Reaping the Reward of the White Man's Burden - Things Fall Apart essay

This is my rough draft of a topic given for Things Fall Apart, which I'm a little iffy on the title. I feel pretty comfortable on the actual information I've put forth, but I have a problem with trying to fit too much information instead of expanding. I'm not looking for critiques on the information(while it is welcomeed), but more so on my organization.

Topic
Analyze the British characters' speech and actions in Things Fall Apart. Explain how their actions and speech reveal their belief in the White Man's Burden.

Reaping the Reward of the White Man's Burden
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, the first book by a native Nigerian, truly shows what the Africans were enduring through in the early to mid 1900's. While the British have always been the historians for Africa, the Igbos now had their own story to tell about the White Man's Burden. The British characters were revealed to see the colonization of Africa as their duty, a way to pacify the native savages with the use of religion, and a way to fix the Africans that entitled them to do as they please.

The British characters of Things Fall Apart clearly showed that they felt it was their rightful duty to instill their leadership on the Umuofians. As the white men began to arrive, they "also brought a government" (Achebe 174). In Umuofian society prior to British colonization, decisions that affected the community were not made by a chief or by any individual, but were rather decided by a council of male elders that were renowned throughout the nine villages of Nigeria in the novel. The British also told the Umuofians that the leaders of the future "would be man and women who had learned to read and write" (Achebe 181). Umuofia has survived for generations without a true written language, but the British still forced their own language upon the region. Not only are the British replacing Umuofian education with their own, but they are securing a future dominated by those that are loyal to them. The Nigerians that choose to follow the British instead of the Ancestors will also be those that will soon lead Umuofia.

With the White Man's Burden, the British characters also brought their own religion to replace the Igbo's traditional beliefs. The missionaries arrive at Umuofia towards the end of the novel, where they "built their church... and won a handful of converts" (Achebe 143). The younger members of Umuofia are the ones most likely to be the first converts, once again securing a British dominated future for Nigeria. The new religion also "welcomed twins and such abominations" (Achebe 155). This religion will appeal to the outcasts of Umuofia, gaining a large number of potential converts that had no authority in Umuofian society. Religious leaders were previously called upon to settle debates reflecting the cultural focus of the Igbo people, but as Christianity gains more converts, the new Christian leaders within the British church will decide the outcome of these disputes. The arrival of the British in Umuofia split the community into two separate cultural groups, with the Christians being the ones that will determine the fate of the region as traditional beliefs and leaders fall in authority.

The British characters also displayed that they and their culture are superior Umuofians. Within Nigeria, there was no true set of rules for them to follow as the Umuofian beliefs didn't apply to them, shown shortly after they arrived when "the missionaries... boasted openly that all the gods were dead and impotent" (Achebe 155). Because the missionaries continued to flourish within Umuofian society, natives began to lack faith in their gods and see the British as speaking the truth. In another village near Umuofia, white men surrounded the market of Achebe and "began to shoot... everybody was killed" (Achebe 139). After a lone Briton was killed by the natives, others took it upon themselves to slay the entire village. Instead of finding the ones responsible and legally punishing them, Achebe clearly shows that while the British were in Africa, their laws and that of the Umuofians didn't apply to them.

Achebe's depiction of the British in Umuofia and Igbo Culture demonstrates three central parts of the White Man's Burden: superiority, religion, and control of leadership. These three factors determine the success of the colonization of Nigeria and the rest of Africa. The British felt that they were superior to the natives, and that it was their responsibility to replace their customs with their own beliefs and government.

The purpose of an essay is to give enough explanation and examples so that a person can understand a point you want to make. If your point is simple, you can make it in a sentence, but if it requires more explanation you have to write a paragraph. And if you really need to give a deep discussion of some idea, you can express it in an intro paragraph and follow it up with several paragraphs, each of which has a clear topic sentence that supports the main idea.

One essay = one big idea.

And if you think the points you make require elaboration, you should try to do it. :-)


This really makes it sound like YOU think of the natives as savages and... at the end, "a way to fix them that entitled them..." does not really make sense. You might want to reword this part.

Your essay has great structure. The biggest concern I have is that you don't explain clearly what the White Man's Burden is, and even worse is the fact that you are writing about it in a way that makes it sound like you are validating it. You should explain the cultural egoism that is involved. Is cultural egoism the right term? You should write these sentences in a way that shows the folly of this way of thinking.

And yeah, the title is iffy. The title is a good opportunity to refer to the "burden" in a way that shows that you understand the moral of the story, the lesson to be learned.