tradition! tradition! tradition!

  

"A fiddler on a roof, it seems crazy, is not it, but in this small village called Anatevka we can say that each of us is like a fiddler on a roof. That is starting his instrument a nice tune as you can without breaking the head. And this is not easy, not created and you probably wonder Why not hold here is that dangerous? The answer I can give at once, we stay here because Anatevka is our home.And how to maintain the balance, that I can answer it in one word: tradition"

Fiddler on the Roof.

Traditions  in culture is one of the most important ideas  for   the society which  has  endured until today. Nowadays,  we can notice that  some  of these ideas have changed thought the years and  it adapts to the  society which changes  thought time  and in this case, Achebe looks forward to show this  breakup between the traditions  of a society  just like  the conquest  is  presented in this country.  Chinua Achebe, shows in  his book things fall apart the  role of the oral traditions and  literature in  the  group where Okonkwo comes from. In this case, the plot starts when Okonkwo  leaves  his village  for 3 years. During those 3 years,  many changes occur to Umofia,  because the  Europeans conquered it.

The main part where they show the traditions that Umofia had   is the first part, where Achebe explains the  cause of  his exile, and the  things that  he used  to do  while  he was in Umofia. An important  part of it would be the Agbala, where the   author explains  that this oracle  was an important  part  of the community when  an old  man was sick or almost dying, because  it would  solve the problems that the old man used to  solve. Another important exaple would  be  the   importance of  music  when an old man died, because they represented an important part of teh community and their death must be known  in all the  villages around this  one.  

Another  example thata Achebe uses along   the first part is when  he  writes about  the stories that his mom  used to tell him, or about the  stories that he used to hear  in his community, because they were like  fables   to  the   kids,  because they taught them an important part of  their culture.  An example of this  would  be the  story about the big turtle that  is told to Okonkwo by his mother,  where she explains him the importante of the old men and  the importance of knowledge. Another important fact would be  the  songs that   the author  includes in some parts of the  story, because each of them  means something to  the  village. 

On the other hand, when Okonwko comes back,  he notices that eveything has changed in Umofia,  and  in this case,   he cannot  go back in time and  live where he wants to live. He needs to get used to the  new traditionst  that they have  un his village, because     everything that the umofians have lived, like   fights, deaths,  new buildings, the destroy of their  traditions,etc. An example of this transition would be the reaction of any of the villages around Umofia,  who also lived this change, with  submission or  fought against the system. 

In conclusion, I think that Conrad tried to explain  the  process in which  a   culture changes  through time, and in thsi case,   he showed the  break up between the umonian  traditions represented  by Okonwko, and the  kew tradtions represented  by  the English man which ends  in a metaphor when  Okonkwo died,  meaning the end  of his  culture.