RELIGIOUS LIFE IN CHINUA ACHEBE’S NOVEL THINGS FALL APART
Abstract
This research is aimed at reflecting how Chinua Achebe reveals the religious life of Igbo people before and after the coming of the missionaries as well as the invasion of British in the southeastern part of Nigeria during the late 19th century. Achebe reflects that various practices of social and religious life are thrilling, cruel and even inhumane. This research is considered significant and worthy since it is an exertion to understand historical knowledge and life lessons about religious life of the local people. This study is supported by the theory of literary sociology proposed by Laurenseon and Swingewood's to understand and evaluate literary works by considering social aspects and holistically conducted by descriptive qualitative method in which the data from the novel are analyzed to reveal the religious life of Igbo people before and after the coming of British people and the significant contributions as well as changes they have brought. The findings of this research designates that various inhumane religious and cultural practices, such as abandoning or throwing twins born into the evil forest, throwing people dying with diseases, mutilating babies who die at birth and considering ogbanje, not burying people who die by suicide, surely no longer happen in Igbo society. In short, the changes in religious life carried out by white people bring enlightenment and positive life changes for Igbo people.
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Bloom, H. (2010). Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart. Bloom’s Modern Critical Interpretations. New Edition. Edited and with an Introduction. New York: An Imprint of Info-base Publishing.
Desan, P., Ferguson, P. P., & Griswold, W. (Eds.). (1989). Literature and social practice. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Griswold, W. (2000). Bearing witness: Readers, writers, and the novel in Nigeria. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Research methodology: Methods and techniques (2nd revised edition). New Delhi: New Age International (P) Limited, Publishers.
Laurenseon, D. T. & Swingewood, A. (1972). The sociology of literature. New York: Schocken Books Inc.
Maliha, H. A. (2020). Igbo Culture is better than european culture with reference to things fall apart. Global Scientific Journals. GSJ: Volume 8, Issue 7, July 2020. https://www.globalscientificjournal.com. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343180159
Nwoye, C. (2011). Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An insider’s perspective. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology Vol. 3(9), pp. 304-317, 21 September, 2011 Available online http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA
Purwarno, P. & Suhendi, A. (2017). Colonialism as a redeeming evil in Chinua Achebe’s things fall apart. The 6th International Conference on Multidisciplinary Research (ICMR). http://jurnal.unsyiah.ac.id/AICS-Social/article/view/10827/8721
Radway, J. A. (1991). Reading the romance: Women, patriarchy, and popular literature. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Udechukwu, G. I. (2017). Igbo cultural values and the European influence: A way to redirect the present Igbo youths. UJAH: Unizik Journal of Arts and Humanities. Vol. 18 No. 2 (2017): Special Edition. https://doi.org/10.4314/ujah.v18i2.22
Ushie, J. (2008). Two Africans in one: Neo-colonialism and the African writer. Writer of the Year JAL, No. 5 Retrieved from: www.africaresearch.org/ncol.htm.
Wiyatmi. (2013). Sosiologi sastra. Yogyakarta: Kanwa Publisher.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.30743/jol.v4i2.5841
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Fakultas Sastra
Universitas Islam Sumatera Utara (UISU)
Jln. Sisingamangaraja Teladan Barat Medan, Indonesia
Phone: +627869911 | e-mail: journal_language@sastra.uisu.ac.id