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Influence Of Culture In Things Fall Apart And Poisonwood Bible

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When diving into the writing of Things Fall Apart and Poisonwood Bible, the influence of culture and geographical surroundings on the characters and their social and moral traits is evident. Both authors purposefully developed cultural conflicts in their writing to cause the reader to think about the effects of culture on the way one thinks and acts. Not only are the characters in these novels shaped by their own culture, but they also encounter difficulties when confronted by a new culture. Achebe’s characters Okonkwo, his family, and his village are introduced to the culture of the white missionaries not by choice while Kingsolver’s characters Nathan Price and his family choose to experience a new culture when they go to the Congo as missionaries. In each of these instances, the characters previous culture impacts their ability to adapt to the new one placed in front of them. Achebe’s novel takes place in a village in Nigeria called Umuofia. It is easiest to see how Okonkwo is shaped by his culture as he is the protagonist in this book. In his village, one is defined by wealth and success. Success was based on the number of titles on received and the only way to obtain these titles was to buy them. Okonkwo was born to Unoka who was lazy and improvident and because of this he acquired a lot of debt in his lifetime. He was poor and was unable to provide for his family let alone gain any titles or grow his wealth. Because of this, “Okonkwo did not have the start in

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