Theme of Culture in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Hotel Rwanda by Terry George Essay Example

Things Fall Apart, authored by Chinua Achebe, and Hotel Rwanda, directed by Terry George, show the influences of a new culture on an existing society. Both narratives detail what happens when one culture has another culture’s beliefs and control imposed upon them. The foreign cultures in each story saw the native cultures as lesser than themselves, and ripe for exploitation.  The two tales differ in the approach the foreign cultures chose in order to enforce their will, along with the justification each occupying force used to fuel their beliefs and actions.  

Things Fall Apart and Hotel Rwanda demonstrated similarity in the way that a foreign, European country enforces their beliefs, ways, and will on the native people.  In Things Fall Apart, Great Britain came into Nigeria and slowly infected the natives way of life with their religion and culture with their own. Obierike described to Okonkwo how, “The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. [...] He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart”.  Similarly, in Hotel Rwanda, Belgium occupied an already divided Rwanda, and used their own beliefs and values to choose which side to support and who to allow to rule over and control who. Emphasizing and enforcing the Hutu-Tutsi divide due to their own beliefs, they increased tensions and power divides, and fueled the conflict that would turn violent. In both stories, the European influence and actions get justified by the second similarity: that these European nations viewed the other cultures as lesser.  In Things Fall Apart, the British in their ignorance described and saw the Igbos as savages. They felt they needed  fixing by forcing them to take on their ‘better’ ways, explaining their attempt to come in and make them change.  In Hotel Rwanda, Belgium saw both the Hutus and Tutsis as less than them because of their ethnicity and differences in culture, only seeing the Tutsis as somewhat better because they believed they were more caucasian. Colonel Oliver explains to Paul that, “You’re dirt. We think you’re dirt [...] The West. All the superpowers. Everything you believe in, Paul. They think you’re dirt. They think you’re dumb. You’re worthless.” These similarities exist in the two stories, and in both cases, the beliefs of European cultures create problems for the original cultures; showing the influences of a new culture on the native cultures. However, there also comes differences in how these villains went about spreading their cultures and why they set out to do so.  

The first major difference between Hotel Rwanda and Things Fall Apart is that one demonstrated open violence with the goal of genocide because of race, while the other uses more subtle means of manipulation and persuasion to take over with the goal of colonization through religion. The Christian missionaries approach with the offer of friendship claiming ‘Christian’ motives. They convince them of their new and ‘better’ god who would replace the ‘false gods’ of wood and stone they worshiped, and that worshiping this new god would ensure they lived forever, “he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion say that our customs are bad”. They act as friends wanting to help, when really they want to colonize and spread their own goals. In Hotel Rwanda, they use very open and obvious and extreme violence to commit their genocidal goals. Paul questions all of this violence and asks George, “You do not honestly believe that you can kill them all,” to which George responds, “And why not? Why not? We are halfway there already.” They demonstrate just how widespread and extreme this violence occurred. The second difference occurs in why the imposing societies see themselves as better and insert their influence.  In Things Fall Apart, the British come with colonial intent, keen on imposing their religion as they see themselves and their religion as superior. In Hotel Rwanda, the conflict and divide between the Hutus and Tutsis results from racial and social class reasons, with the Belgians supporting the Tutsis because they associate them with appearing closer to white.  The way the societies went about imposing their beliefs and their rationale for doing so differed, but ultimately in both stories we saw the horrors that can occur when one culture unwarrantedly influences another.