Religion in Things Fall Apart - Essay Example

of Religion in Things Fall Apart There are several theological conceptions that are talked of in Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart. This has a lot to do with the fact that the novel talks of the pre-colonial and colonial cultures that prevailed in Africa. This can then be connected to ideas of the society of the time and the ways in which life was led in those times in Nigeria amongst the members of the Igbo tribe. All of this is told to the reader through the narrative of Okonkwo’s life that culminates in a tragedy that involves in it forms from various genres and cultures. The novel is one of the most influential of twentieth century works of literature and is considered to be one of the landmark novels in English literature and postcolonial literature. What constitutes a man in the novel can be seen from the description of what constitutes success within the Igbo tribe, according to Achebe. This would include worldly success as well as spiritual ascent. This is indicated through a variety of gestures within the novel on the part of the writer and the other members of the society that the novelist is a part of. The different aspects of the way in which Achebe and Igbo life looks at man is seen in this passage from the novel He was still young but he had won fame as the greatest wrestler in the nine villages. He was a wealthy farmer and had two barns full of yams, and had just married his third wife. To crown it all he had taken two titles and had shown incredible prowess in two inter-tribal wars. And so although Okonkwo was still young, he was already one of the greatest men of his time. (Achebe) This idea of the man is then derived not only from the material aspects of life but also from the spiritual; aspects of it. This can be seen from the fact that Okonkwo is also assigned spiritual responsibilities as a result of the social position that he held. He is assigned the responsibility of taking care of Ikemefuna, something that becomes very important as far as the progression of the plot is concerned. Apart from this, the fact that Okonkwo is a part of the Igbo priesthood is also very significant as it points to his position within the spiritual society of the Igbo community. His removal from the priesthood is also accompanied by a fall in his social status and this points towards a connection between religion and society in the material sense of it as far as the Igbo community was concerned. The aim of life in such a society is to regenerate the society itself through a flourishing of human lives. This is what the religion also enjoins as is seen from the high price that it places upon the crime of murder. The price that Okonkwo has to pay for the one mistake that he makes is enormous. This can also be seen to be a worldview that he shares in when he says, “my children do not resemble me. Where are the young suckers that will grow when the old banana tree dies?” (Achebe). This emphasis on the regeneration of the society and the urge to see oneself in the future generations can then be seen to be the basis of a social form of religion in Things Fall Apart. These lies are the story of how Okonkwo is unable to be satisfied with his own son and often compares him to his father who he felt was not somebody who had led a productive life. What is true and what is false, is also something that like traditional western religions, do not have their basis entirely in rationality and scientific beliefs. The beliefs that are upheld are often arbitrary and the very nature of the traditional religion supports this kind of an ambiguity in the ways in which religion works within traditional African society. This is then the result of a great many years of ossification of the traditional structures of religion. Such structures are then broken down in the face of colonialism within the novel. As important as an analysis of the traditional structures of the religion is the idea of the changes that were brought about in these ideas of tradition by the notions of colonial modernity that were predominantly Western. This can then be connected to Okonkwo’s inability to adapt to the Western models of living and religion. The notions of arbitrariness can be seen in this conversation- "The Earth cannot punish me for obeying her messenger," Okonkwo said. "A child's fingers are not scalded by a piece of hot yam which its mother puts into its palm." "That is true," Obierika agreed. "But if the Oracle said that my son should be killed I would neither dispute it nor be the one to do it." (Achebe). The importance of these lines lies in the fact that it reveals the strength that religion held over the minds of people. What was true or false did not matter. What mattered were the arbitrary decisions that were taken by religious institutions. Notions of suffering were not peculiar to human beings. Gods too could suffer under the Igbo dispensation. For instance in this passage, It was well known among the people of Mbanta that their gods and ancestors were sometimes long-suffering and would deliberately allow a man to go on defying them. But even in such cases they set their limit at seven market weeks or twenty-eight days there is an attempt at making the true nature of the gods known. Suffering for the gods was not an eternal experience. This was similar for men as well. This stability is changed with the appearance of the colonizer who would then be unable to accord respect to the native religion. The sufferings that the people underwent as a result of their religion would then be connected to their notions of honor that would need to be avenged. This passage makes clear some of the notions regarding death within the Igbo tribe. "It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offence against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers." (Achebe) This pas sage makes it clear that there were associations of impurity that were made with death in the tribe. The committing of suicide was not without its implications for both the society and the person who had committed the sacrilege. Death is thus, an event that is both social an individual. To look at the theological aspect of it, there is an assertion that death is an important part of the life of a human being. It is also given the status of the event that regenerates the society as the entire death is fashioned in the form of a social tragedy. Death becomes a form of retribution for the actions of a person and the society that that person was a part of. This can be seen explicitly in the death of Okonkwo. The various questions that are answered in Things Fall Apart are not answered through the perspective merely of a person who is a follower of traditional Igbo religion. Achebe was a follower of Christianity and was influenced by its tenets when he wrote this book. The analysis of religion in this novel then needs to be a nuanced analysis. Works Cited Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Web. 16 Feb. 2013. Read More