Things Fall Apart Civilization

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Chinua Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart in order to educate people of African culture and lessen the idea of otherness. Achebe wrote the book to show that African communities are not uncivilized like the people in the “civilized” societies believe. Achebe combats the stereotype that Africa was uncivilized and eliminates the idea of otherness by describing how the Igbo culture works, through the use of language, and by using biblical references.
Achebe combats the stereotype that African societies are uncivilized by showing what life is like in Umuofia. Achebe shows that the people of Umuofia are peaceful which can be seen in the process that occurs before they go to war.After a woman from Umuofia was killed in the neighboring community of Mbiano Umuofia fixed the conflict peacefully instead of going to war. The narrator says, “Umuofia it should be recorded that it never went to war unless its case was clear and just and was accepted as such by its Oracle-the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves. And there were indeed occasions when the Oracle had forbidden Umuofia wage war.”(12) This combats the stereotypes about Africa because it shows that Igbo communities were peaceful.Despite Umuofia being …show more content…

The locusts in Things Fall Apart are similar to the locusts in the plagues in Egypt. It says “‘Locusts are descending,’ was joyfully chanted by everywhere, and men, women and children left their work or their play and ran into the open to see the unfamiliar sight. The locusts had not come for many, many years, and only the old people had seen them before.”(56)In the Bible the Egyptians are punished by God. God sent locusts to ruin the plants of the Egyptians. This combats the single story because it allows the Christians to understand the African people because they can connect the story about the locusts from Things Fall Apart to the story of locusts in Egypt from the

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