Discuss the portrayal of the Ibo people in Things Fall Apart.

Chinua Achebe wrote the novel Things Fall Apart in response to Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which portrays native Africans as uncivilized barbarians. Achebe provides a unique insight into the rich cultural traditions of the Igbo people by illustrating their religion, marriage ceremonies, legal system, farming traditions, and interactions with neighboring clans. In many ways, particularly in regard to the justice system, the Igbo culture is portrayed as more civilized and rational than those institutions in Europe. The numerous ceremonies, traditional customs, and formalized interactions depict the Igbo people as being civilized individuals, which contrasts with how earlier Europeans viewed native Africans.

Despite the highly structured, traditional society, some customs could be read as uncivilized, which include leaving infant twins to die in the Evil Forest and the seemingly unjust death of Ikemefuna. However, Achebe illustrates that these violent actions are connected to the complex traditional religious beliefs of the Igbo people. Unfortunately, Europeans used these controversial customs to portray the Igbo people in a negative light and perpetuated the false stereotype that native Africans were uncivilized people.

Discuss the portrayal of the Ibo people in Things Fall Apart.

This is a very pertinent question to consider. What you need to remember is that Achebe, as an African author, is clearly not going to present his own African countrymen as being uncivilised. On the contrary, what he does is to present us with African culture before the white European colonialists arrived in order to explode this myth and to present African culture to us in all of its richness and complexity.

One argument for suggesting that the Ibo culture is uncivlized would be the way that they have various taboos against such groups of people as twins and other outcasts of society. These are of course among the first converts to join Christianity because of the way that they are able to rise in status and importance in European culture. However, we must be very careful in the way we read such information, for Achebe is clear to describe European culture as a culture that gives more prestige to some than to others. Ibo culture is not therefore presented as being "uncivilized," it is just presented as being a culture like any other, which, in spite of its differences to European culture, is similar in the way that it gives status and prestige to some and makes others outcasts.

What is Achebe's portrayal of the Igbo in Things Fall Apart?

It is important to note that Achebe deliberately presents us with a complete picture of African life, culture and society before the arrival of the white Europeans that cause so much damage and create so many problems at the end. Achebe deliberately means to present his mainly Western and white readers with a picture of African life pre-colonisation, and he uses this opportunity to deliberately challenge any notions that White Europeans may have of Africans being "ignorant savages" who "needed" the Europeans to help usher them in to a more organised way of life. In fact, as Achebe makes clear, the opposite of this is true. The Igbo society is shown to be incredibly sophisticated, with very clear and complex systems of law, punishment and reward. There is no sense in which this society could be dismissed as being "ignorant" or "backward." Note, for example, the way that restitution is made between two warring tribes through the delivery of Ikemefuna and another girl, and also how there are specific ceremonies and festivals that help order the time of the Igbo villagers:

Ikemefuna came to Umuofia at the end of the carefree season between harvest and planting. In fact he recovered from his illness only a few days before the Week of Peace began. And that was also the year Okonkwo broke the peace, and was punished, as was the custom, by Ezeani, the priest of the earth goddess.

This is just one example of many of a rich and vibrant culture with its out very clear order and logic and its own system of punishments and rewards. Achebe therefore deliberately presents the Igbo as a people rich in their own cultural heritage and as a tribe who are far from being "backward." This, of course, makes the arrival of the Europeans with the cultural disintegration that they bring all the more tragic. 

How does Achebe express society's complexity in Things Fall Apart?

One reason for its continued success is that Things Fall Apart is both a compelling psychological portrait of one individual, Okonkwo, and a convincingly-drawn vision of a colonized society. Perhaps more things happen to Okonkwo than might befall a single human being in such a situation, but Chinua Achebe makes each and every event seem plausible. The complexity is part and parcel of the social situation into which he was born and in which he was raised. The changes that occur, which roughly parallel his life, are not only characteristic of Nigeria in those years but also deeply connected to those occurring in other countries that formed Britain’s overseas empire.

Because the young Okonkwo lived within traditional Igbo society and indirectly experienced the British colonial influences, he fails to understand how fully it would extend into all social institutions—that is, that colonialism would become hegemonic. The system of indirect rule that the British applied in most of their colonies left the burden of legal action in the hands of the native authorities; one example is the killing of Ikemefuna. The pronouncements of the oracle, the elders’s decisions in carrying out retribution, and Okonkwo’s decisive role in killing the boy all occur outside the purview of the British, who can express their horror at such “barbaric” practices.

As the British kept track of such incidents, however, they continued to build a case for more intrusive involvement in administration and for the accompanying institution of Christian religion as an adjunct to government. Isolated instances of what had formerly been called bravery for the men, who prided themselves in their stature as warriors, instead were taken as evidence of Igbo "savagery" as contrasted with European civilization.

During Okonkwo’s years of exile, the colonial system increasingly intrudes into Umofia. Okonkwo, from his perspective inside the society, cannot understand how or why it happened, but he senses the harm his people will suffer. His own son, acculturated partly through missionary influence, has embraced the new ways, including Christianity. The church building serves as a powerful symbol of the loss of cultural and political autonomy, so it becomes the focus of Okonkwo’s intense, but ultimately futile, rage.

How does Achebe express society's complexity in Things Fall Apart?

Chinua Achebe uses the complexities of a changing society as a major, pervasive force in his debut novel Things Fall Apart. This social complexity is manifested through the colonial influence that enters Umuofia and upsets its established norms and values:

“Umuofia had indeed changed during the seven years Okonkwo had been in exile. The church had come and led many astray. Not only the low-born and the outcast but sometimes a worthy man had joined it” (174).

Indeed, Okonkwo is unable and unwilling to adjust to the changes that white settlers have brought to his area, and this causes the majority of the conflict in the novel. Okonkwo laments the changes that have afflicted Umuofia and, in his mind, weakened the “masculine” nature of his clan:

“Perhaps I have been away too long.... But I cannot understand these things you tell me. What is it that has happened to our people? Why have they lost their power to fight?” (175).

Okonkwo resents these changes to Umuofia, and this ultimately leads to his demise. Okonkwo is no longer able to exist in a society that does not value his brutal, masculine values, and he hangs himself. This is how Achebe uses the complexities of society in his novel.

How does Chinua Achebe present society in Things Fall Apart?

Achebe's description of Igbo society paints a picture of a fully functional system in which inhabitants are comfortable with what they have. It is clear that the Igbo have an extended history and their way of life has been developed over a substantial period of time. He describes their traditions, laws, customs, religious beliefs, laws and the hierarchy existent within their society. It is evident from his explanations that, just as in any society, the majority obey its rules and meet its requirements but that there are also others who are rebellious and do, at times, oppose laws and tradition.

The Igbo have, in this regard, rules, laws and traditions by which those who display opposition, recalcitrance or disrespect are sanctioned. It was, for example, so with Okonkwo when he assaulted his wife during The Week of Peace. He was severely sanctioned and paid a hefty price for his disobedience. On another occasion, he accidentally killed a youngster during a funeral. The punishment here, even though it was an accident, was harsh. Okonkwo was banished to his mother's village for seven years.

Within this structure, Igbo society was generally peaceful. Some laws and traditions were extremely harsh, such as the punishment for twins who, at birth,  are banished to and abandoned in the Evil Forest. Disputes between villages were normally resolved amicably and were the result of complicated negotiations. The purpose of these was to ensure fairness to all parties involved and so it was when Ikemefuna, from another village, was placed in Okonkwo's custody as compensation for the murder of a citizen. The boy's life was later taken with Okonkwo being the executioner.

The presentation of Igbo society in this way is to contrast its generally peaceful existence with that which was introduced by the British colonialists after their arrival. The imperialists introduced new laws and a new religion which was in opposition to those of the Igbo. The imposition of these created conflict not only against the invaders, but also between members within Igbo society. Some members of Igbo society (such as Okonkwo) most vehemently resisted the colonialists' influence, whilst others adopted their heritage, as Okonkwo's son, Nwoye, did.

The obvious point that Achebe makes is that the introduction of a foreign power and the violent imposition of its laws and religion, is what leads to the eventual destruction of native heritage. Once a foreign culture makes its presence felt and imposes itself by severely punishing those who fight it, the indigenous culture does not stand a chance. Igbo customs, for example, were eroded and created internal strife. Members became enemies of one another and that sounded the death knell for Igbo society. In the end, its own culture had been corrupted, destroyed and then replaced by that of the imperialist.

Why doesn't Achebe present Igbo society as perfect in Things Fall Apart?

One of the things that Achebe was trying to do in Things Fall Apart was to paint a relatively accurate picture of Igbo society given that those portrayals were so few and far between. In order to do this, he drew on his own experience and that of his own tribe and his own upbringing. In order to present this picture as the foil to the previous portrayal of Africa in stories like Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Achebe had to attempt to be more balanced in the portrayal or else he would essentially be doing the same disservice that Conrad had done in his one-sided representation (even if Achebe would be on the other side of it).

So he tried to tell the story about Igbo culture, both the good and the bad parts of it. And in doing so, he also demonstrated that the heart of so many issues were misunderstandings and an unwillingness on both sides to communicate in such a way as to bridge the gaps of understanding between cultures. Had he presented the Igbo as perfect, Achebe would have failed to provide one of those bridges.