Cultural Conflicts: Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and Buchi Emecheta's "The Joys of Motherhood".
Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" takes place in the late 19th century. Buchi Emecheta's "The Joys of Motherhood" takes place in Ogboli a village in the town of Ibuza, as well as in Lagos. Both novels are set in Nigeria at the time when colonialism initiates cultural conflicts. Okonkwo is a self-made man who deals with cultural conflicts during the seven years of his exile. He and his family had moved to his mother's land. Okonkwo disrespects the accepted Gods several times; during the week of peace, at his death, seen as another sign of cultural disagreement. In "The Joys of Motherhood", Nnu Ego is never fully satisfied with her life in Lagos, urbanization is not common to her and she has trouble accepting her life with Nnaife. Through both of theses texts the reader can identify with problems of cultural conflicts during the seven years when Okonkwo was in exile, several times when he disrespected the acknowledged Gods, and when Nnu Ego left her village and moved to Lagos in the midst of urbanization.
Ezeudu was truly a warrior and the clansmen attended his funeral. During the gunshot celebrations Okonkwo accidentally fired his gun and ironically the bullet caused the death of the dead man's sixteen-year-old son. The only path left for Okonkwo to travel was to leave his clan and he could only return after seven years. It was a crime against the earth God to kill a clansman. He moved to his mother's land with his three wives and all his children. Okonkwo is a man of pride and self-importance. He experienced seven years away from his clan and culture, but he never stopped thinking about how things would be when he returned. He planned for his return since the day of his arrival at Mbanta, his mother's homeland. While Okonkwo was in exile he did not want, his daughter, Ezinma to marry outside their tribe in Umuofia, because hw wanted to keep it homogenous among the tribes.
