Essay --

Things fall a part is an outstanding African literature. The author of the novel is Chinua Achebe and presents the culture, society and history of Ibo community. The novel presents the Ibo community as a native African community and brings about the comparison between the community and Christianity. With the introduction of Christianity, the Ibo community was confused since the missionaries wanted them to adapt Christianity and abandon their cultural beliefs and practices (Rhoads 68). An analysis of cultural beliefs and practices of the community, the difference between Ibo and Christianity way of life as well as issues surrounding one of key characters can assist in understanding the content of the novel. The Ibo community practices polytheism; they belief and worship more than one god. The community believes that there is a supreme god known as Chukwu who created the universe and other gods. According to one of the members of the community, Okonkwo, they worship other small gods and when they do not respond accordingly, they turn to the supreme god. Ibo have curved wood which they use as a symbol to represent their gods (Achebe 72). This is because of the fact that they believe in physical god. They also worship the Oracle Hills and Caves as sacred places where their goods lived. The community allowed the practice of polygamy. In this case, men can marry as many wives as they can maintain. Those with many wives were respected and honored members of the community. Okonkwo who is a main character in the novel had many wives and this was as a symbol of strength. In such a family set-up, the man lived in a separate house from all his wives. Each wife had a house of her own where she lived with her children. This was aimed at enhan... ...e committed suicide. The act of committing suicide was not the best option for Okonkwo. This is because he was still energetic and his family was still in need of his support. I would have not committed suicide if I was him. He had done a lot to raise his wealth from scratch and should have waited to enjoy the fruits of the hard work. In conclusion, Things Fall a part is a representation of the differences between an African community and missionaries. The missionaries believed that Christianity and formal education were superior over traditions and hence the Ibo people were to be converted. The conflict which comes about due to the resistance from some members of the community demonstrates how incompatible the two cultural practices are. The title can be related by the situation where Okonkwo,  could not hold it more to see how things have fallen in the community.