Essay --

The Clash of RacesAfrica has always been the centre of colonization for many European countries. With its colonization came stereotypes of Africans being inhumane, primitive and savage in proportion to the humanity of the civilized Europeans. The tradition model simplifies the stereotypes into Africans argon bad and Europeans are good. Fortunately, it is not as clear cut as this. In Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, both the Igbo of the Umuofia and the British of Europe have good sides and dark sides of their respective races revealing that traditional perceptions of these races are not goodly accurate. Through their systems of government, court systems and godliness both parties have the positive and negative effects on each other.As the traditional model states, the Europeans did have a positive effect on the Africans of Umuofia. Firstly, the British missionaries built a hospital for the citizenry of the village. The villagers state that the White mans medicine was quick and worked well (181). They shared the European experience of medicine with the villagers and this vastly improved their health and overall well-being. In addition, the Europeans built a school for the people of the Umuofia leading to them acquiring jobs. In particular, A a few(prenominal) months in were enough to make one a court messenger or even a court clerk (181). The schools as well taught advanced and knowledge based positions to the villagers too. For example, Those who stayed longer became teachers (181-182). This passing of knowledge assisted the African society to become more educated and helped them get an occupation in the future. Contrary to the traditional model, the Africans of the Umuofia village are civil and humane. The Umofia village has communa... ...e way it was forced on them was inhumane Therefore, it is definite that the Europeans had a dark side too. In summary, if there is one obvious fact, it is that the issue is not as clear cut as the traditional mod el makes it seem. The inhabitants of Umuofia do have a dark side however, it is also evident that they have a civilized and humane side too. Similarly, the Europeans in general also demonstrate both humanity and inhumanity through the massacring of an entire tribe and in imprisoning many Africans who do not conform. They also attempt to enlighten the Africans by providing jobs and medicine. To conclude, one cannot simply say the Europeans are superior and Africans are inferior. In todays society, many stereotypical people are in existence and will forever exist but are those people not supposed to be progressing forward not reverting back to segregation?