Religion In Things Fall Apart

“The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.” Everyone has their different views and opinions about religion. Religion has began to evolve over time. Religion can help us make sense of the world and motivate us to do better. Things Fall Apart is a novel based in a village in southeastern Nigeria. The village is called Umuofia which means “people of the forest.” Umuofia is a fictional village based off of the author’s hometown of Ogidi. The novel is told through Okonkwo which is one of the most respected men in the village of Umuofia. In “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe he establishes that religion is very important through characterization and setting. The author shows how religion is important by how the
Every year in their village, Umuofia, the Ibo people have a festival called Feast of the New Yams before harvest season began. The festival was held for two days, on the first day they would have their feast and then on the second day they would have wrestling matches between Okonkwo’s village and their neighbors. The feast is to honor the earth goddess and the other ancestral spirits of the clan. “Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct.” (Achebe 26) They believed that none of the new yams could be eaten until they’ve offered some to the higher powers. The earth goddess determined how well the farming seasons would go. Since the Igbo lived by nature their land had to be cleansed if there’s a crime committed by one clansman to another. When Okonkwo accidentally kills a clansman he had to flee from the clan for seven years to his motherland. Once Okonkwo and his family had left Umuofia their property there was burned as a way to cleanse the land. “They were merely cleansing the land which Okonkwo had polluted with the blood of a clansman.” (Achebe 95) If Okonkwo had not been punished the earth goddess would of been enraged and released her fury on not only him but everyone else in the village too. Even though the death of his clansman was an accident by his firearm exploding he still had to be punished. After Okonkwo’s exile he went back to Umuofia determined to get the christians to leave. He could tell that the clan wanted the same thing but they didn’t want to go to war. Okonkwo had killed one of the white man’s messengers and he knew that his people wouldn’t back him up so he went back to his obi and took his own life. “It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansman. His body is evil and