Before Achebe wrote
about Africa, most of the available literature was European; therefore, there
were different fragmented versions of the African history. Before the period of
the African ‘colonization’, there were already traditions, rituals, languages, values
and methods of surviving used by the African civilization, which is usually
thought as inferior or as a speechless community.
When independence
came to African countries, African writers started showing African history through
their works. Things fall apart by Chinua Achebe has become a classical of world
literature, because it reflects mainly the African version of African history,
provided to complete the previous picture people made of the story, to see the
past from the present and appreciate the problems that were inside Africa.
Achebe tells as in
a very reliable way how the contact of these two civilizations was, how the
conflicts between these cultures were developing in time and the consequences
in terms of values, language, lifestyle these processes had in their society.
Several characters are affected by the idea of change over
traditions in the story, for example, the religions of the foreigners,
Christianity, seems to offer the clan’s outcasts a set of values that will
allow them to evaluate themselves as well as gain societal status which was
very important in African society.
On the one hand, the main
character, Okonkwo, is trapped in this dilemma of resisting to the new
political and religious commands because they are against his ‘manliness’ and
embracing the changes. He believes that if he accepts to be part of them or
even tolerate them, he will not consider himself as a man and this situation
might damage his societal status which Okonkwo fears, because he wants to be
more than his father.
On the other hand, some the villagers are really excited about the
method missioners brought to the communities, which are going to risk the
existing African techniques to harvest, cook, farm and build. So, this is the beginning
for the extinction of the local traditions.
We could say that this thought of social status as being really
important in our society might be always present, because it seems to
determines your opportunities in life, the kind of people you spend time with,
your cultural values and so on. As all those aspect might be relevant for a
person, it may be logical to be afraid of losing your ‘social status’.
Let me ask you something, what importance do you give to social
status? Do you think that it determines your life? Why? Why not?
Good question. In my case, I think social status is not really relevant for me and my family and it's because I've been raised in a way that doesn't give much importance to that. However, in our Chilean context, social status is always present, for example, when people take pictures with their Iphones of what they eat and where they go, creating a social status (sorry if you feel identified),
ResponderEliminarIn that sense, I think social status determines the way you live your life, Social status is the way in which people see you, including your traditions, customs, values, etc. In Chile, if you have a certain social status (poor or rich, for example), you're expected to stick to that canon, like if you're rich, you are supposed to go to the gym, eat in expensive restaurants, etc.
As you said before, Okonkwo was afraid of changing his traditional life with the arrival of Christians because his social status as a powerful man would have decrease. Since he had no "social opportunities" in life, he decided to commit suicide. In that sense, Okonkwo's life certainly was determined by his social status.