In your respective blogs, think reflectively of the issues found in the novel. The following questions should help you in your analysis:
- Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?
- Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?
- Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?
HAMZAH SHIBLI BIN ISMAIL FAIROZ
- Based on your reading of “Things Fall Apart”, what aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over?
In my opinion, the Igbo`s culture itself let the British to take over. The culture was believed shown mostly lack of humanity which allowed the British`s people to manipulated it and colonised them. For example, the mothers who had their twins killed, the outcasts, the efulefu who are considered worthless, and the people who have second thoughts on their beliefs including Nwoye, Okonkwo’s son were the people who were easy to be manipulated as they were the people who had been treated wrongly thus made them felt that they were not belong to the tribe. The British, in fact, introduced a religion which practice equality among their believers. Hence, those who had been treated wrongly was easily influenced by the religion`s belief. The religion show high degree of humanity which also attracted those who had been treated wrongly by the Igbo`s culture belief.
- Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, how has this affected aspects of culture in our society?
This colonisation had helped Sarawak to improve our lifestyle according to nowadays lifestyle. This colonisation had helped the society to be more civilized. Most of the culture which shown lack of humanity did not been practiced anymore such as headhunting and many more. Netherless, we still practiced other culture which became the national treasure that we can be proud of. We lived in a society which contain variety of races. Hence, there were also a lot of culture to be practiced by the variety of races. When we became more civilized, we leaved the uncivilized culture which can bring bad effect to nowadays generation. Our life style also getting improvised each day to ease our task. Our culture became more modernized. In Malay culture wedding ceremony, there might have some band or "Bermukun" to entertain the guest for those who capable of it in the past. Nowadays, they tend to organize karaoke with the help of technology such as the television and karaoke CD`S.
- Are there any changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak?
There were a lot of changes that we can see. In my opinion, the most important changes that I noticed was related to education. From what I had read in Things Fall Apart and some fact which I can related to education, I can say that education is really important. Those who lack of knowledge can be manipulated easily by other people. We can relate this fact to the British`s colonisation on Igbo`s people. They used their knowledge to attract those people to be on their side. Without education, the society nowadays might stay uncivilized. Our lifestyle also might not change. In conclusion, it is really important to have education nowadays.
HASFIYAH BINTI HASSAN
Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Igbo village in Nigeria. The first, a powerful figure in Igbo’s society then fall from grace with the tribal world. The second is the concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive English missionaries. These perfectly harmonized makes people to think about so many things such as the culture involved and how they survive with the culture in a long period.
In my opinion, one of the main aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over is because they are not exposed to the other side of the world. They just love to be within in their own tribes and don’t like to socialize with the others. For this kind of people, they will easily influence because they cannot determine whether it is a true thing or not. For example, in this novel, the main intention why missionaries come to the village is to spread Christianity. When the missionaries are doing their job, they find it is too easy to influence them because they don’t know about the outside of world. They just have to do their kindness such as build a school to provide an education for the young people and a church for all. This makes they have interest to convert in Christianity.
Apart from that, the other aspects that can be considered is the religion and their beliefs itself. For a long time, they believe about the goddess and other things that they cannot see. When the missionaries come with the new religion, they become believe that they just only have 1 god and not too many gods as in their religion. So they convert into Christianity because they believe with this new belief, they will live happily in the entire life. They seem to feel the new belief give them a new perspective in their life.
Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, there are too many affected aspects of culture in our society. First of all, the multiracial that we have is a uniqueness of Sarawak. For a long period, there is no discrimination among the races. All of the races can do the things and live together. Other than that, the language used is also one of the affected aspects. In Sarawak, we don’t have any problems in understanding each other language. This is because we have been taught indirectly how important to know each other language to avoid misunderstanding. We live a harmony and peace without any discrimination. Most of us can talk in each other language and this makes Sarawak is a wonderful state. The most important thing is we still can see the old buildings that have been preserved by Sarawak government to ensure the young generation still can see all these. We can see the old building alongside of Sarawak Waterfront where Fort Margareta becomes the main attraction of the tourists.
Yes, there are too many changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak. In Africa, the missionaries try to give their best in spreading the religion by building a school and church. This is to attract the tribes to convert in Christianity. Same goes to Sarawak. The colonizer gave the education to the tribes because they want them to have a proper education. Apart from that, whoever excellent in English, they will be offering to work with them. When the tribes have new perspectives in lives, they want to know more. They begin to explore the outside of world. We can see so many tribes want to leave their village and begin their journey. In Sarawak, some of the tribes especially the young leave their village for the education purposes. They want to make changes in their family by leaving their village and come back when they have finished their journey. So, these are the changes brought in the lives of the indigenous tribes.
HASFIYAH BINTI HASSAN
Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Igbo village in Nigeria. The first, a powerful figure in Igbo’s society then fall from grace with the tribal world. The second is the concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive English missionaries. These perfectly harmonized makes people to think about so many things such as the culture involved and how they survive with the culture in a long period.
In my opinion, one of the main aspects of the Igbo culture allow the British to take over is because they are not exposed to the other side of the world. They just love to be within in their own tribes and don’t like to socialize with the others. For this kind of people, they will easily influence because they cannot determine whether it is a true thing or not. For example, in this novel, the main intention why missionaries come to the village is to spread Christianity. When the missionaries are doing their job, they find it is too easy to influence them because they don’t know about the outside of world. They just have to do their kindness such as build a school to provide an education for the young people and a church for all. This makes they have interest to convert in Christianity.
Apart from that, the other aspects that can be considered is the religion and their beliefs itself. For a long time, they believe about the goddess and other things that they cannot see. When the missionaries come with the new religion, they become believe that they just only have 1 god and not too many gods as in their religion. So they convert into Christianity because they believe with this new belief, they will live happily in the entire life. They seem to feel the new belief give them a new perspective in their life.
Since Sarawak has also undergone colonisation, there are too many affected aspects of culture in our society. First of all, the multiracial that we have is a uniqueness of Sarawak. For a long period, there is no discrimination among the races. All of the races can do the things and live together. Other than that, the language used is also one of the affected aspects. In Sarawak, we don’t have any problems in understanding each other language. This is because we have been taught indirectly how important to know each other language to avoid misunderstanding. We live a harmony and peace without any discrimination. Most of us can talk in each other language and this makes Sarawak is a wonderful state. The most important thing is we still can see the old buildings that have been preserved by Sarawak government to ensure the young generation still can see all these. We can see the old building alongside of Sarawak Waterfront where Fort Margareta becomes the main attraction of the tourists.
Yes, there are too many changes brought about in the lives of the indigenous tribes in Africa and Sarawak. In Africa, the missionaries try to give their best in spreading the religion by building a school and church. This is to attract the tribes to convert in Christianity. Same goes to Sarawak. The colonizer gave the education to the tribes because they want them to have a proper education. Apart from that, whoever excellent in English, they will be offering to work with them. When the tribes have new perspectives in lives, they want to know more. They begin to explore the outside of world. We can see so many tribes want to leave their village and begin their journey. In Sarawak, some of the tribes especially the young leave their village for the education purposes. They want to make changes in their family by leaving their village and come back when they have finished their journey. So, these are the changes brought in the lives of the indigenous tribes.
