Respect and believing that one is better
than another human being helped result in child slavery in China. Many people don’t respect children or the
life every children should have, and many people do nothing to help these
children because it is not their child.
With this way of thinking, child slavery in China continues to be
“okay.” Respect, or more so lack of,
prevented these children from living the life that they deserve. In Things
Fall Apart, respect is a big deal.
Powerful males or respected more than regular males, males in general
are more respected than women, etc.
However, respect and lack of respect changed the way each of these
people live. Okonkwo was well-respected
among his people, so he lived a wealthier life than other people. However, the other people in his tribe that
were not respected did not live a better life.
Some were even considered outcasts and not part of their society. This all traces back to respect. With respect and respect of life, people can
help change these children’s lives and make it more appropriate.
Many people also believe that they are
superior to others, just because of nature, gender, skin color, appearances, or
social class. This idea is very harmful
and helps lead to child slavery in
China. Because some parts of China are
much poorer than America, people are led to the assumption that it is common
for some people to live in such poverty and harsh conditions. This idea of superiority is also relevant in Things Fall Apart. Okonkwo believed he was better than others because he was more man, and an example of his idea of superiority is: "Only a week ago a man had contradicted him at a kindred meeting which they held to discuss the next ancestral feast. Without looking at the man Okonkwo had said. “This meeting is for men.” The man who had contradicted him had no titles. That was why he had called him a woman. Okonkwo knew how to kill a man’s spirit" (Achebe). When the white missionaries came to Africa,
they believed they were better than these “savages” just because of skin
color. If everyone thinks this way, it
will lead to issues larger than child slavery in China. Every person is made equal, and if people
think otherwise, it will lead to a destructive and hateful world.
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart.
Anchor Books, 1994. Print.
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