Things Fall Apart: Chapter 13,14 "Salute to Our Culture"

Things Fall Apart Chapter 13,14 "Salute to our culture"

"Guns were fired on all sides and sparks flew out as machetes clanged together in warriors salutes. The air was full of dust and the smell of gunpowder" (Achebe 123).

At the beginning of a ceremony for Ezeudu, many guns are shot up into the air as a solute to the 'spirit' that brings water to Ezeudu and wishes him luck in his next life. But, the interesting part of this is the fact that they have guns and gunpowder. These guns and gunpowder/ammunition are made by the 'white people' or imperialists. So we have to infer that the white people have been to or near the land before. This is not our first sighting of objects made by imperialists in Umuofia, but it is one of the most prominent because many of the clansmen have guns. Also, the ceremony is something that imperialists will try and get rid of. Most imperialists enforced their own religions and would suppress all other religions that were native to the people. These is just one example of things the imperialists might suppress later on in the story.