Saturday, March 24, 2018
A Christian Mission (Missin') the Point
I was thinking about the Christian missionaries and Umuofia, and I realized something really weird. Even though I myself am a Christian, I am totally against the missionaries in Things Fall Apart. I guess it’s not really THAT strange considering Achebe spends the whole novel dwelling on the perspective of the Igbo (which of course makes me prone to siding with them), but you’d think I would say the Christian missionaries SHOULD go to Africa to spread the Christian faith. I think my big problem with the missionaries isn’t that they’re trying to spread Christianity; it’s how they do it. They are so disruptive and divisive, and honestly, they cause a lot more strife than good times, which just goes against everything I think missionaries ought to do (spread the love and true message of Christianity, not just get a bunch of people to convert). Even though Mr. Brown seems like a nice guy and tries to minimize conflict between the church and the clan, he’s still the one who comes in and disrupts the ties between people in Umuofia. I don’t get why he couldn’t have tried to find a way to coexist better. I’m sure Mr. Brown would protest that I have no ideas how hard that feat would be to accomplish, and I’m sure he would be right; but I just think that if you’re going to a foreign place, you ought to respect the customs there. And don’t even get me started on Reverend Smith! I don’t see why people think being a priest makes you better than laymen, because this dude is clearly horrible. He’s not Christian-like at all! He’s probably racist and he’s quite disrespectful to the Igbo. Finally, it doesn’t really help that they don’t do anything to stop the District Commissioner from terrorizing the Igbo. If they were really true Christians, I think they’d try to protest the extreme violence the D.C. employs against the Igbo.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree with you! Obviously Mr. Brown was way better than Mr. Smith though (to me at least), because he at least tried to understand Igbo culture and seemed to respect it (like when he was debating Christian vs. Igbo religion). Still, I'm not really sure I'm convinced that he did enough to minimize disruption and conflict. And Mr. Smith definitely did not!
If you're going to a foreign place, I definitely think you should respect the customs there, especially when they are not harmful to other people. For example, if you are supposed to be covered (whether partially or fully) when you enter a monastery or mosque or church or other place of worship, I personally believe you should abide by those rules out of respect (not just for women either). For example, when Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton visited mosques in Muslim countries, they covered their heads, but didn't when meeting with officials. When we visited monasteries Greece over the summer, no one was allowed in without proper covering (dresses/shorts down to the knees, shoulders covered for both men and women). I don't believe that because our Western, Christian customs are different that we should sneer at or deride or disregard other customs. I mean, in most formal Sunday Christian churches, no lady is going to waltz in with a bathing suit on, and no man is going to show up in a Speedo—if they did, most people probably would be a little disturbed at the least and maybe feel like their place of worship was being disrespected. Certain dress is just expected in certain places, and I think that can be extended to other customs as well.
Mr. Smith obviously did not abide by my personal beliefs, though, like you said, Chloe. I think one of Achebe's points was the hypocrisy of these Christian missionaries, who claimed to spread Christ's love and understanding yet were totally disrespectful, rude, and not understanding of Igbo religion and custom. I'm not saying that I agree with every aspect of Igbo culture, but that doesn't mean I think that violence and condescension is even a halfway decent of spreading Christianity. In fact I would say that Reverend Smith was ten times worse of a person for the way he handled his job than some of the Igbo characters we encountered, and nothing about his being ordained can make up for that. Far from it. Being a priest doesn't mean you get a free pass on being evil and condescending and horrible!
Post a Comment