A critical analysis of African traditional Values in Things Fall Apart as portrayed by Chinua Achebe, on the contrary to Joyce Cary in Mister Johnson. Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart in 1958 as a response to an Anglo-Irish novelist called Joyce Cary. Joyce Cary wrote Mister Johnson in 1939. He expresses his experience during his service in Africa. In his narrative, he uses Nigeria (Fada-district) as his setting and he draws his protagonist (Mister Johnson) in the same context.
Joyce Cary, however, claims that Mister Johnson is a character who is not drawn from life but rather a fictional one. It's important to assume that one can not find who is or was Mister Johnson by name in Nigeria unless he or she gets closer to Africa and studies Africans in depth; he or she will probably conclude that Mister Johnson is perhaps everywhere all over the continent. Both novels are set in Nigeria with different perspectives.
Next, the author portrays Africa as savage Africa. And this is why Achebe was pushed to write his novel to argue in favor of a balanced attitude towards humanity. Remember, whichever words you choose, be aware that they can elicit a smile or a frown. Things Fall Apart remains a classic of African literature because it reveals the true history of Africa before and after the contact with Europeans. The novel explores themes of culture and identity, African traditional religion, colonialism and imperialism as well as societal flaws and disintegration.
Achebe points out some myths in Mister Johnson through Things Fall Apart by showing the following.
a)Europeans exported their religion and culture to Africa. Before the coming of Europeans to Africa; Africans had their own traditional religions in which they worshipped God in ways similar to those of Europeans. But Europeans did not appreciate African traditional religions. Because they were not falling under the category of four religions which were recognised by the Europeans that is Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Europeans made the four religions universal and legitimised them. So, any religion out of the four religions was considered as paganism. As Walter Rodney says in his book, (The Groundings With My brothers) "Every human society has its own history and culture. " the same is true in Africa where most Africans had their own culture and ways of life before the European invasion. For example in the novel, " the only course open to Okonkwo was to flee from the clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman. "(pg 87) the quote above from Things Fall Apart shows that Africans had their own religion and they were civilized unlike in Mister Johnson, "Oh , Bamu, you are only a savage girl here- you do not know how happy I will make you. I will teach you to be a civilized lady. "(pg 14) the two quotes above justify that Christianity was a marker of civilization and societal acceptance. It is just a construction of the author himself towards the world view of Africa.
b)Europeans came to Africa for reasons of conquest and colonisation. The aim of European missionaries was not just to evangelize Africans and go back to their home countries. But their main objective was to conquer and acculturate Africans through Christianity. The kind of religion left in the minds of the conquered resulted into the devaluation of traditional life. They colluded with their colonial governments to ensure the process of conquest and victimisation of Africa. Achebe artistically borrowed a title from an English poet W.B Yeats (Things Fall Apart) and titled his own novel in order to convey a theme of social division among Africans. It's from this view when we see characters like Nwoye, Okwonko's son who is converted into Christianity and changes his name from Nwoye to Isaac, "He had just sent Okwonko's son, Nwoye, who was now called Isaac." (Pg 129). So, the change of name symbolises one's removal of his or her identity. In my view, Europeans didn't aim to civilize Africans rather than removing their identies without even being willing to learn anything from them. As an English philosopher and Essayist Francis Bacon says, " Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. " Bacon, probably reminds all of us that we should not be subjective, but rather objective when we seek for the common truth, or else we should master the principle of adaptation before we come to conclusion in any matter. But again in Mister Johnson, we see Johnson who hates his own kind and praises modernity. Johnson is a Nigerian convert to Christianity. And he sees himself as a better individual than anyone else of his skin, yet he lives poor life like other Africans despite the fact that he serves as a chief clerk in the colonial government. " This is three broken huts among a mass of scrub and weed. One has no roof; the second has lost half a wall and is furnished chiefly with an enormous water pot, four feet high. "(pg 20).
NB: " Understanding African literature; Things Fall Apart is a novel that you must read, but Understanding Things Fall Apart in itself, Mister Johnson is a novel that you must read. " (Nazaleth T. Mwaisumo) .
Source: TITO NAZALETH.
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