Igbo Culture In Things Fall Apart

The book Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe is about a man named Okonkwo, who was constantly battling with his internal trepidation although he was known throughout the villages for being a fierce, vigorous, and powerful warrior. He feared weakness and failure (anything to be considered “feminine”) more than dying out on the battle front. Through this character Achebe portrayed the profound human beliefs and characteristics of one culture to another.

The agricultural aspect of the Igbo culture was unlike the ones of modern day. Yams were the supreme nutrient in every meal. They called these yams “king of the crops.” Moreover, people utilized this food for every customary celebration and used kola nuts as an offering to their personal god or “chi”. The yams, as Achebe had said, sometimes associated or connected with the
ancestral spirits. Sometimes there were specific rituals for each kind of food such as the new yam festival. Chinua Achebe used farming to convey the characteristics of the Igbo culture. Agriculture was not the only thing that Achebe used in the story to convey tradition and culture specifics of the village, he also used the roles women played.
When a man wanted to marry a woman he basically had to buy her from her relatives in order for him to be accepted. The wives had to make food for their husbands every day and they had to obey every command that was given to them. Even if the command went against their will they could not question their husband’s authority because in their culture disobeying your husband was highly frowned upon. When a baby was born, it was to belong to the husband and his family instead of the wife’s because the man was the leader of the family and the wife was to do everything he said. When a man was in exile, he would have to stay with his mother’s family until the period of exile was done. Additionally, if a woman died, she was taken home to be buried with her own family and not with her husband’s. The author described the traditions distinctly in the book because they revealed individuality of the women in that tine and these customs made the story more interesting to the
readers.

According to the novel, the religion was one of the factors that led to Okonkwo’s downfall. The Igbo people worship gods differently than other clans. The primary god they worshiped was Chikwu, who was considered to be the one who created heaven and Earth. For the ones who doubted their religion, they would willingly convert to Christian and adopt those practices. Of those people was Nwoye, Okonkwo’s own son. . "He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." (Page 176) In this quotes from the book, Chinua Achebe symbolizes religion as “the things” because as the clan discovers a new teaching, they begin to lose faith in their own religion and the Igbo society slowly began falling apart.
Okonkwo’s untimely death at the end of the book was in no way expected from the reads because through the whole novel Okonkwo was portrayed and a strong warrior who feared nothing but weakness. When he took his life, he also did the only thing he was afraid of, he showed weakness. Things Fall Apart is a bout about power, sentiment, love, strength, and religion. It took the concept of religion and tradition and twisted them making the reader see them for what they truly were.