Things Fall Apart

Given that knowledge and experience are valuable, what should constitute that knowledge and experiences is open to different interpretations. Some assert that a pursuit of knowledge should be highly focused, probing into one niche of the human experience as far as possible. Others take the position that knowledge should be of a broader scope, attempting to elicit the common truths as well as the differences of the worlds that we interact with.

Knowledge should be placed in perspective to other knowledge; there should be a balance between general and specific. When there is conflict in one part of the world, there are often changes and repercussions that reach further than local boundaries. Each event that occurs is both unique and at the same time part of a greater common human experience. With this in mind, this paper discusses Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. For although Things Fall Apart recreates and analyzes a particular place and situation, its themes of conflicting cultures, conflict within society itself, and the isolation of the individual, are all related to universal issues. The novel displays a universal need for a balance between tradition and change, meaningful compromise must be made particularly during periods of social transformation.

In the novel we see great cultural conflict aggravated by an imbalance between traditional and new values, instead of alleviated by a balance between the two. The Ibo people permit the

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kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you," says one of the oldest members of the umunna (Achebe 155). As the relations grow worse between the church and the villages, members of the tribes become polarized. The new converts are often the most fervent of all Christians. One slaughters the sacred python and one unmasks an egwugwu, acts almost unthought of among the natives. On the other side are those who are now ready to rise up against the invaders. Their inability to "speak with one voice" in the beginning to effect a compromise and modify their traditions leads to the destruction of their community. As the white man's power grows, polarizing the village, compromise becomes less and less likely. Obierka says, "The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on things that held us together and we have fallen apart" (Achebe 162). The "knife" cuts at the weaknesses of the very traditions that hold the people together, appealing to and cutting away the o

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