Zachary Weston

5/20/14
Block 2-2
In what ways is the Ibo belief system similar
to the English political system?
In Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
illustrates the theme of cultures being similar
and people simply will not take the time to
notice the similarities and this causes issues
through the use of situational irony.
The Ibo belief system is similar to the English
political system because the English courts
making decisions/settlements for people is
similar to the egwugwu. They are similar in
regards to when people have problems or did
something wrong they are the highest
authority in the matter.
The clash of the cultures of the British and
the Ibo is central to the conflict of the entire
novel but, the similarities between the
cultures and systems show that they really
are not that different. They just have different
ways of doing things. On page 190 Ajofia
said they are strangers and they are
ignorant. But let that pass.
The events of the cultures meeting and
having similarities caused many people to
convert to Christianity. The similarities in the
legal system to the beliefs causes Umofia to
pay the fine dealt to the prisoners taken after
the church is destroyed. If the penalty was
thought to be unjust the payment probably
never would have been given or war would
have been declared as soon as they got the
prisoners back.
One of the biggest similarities between the
two cultures was Mr. Brown and Akunna.
They were both of similar standings in their
religions and were both level headed. They
had civilized discussions about their faith.
On page 179
On page 190 Ajofia said they are strangers
and they are ignorant. But let that pass.
Ignorant is a representative of the theme of
cultures being alike and just no one taking
enough time to realize it because it means
not knowing. It does not mean you are stupid
you just do not know the topic well.
One example of dramatic irony is in chapter
seventeen on page 148 when Achebe talks about
the missionaries spending weeks looking for a
king but, there is not one. On page 179 Akunna
describes Chuckwu as their supreme ruler. Also
later on that page Mr. Brown says that the leader
of his church is God. This connects to the
cultures being similar but not enough time was
taken to understand the other cultures because
when they actually did the clans respected Mr.
Brown
Okonkwo was basically a judge we he dressed
up as a egwugwu but, did not understand the
English legal system which was practically but,
with the Ibo legality flew under religion. This
connects to the theme of the systems being
pretty much the same but, no one took the
time to understand the other which lead to
issues.
Egonwanne is a symbol for the Umofia trying
to live in peace with the missionaries. When
Okonkwo on page 200 says if they had
ignored his womanish wisdom five years ago
it would not have come to this Achebe
includes this to show that some people in
Umofia are willing to try to understand the
customs of the missionaries and do not wish
to kill them.
Chinua Achebe includes the descriptions of
the interactions and similarities of Christians
and the Ibos to show that people really are
not that different no matter where you are.
They my do things differently but, if we try to
understand them before we condemn it we
may be able to come to an understanding.