Things Fall Apart Research Paper

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An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies gives us nine core beliefs of African Traditional Religions that are also incorporated into the book, Things Fall Apart, a book of tribal religion in the country Nigeria. Things Fall Apart, is a book centered on a warrior of the Umuofia clan, Okonkwo. Okonkwo was a very aggressive, emotionless individual with a constant temper that he possibly received from his disgust with his non-respected father. We are told a lot about the life of these tribal clans such as their Oracle where the people would come to talk with Agbala, their personal gods, sacrifice, and also wrong doing that polluted the tribe. A major wrong doing by Okonkwo was when he accidently killed a sixteen-year-old boy resulting…show more content…
Also said in An Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies, “Humans interact with the spirit world through worship, sacrifice, and divination” (Orji 265). In Things Fall Apart there was a lot of worship, sacrifice, and divination (asking for guidance). The people of the African tribes worshiped their gods because the gods ultimately chose the resultants of their lives. A big example from the book would be how they depicted the type of harvest the farmers would have. “And when a man is at peace with his gods and his ancestors, his harvest will be good or bad according to the strength of his arm” (Achebe 17). These gods gave protection to the people and when things were going wrong, one knew they weren’t at peace with the gods. Sacrifice is major to the culture of these people, and is given for many reasons. A couple examples of sacrifice from Things Fall Apart, is given when they do something wrong like when Okonkwo went against the order of Peace Week, he was forced to take multiple things to the shrine of Ani. And also, when Agbala asked for sacrifice. Okonkwo inherited a boy from another village that became like a son to him, but one day Agbala asked for him to die so it was done. Agbala doesn’t just ask for sacrifice, though, for many people go to Agbala’s Oracle of the Hills and the Caves to ask guidance. She wasn’t the only one confronted…show more content…
One’s “chi” is solely made up of their decisions made. The tribal people would pray to their “chi” for goodness, but it took good choices as well. When they were given misfortune, though, they would trace it back to their “chi.” For example, in Things Fall Apart when Okonkwo was forced to flee his clan, it was said “Clearly his personal god or chi was not made of great things. A man could not rise beyond the destiny of his chi” (Achebe 131). Okonkwo prayed for goodness and had all the goodness he wanted, but some bad choices, such as the involvement in killing Ikemefuna, (ironic to the incident of Ezeudu’s son’s death, for Ezeudu told Okonkwo to stay out of the situation), may have been why his “chi” wasn’t “made up of good

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