Differences Between Igbo And White Christianity In Things Fall Apart

Throughout history, countless wars and large scale genocides have occurred, due to the principal differences between two cultures. The close proximity of two civilizations with different beliefs and ideas can only lead to atrocities at some point, for peace cannot be sustained for long with two headstrong societies within earshot of each other. In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, the two different civilizations of the Ibo and the White Christians both living in the Lower Niger of Africa have such extreme tension between them that violence between these two groups is impossible to stop. While there are moments of peace between these two groups, time is the ultimate factor that forces the groups into extreme conflict. Throughout the course
From the White missionaries introduction to the Ibo people, they have always felt superior in every sense especially in religion. To the white christians, the people of Umuofia and the other surrounding villages “worshipped false gods” that were inadequate compared to the “great god” that Christians worship (145). The Christians believed it was their duty to teach the Ibo people to “leave [their] wicked ways and false gods” and turn to their own God so that the “may be saved” when they die because in the eyes of the Christians the Ibo are so far beneath them they have to give back the immense knowledge that they believe they have. The Christians fail to acknowledge the complex civilization the Ibo have because the different aspects the Ibo culture has such as “there [is] no king” and instead “men of high title… chief priests and the elders” which is far different than the British missionaries who come from a land ruled by a single queen (148). The failure to accept the Ibo as anything more than brutes is clearly exemplified by the book written by the District Commissioner titled, “The Pacifications of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger,” which illustrates how the Christians believe that they themselves are at a much higher stage
Regardless of any of the Ibo responses to the British, the British came with the intention of taking the land of Ibo people as their own. The white missionaries originally only introduced Christianity when first coming into contact with the Ibo people; however, as their time in the Ibo land grew it became increasingly apparent that they had “not only brought a religion but also a government” (155). The British imposed their government and laws onto the Ibo people and even a “prison, which was” filled with “men who had offended the white man’s law (174). The British’s actions can only be classified as a takeover, as they enacted and enforced their laws on the land which had once belonged to the people of Umuofia and the surrounding towns. The land of the lower Niger was now the in “the dominion of [the] queen, the most powerful ruler in the world” and all actions taken against the church would be punished. The laws set by the British colonists during their takeover lead to unavoidable tragedies as the Ibo people try to save their land and culture from the British who intend to rid the world of any religion different from their own and take the land from those who occupied it