Different is not necessarily bad

One of the features that called my attention about “things fall apart” was the arrival of the white man and its religion, and how the Igbo people was invaded. Through the book, Mr. Achebe immerses us into this unique ethnic group, through his costumes and believes and how it gets contaminated by the white man intervention.

The white man has not “improved” other cultures, it has only diminished the identity of rich tribes such as the Igbo.

Catholicism, Christianity, and basically any massive religion believe that they have the truth and salvation for all of us. Faith and religion have been used to take advantage of uncivilized people as if it were a favor for them. Mr. Achebe makes us aware of how complex the Igbo culture is and how rich it is. It is thought provoking how relevant was for the Igbo culture the nature, the forest and their concept of “Chi”, which is a sort of personal god or spirit or in different words, a guardian angel, which every person has. So, why this culture should change? The Igbo’s lifestyle makes perfect senses which their religion, because they are mainly agricultures, so it coincides with they believe in divinities related to the nature and its elements.

Going back to previous units, religions represent modernisms: they promote lack of individualism and they make you feel as a gear. Why should everybody believe in the same god? In this group, their god is called Chineke or Chukwu and there is no reason to contaminate this belief.

Historically speaking, several slaughters have been justified through religion, for example, the crusades and several atrocities have been done with good intentions and this is because sometimes different is considered bad.

At the beginning of the book, Mr. Achebe uses an excerpt of the poem “the second coming” by Mr. W.B. Yeats, which synthesizes accurately the arrival of the white man and his culture as a widening gyre, which brings anarchy to the Igbo culture.

To sum up, cultures can be polar opposites, but that is what makes them unique and valuable. No culture should be allowed to impose its beliefs or religion to another, because that something is different does not mean that it is worse, it is called identity.