Things Fall Apart [1]

My general interest in history, of course regarding the development of complex societies and their cultural traditions, is perhaps one of the principal reasons I've come to find Things Fall Apart rather engaging.  "Part One" of this novel is indeed dedicated to explanation of Igbo culture, and having previously learned of the development of early African societies, I personally think it interesting to be able to analyze the change as well as continuity of these peoples' customs.  This being said, something I definitely recognize people find controversial—perhaps even unsettling—about this novel's subject matter has largely to do the heavily patriarchal social order that appears to define Igbo society.  Such commonalities as the beating of women, the expectation that females always be submissive to dominant male, and clear delineation of male versus female roles in both Igbo social and economic life seem to be more common topics of conversation within our class.  Other practices such as the violent disposal of those who supposedly house evil spirits, as well as the presence of polygamy in Igbo culture also appear baffling to our heavily European-influenced society.

With all this in mind, however, I don't think I personally could bring myself to call Igbo customs legitimately "odd."  "Foreign" would probably be a more accurate way to describe their practices, at least from my point of view, considering the only reason one might think these customs wrong in the first place would because they're accustomed to other cultural values.  Even practices I personally don't agree with tend to be justified by the cultures in possession of such ideas, and the same goes for the values we emphasize.  Even so, lack of tolerance for such values is in part the reason for much of the world's Eurocentrism.  In the case of colonization, for example, in Africa, colonizers often sought to impose their cultural traditions on native populations because they believed their beliefs rather than natives' beliefs to be correct.  The foreigners were accustomed to their beliefs, thus, it only makes sense they would think native customs abnormal; their own beliefs were their "normal."

Returning to the subject of the novel as a whole, I do understand why others may view it as less interesting than I find it to be.  The portions of the novel we've already covered read a bit like a textbook, constantly spewing out historical information, and, alongside this, the overall plot line is a bit unclear, events obviously not in chronological order.  Nonetheless, I do believe the story will become more interesting in subsequent sections, where there will supposedly be less of an focus on the description of Igbo society and culture and, instead, a greater emphasis on specific events.  I'm particularly interested in how Okonkwo will act in response to the arrival of British colonizers, seeing as he tends to react in a belligerent manner when met by situations he does not esteem.  Especially due to the fact the British were, at this time, clearly more technologically developed than most African societies, how he would specifically encroaches on the threat of British imperialism particularly encourages me to read further into this novel.  I know rebellion has indeed had success in the case of other societies, caught under the control of invading groups, thus, I do Igbo actions may indeed have positive effects in regard to the regaining of their relative freedom.