Crops

Umuofian Crops

Importance of Crops

Author: John Nguyen, Features Article Writer

          In Things Fall Apart, crops plays a huge role in shaping society. Many different crops were used as symbols as well as to show how hard a person worked. Yams were very important and a crop grown particularly by men in the Nigerian culture. "His mother and sisters worked hard enough, but they grew women's crops. like coco-yams, beans, and cassava. Yams, the king of all crops, was a mans crop"(Achebe 23). The season of yam planting began on the "week of  peace," this week was used to pray to the earth goddess so that she would give the people fertile soil and good weather so that they can plant their crops. This shows how important the yam was for a man, because in the clan yams were used to represent how much someone was worth in the tribe. Also, it was used to show how hard a man worked." Yam, the king of crops, was a very exact king. For three or four moons it demanded hard work and constant attention from cock-crow till chickens went back to roost"(Achebe 33). This showed how much the yams had to be cared for, a mans worth ethic, and if a man can support his family. Other crops such as the coco nut were used in a form of respect. "He who brings kola brings life." In this example,  Okoye was offering his visitor Unoka to represent hospitality to the visitor and also to pray to his ancestors for protection. These two crops showed great significance in helping us understand the Umuofian culture and help us get a deeper understanding of how wealth and respect was shown in the tribe.



Sources:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor, 1994. 

"Shaping Our Food – an Overview of Crop and Livestock Breeding. Edited by A. Lehrman. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. Published in 2014, Pp. 176. ISBN 978-91-637-5757-0 Available at Http://tr.anpdm.com/track?t=c&mid=11856281&uid=603295709&&&http://www.slu.se/shapingourfood/en." Animal Genetic Resources/Ressources Génétiques Animales/Recursos Genéticos Animales 55 (2014): 143. Print.

"Yams in Things Fall Apart | Study.com." Study.com. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

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