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Originally Posted by fantasyfan
I have to add a coda to my last post--this novel has kept me thinking all day long!   |
I had a similar reaction. The book wouldn't let go of me.
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The coda is this. The Christian missionaries start saving the twins "thrown away" and attempt to change the culture which they consider essentially barbaric. But the thoughts of Obierika and the utterly magnificent speech of Uchendu demonstrate that the curative seeds were already there in the thoughts and words of men like these--and probably also in the unspoken thoughts of women. They don't need the missionaries. Left to itself, the culture would naturally evolve and retain the good that is certainly present.
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Originally Posted by issybird
It was just those inherent weaknesses of a strong community that allowed an alien religion to take root. It was already vulnerable, containing the seeds of its own destruction.
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We seem to be at odds here, but perhaps not. Could the "answer" be that any culture contains the seeds of both its salvation and its destruction? And that it's down to the people who lead, happenstance and perhaps just sheer dumb luck at any given time which trajectory it takes?