I am sure by now you have completed reading the whole novel "Things Fall Apart". There are issues which you might find troubling. You may even disagree with some of the actions taken by the characters in the novel. Your views are important and let not the various articles you've read swayed you into accepting them as gospel truths. Do question what you have read.
In your respective blogs, think reflectively of the issues found in the novel. The following questions should help you in your analysis:
1. Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the
British to take over?
2. Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?
3. Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?
In depth answer compared to the first question before.
1. Based on my reading of “Things Fall Apart”, the first
aspect of Igbo culture that allow the British to take over is the abandonment
of twins at birth. I feel that to kill babies just because they are twins are
totally not acceptable. Babies are born pure without any sins. They do not even
do good or bad yet. They just enter the world and it is the time for them to
start a new life after nine months living in their mother’s belly. Killing them
is a very barbaric action and not acceptable in citizen nowadays. The other
culture that British are allowed to take over is the superstitious belief that
the Igbo people practice. They are quite superstitious and believe in such
supernatural creatures as ogbanje. The ritual that they always do is the
mutilation of infant corpses thought to be ogbanje which is a cruel action.
2. Colonisation in
Sarawak creates a lot of cultural diversity there. Immigrants from all over the
world come to Malaysia to trade in their business in Sarawak. When immigrants
from all angle of the world enter Sarawak, they will stay here for a while.
This leads to the mixture of culture, races and the marriage between the local
people and immigrants can create a mix of culture. This is the reason why
Sarawak has the most cultures and races in Malaysia.
3. Yes, there are some changes that had been brought in the
lives of indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak. The first change is that
people from those tribes get to have education and study in school. For British
people, they know that education is very important so they take the
responsibility to give the indigenous tribes the education and help them to be
more civilized. The second change is to lead the tribes to trust only to one
God. There are no multiple gods in the world and people should worship only to
one God.
Fatin Syazana binti Yahya
Question 5:
In Things
Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, he exposes us with
Igbo culture which consist of positive and negative values. From my
reading, there are many negative values that caused British to take over. To
start with, women do not have a right to voice out their opinion or in other
words glass ceiling are practicing in this society. Women are not allow to
state their right and forced to obey the men.
In my opinion, this is one of the reason why the White can attract women
to join them.
Besides,
this society also authorized a man with title and power. For them, a weak man
is the same as women. From this statement, we can see that the relationship
among them are not strong as they do not respect each other. They only respect a man with title. We do
need to respect everybody as everyone has their own part in this world. I think
the weak man such as Nwoye feel like he is not belonged in the society and turn
to White who accept him for whatever he is.
Here, I state again that the reason behind the success of British to
take over is because of the unfair of right in humanity.
After
the colonization, Sarawak has been a
state with variety of culture. It is
rich with culture that make it special and unique. During the colonization, the
local leader had lost their power as the white took over all the power. The
local leader become powerless. But there were a local leader who stand up and
against the white to preserve their right.
Other than that, the outside culture also had been introduced by the White.
For instance, the uses of English language in administration and in most
of the matter. Yes! there is a changes. Both
Africa and Sarawak indigenous tribes had undergone a change in religion aspect.
Nur Afiqah bt Abdul Manap
1. In my opinion, the aspects of the Igbo culture that allow the British to take over is the different status level among the people. The question about whether change should be honored over tradition often involves the personal status. Okonkwo, for example, objects the new political and religious orders because he feels that they are not manly. He afraid that he himself will not be manly if he agrees to join or tolerate the new political order and religion. To some extent, Okonkwo’s resistance of cultural change is also due to his fear of losing societal status. His status depends on the traditional standards by which the people of Umuofia judges him. This system of evaluating one’s self inspires many of the clan’s outcasts to embrace Christianity and at the same time accept the colonization of British. They feel that they are not appreciated in the society, therefore, these outcasts find in the Christian religion a protection from the Igbo cultural values that place them below everyone else. In the new community, these converts enjoy a higher status, which means, one has the same status just like everyone else. However, Okonkwo may have wanted a different status for himself, which is a higher status than others. Before the British comes, people view Okonkwo as someone who has many abilities as Okonkwo succeeds in beating Amalinze the Cat once. Okonkwo may fear that he will lose respect from the Umuofia people if he allows the British to spread the new religion.
2. As Sarawak is colonized before, there are many assimilation of culture in the country. One of them is the language used. Sarawak uses English as the language of communication during the British colonization. Only ten years after independence, the medium of communication in Sarawak is changed to Malay language. Besides that, mixed marriages happen because of this colonization. The assimilation of culture between two different ethnics happens due to these marriages. As Sarawak was divided into eleven divisions, there could be an unbalanced division to the ethnics too. An ethnic may live at a place where there is only their own tribes who live there. Therefore, they are not mixing with other races. Some things that the people do centuries ago even have been accepted as taboos and traditions now. For example, the do's and don't's before a wedding ceremony of an ethnic culture are still practiced now.
3. The changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak are in the aspect of social and education. In Sarawak, when the British colonized, they build schools and hospitals. The British provides the people with education and they also take care of their health. Both male and female also have the opportunity to attain education. Although there was no official announcement of education policy until the mid 1950s, the colonial government from the start sets an education programme with two objectives, which is to close the wide gap in education between the native people and the Chinese, and to bring the existing school system inherited from the Brooke period into a national education system. Besides, a national education policy aims to develop a sense of common citizenship, identity, brotherhood and undivided loyalty to Sarawak among the multi-ethnic younger generation. The idea of getting education is highly supported by the people. The people realize the importance for younger generation in both rural and urban areas to be educated.
