Things Fall Apart : Culture

Time and time again the Igbo culture is heavily mentioned and that's because its extremely important in their society. After reading most of the book I have more of an understanding and respect for their culture. However it makes me think about if there culture was different or not such a heavy influence how would it change the story and ultimately history.

From what I read i learned the Igbo culture is based off spiritual beliefs and rituals, they also believe in bad and good omens. This is highly interesting because throughout the story they do things that would seem questionable or odd to us but to them it makes perfectly good sense. For example when Okonkwo is banished the group of men from his tribe go and burn down his house to rid of the bad blood he's brought into their society/clan. At first when I read that they burned his house I thought it was out of anger but then I continued to read and realized it was almost to purge the clan of any bad vibes or negative energy. I really appreciate Achebe for writing this book because he gives us a sense of what happened from a forgotten point of view.