Things fall apart, progress and loss

The community presented in this book is different from the one imposed by Europeans. This new reality which takes away the cultural identity of the tribe is presented as a crisis which implies change, which may open new possibilities and opportunities. However, it does not change the fact that Igbo clan would never exist as it used to be before the colonization. There is a loss of traditions, loss of uniqueness, which is represent in the novel with the death of Okonkwo, “the falling of a man, the falling of a nation”, the falling of culture. On the other hand, there is progress, new traditions, and new religion.

Around the world things fall apart every day. It is the case of Scotland, where Scotts will decide whether being independent or not.  Whichever the outcome is, there are going to be progress and loss. Another case is Ukraine, which is in the climax of its crisis between the west and the east. Things fall apart in different nations, and things have been always falling apart, which have implied changes which have leaded to progress, to movement, and at the same time to loss on ancient traditions.

It seems to me, that we always have to leave something behind in order to get something new, and it is not something that only happens at a national level, but in a personal one too.

Think about the transition from childhood to adulthood, we have to give up leisure time and take responsibilities in order to make progress in our lives.

There are different kinds of change, some of them are imposed such as the one imposed to the Igbo tribe, and other changes have to do with personal decisions. However, every change leads to leave something behind to get something new.

A final question comes to my mind, how can we progress without losing our traditions? How can we be different from the Igbo tribe and accept these changes but still having our unique identity?