"I love the people who have never fought a battle with the white man, except on their own ground"

As we already know, Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria but, at the same time, he received his education in English. He had an “identity crisis” since he was influenced by both cultures. He had the two views of Africa: the one from the Africans and the one from the colonisers. To me, this novel is, in a way, product of an introspection that embodies questions about who he was and where he came from.

It is interesting to read how the author contrasts both images: at the beginning, showing the stereotype of a primitive and violent Africa, but then we continue reading and we face a situation in which Okoye came to see another Unoka who had a debt with him and before he collects the debt, instead, they first share a kola nut and they pray for their ancestors for health and protection, and after having talked for a while he introduces the debt with a proverb. We keep on reading, we get immersed into the Igbo culture and suddenly some lights of civilization emerge. We are shown a region of Africa in which people are socially organised in villages and clans. We are shown people who have a “currency” (cowries), who work the soil and have plantations of yam, beans and cassava; people who worship their ancestors and give funerals to the ones who die. We are shown a deeply religious culture in which their religion was present in the way they interacted, the way they decided on war, the way they farmed, in their rituals, in their traditions and beliefs. We are shown the idiosyncrasy of a civilization.

Bearing these aspects in mind, Chinua Achebe succeeds in breaking with the stereotypes many people have of speechless Africans who live like savage animals and he, in a way, redeems the identity of his region before it was invaded.

Finally, here is very thought-provoking kind of poem I found while doing some research, it’s called George Catlin’s Creed. George Catlin was an American painter who produced a collection of paintings of American Indians (who were also colonised by white men). He described American Indians as “a truly lofty and noble race” and, impressed by them, he wrote the following words which I think can be applied to every civilization that was once colonised (in Africa, Australia, America, Chile, etc) that will make you think who the real “uncivilized” are:

I love a people that have always made me welcome to the very best that they had.

I love a people who are honest without laws, who have no jails and no poorhouses.

I love a people who keep the commandments without ever having read or heard them preached from the pulpit.

I love a people who never swear or take the name of God in vain.

I love a people "who love their neighbors as they love themselves."

I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe that God loves them also.

I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who are free from religious animosities.

I love a people who have never raised a hand against me, or stolen my property, when there was no law to punish either.

I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, for they are his children.

I love the people who have never fought a battle with the white man, except on their own ground.

I love a people who live and keep what is their own without lock and keys.

I love a people who do the best they can. And oh how I love a people who don't live for the love of money.