Things Fall Apart Chapters 9-10: The Medicine Man

"The medicine man then ordered that there should be no mourning for the dead child. He brought out a sharp razor from the goatskin bag slung from his left shoulder and began to mutilate the child. Then he took it away to bury in the Evil Forest . . ." (Achebe 78).

When imperialists come to a new country, they often feel it is their duty to "enlighten" the inhabitants and save them from their "primitive" ways. Anything different from their own spiritual and cultural beliefs was seen as wrong and imperialists believed that other races desperately needed help from the white men. When imperialists came and saw things like a medicine man, it scared them because it was different. In western culture, the thought of not mourning a dead child and then mutilating it would be seen as an abomination. Imperialists did not understand that different did not mean immoral or wrong. As a result, they destroyed the cultures of many of the indigenous peoples of the countries that they invaded. This was all a part of their "white man's burden." They felt that it was their job to "clean up" the other races and mold them so that they fit with western culture. The imperialists in Things Fall Apart will most likely react the same way, as cultural aspects like the medicine man will probably scare them.