coming of the European government, missionary Christianity, and so on. That was not a temporary disturbance; it was a once and for all alteration of their society.” The Christian comes to Africa and evangelism to them. Some of African change their religion and because of the differences between Christian and Igbo culture, the consequence causes African falls apart like the name of the novel. They split into two part of Christianity and Igbo culture. A big difference of the two culture is they have a definitely opposite thought and believe. According to the text, “and the little church was at that moment too deeply absorbed in its own troubles to annoy the clan. It all began over the question of admitting outcasts” (Achebe, p. 155). The missionary welcome the outcasts which is the people who are abandoned from the clan. It shows that Christian and Igbo are standing in the different position. Christian also blasphemous to Igbo gods. This is demonstrated by, “and you call it is god. But it is still a piece of wood”

Monrada Teewunda (DD) English 1209 Ms.Laurin Werner December 3, 2018 (Achebe, p. 179). They also say that there are no other god. The Christian are not even ribald to the Igbos god, as well as they disdain on the Igbo culture. They come to Africa to spread their religion but they do not respect the native religion. Achebe (2000) gives his opinion that, “well, not a shift in the structure of power. I'm not thinking simply of political power. The shift in power will create stories, but also stories will create a shift in power. So one feeds the other. And the world will be a richer place for that.” He thinks that everything has an effect. There is a way to live on difference. Something may change because of the difference, but if respecting on the others is happened, it will be a better place. In conclusion, the white disdain on the color for a long time. They think they are supreme because they only read the texts from their own perspective and think Africa is weird. Also, the white and African have a lot of differences. Achebe is the voice from Africa who try to spread out the truth about Africa. However, in these day using negative perspectives, racial differences, and different positions to disdain on the color are still exist.

Monrada Teewunda (DD) English 1209 Ms.Laurin Werner December 3, 2018 References

Achebe, C. (1959). ​Things Fall Apart​. New York, New York: Penguin Books.

Bacon, K. (2000). An African Voice. Retrieved https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/08/an-african-voice/306020/

Wainaina, B. (n.d.). How to Write about Africa. Retrieved https://e.edim.co/59825835/How_to_Write_about_Africa_-_Binyavanga_Wainaina.pdf?response -content-disposition=filename%3D%22How_to_Write_about_Africa___Binyavanga_Wainaina. pdf%22%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27How%2520to%2520Write%2520about%25 20Africa%2520-%2520Binyavanga%2520Wainaina.pdf&Expires=1543885799&Signature=0i5 K5t4z3SrBgisy6HXsoLd6bWRzykIkHLLpQkPg00xqq1ZP5rnMnC5paIpU3MDXY6GXvjd4ie3iWKZk4Az8KYKqCvzYaXb9SRSHOJOckiVM9SInMnprewpBB5UfHjfDFlnYsulsRwPHdT-r -lFzQx9pcF~ww19sH1OP0G-sv9p4NgCHXSJzkcaD8gW1hwoRcAy--q4W5GzPZajIxd0Jo0i9h Qxx03gWavlDK4d78RsEmVP8w0idnWa5BiDwHfRzzemvNlA~KDoRyu1~29ENWy0VfQpR A~6wbmKrua0-aYR6mjnx~MrJMCdhejGbZvelhB--FAQfplJPub5oVZpow__&Key-Pair-Id=AP KAJMSU6JYPN6FG5PBQ