Things Fall Apart Chapter 13-13

Since Okonkwo stood out more than all the other men he was seen as Umuofia's most powerful man. Although Okonkwo is the most powerful man in Umuofia he also has weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is his father, he doesn’t wanna be a weak man and careless like his father. As the white missionaries moved in into their home land, the Igbo people who are unsure of how to react to these traditions either switched to their ways or stayed faithful to their faith. Many people became persuaded of the new religions authorities, however Okonkwo who is an warrior at heart refuses to accept the changes that were taking place in his community.

In Things Fall Apart, when the missionaries first come to Umuofia, Okonkwo is very adamant in resisting their ways. He refuses to conform to them and holds fast to his traditional beliefs. He believes that Christianity is “womanly” and his own practices

The evangelists are very accepting, as they take in the osu, outcasts from the clan. They offer salvation along with freedom, which Nwoye has been searching for for a long time. However, because of Nwoye’s action, Okonkwo disowns him. Later, when Obierika goes to visit Okonkwo, he finds that “Okonkwo [does] not wish to speak about Nwoye.” Moreover, Okonkwo tells his other children that “if any one of [them] prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye” (Achebe, 172). Okonkwo then asks himself how he could have “begotten a woman for a son” (Achebe, 153). According to Okonkwo, Nwoye has become weak because he has joined another religion. Since Okonkwo believes he is the most masculine man in Umuofia, it is unbearable that his child turned out to be such a failure. This unbearable change in his family creates a ripple effect of events that become worse and worse for Okonkwo.

Chapter 5 goes more in-depth in Okonkwo’s character and feelings. One thing that we see in this chapter is how Okonkwo creates the scenario where he could get rid of the anger or impatience that he has accumulated. He use the excuse that his wife killed a banana tree when actually she just took few leafs leaving the tree well and alive, just to beat her and get rid of that anger he had built inside him.

Following Okonkwo’s seven year exile, the village Okonkwo once knew has changed due to the influence of Christianity and the influence of the British missionaries and officers. Okonkwo’s initial reaction is to arm the clan against the Colonisers and drive the British people out of Igbo.

Starting with the first effect of imperialism, the introduction of Christianity in Umuofia, Okonkwo’s fatherland. Four years into Okonkwo’s exile, his good friend Obierika payed him a visit, informing Okonkwo of the arrival of missionaries in Umuofia. The Christian followers had to come to Umuofia to build a church and to convert locals into their anomalous religion. Most importantly, “what moved Obierika to visit Okonkwo was the sudden appearance of the latter’s son, Nwoye, among the missionaries in Umuofia.” (Achebe 143) The introduction of Christianity was one of the many effects set upon the African villages. Locals were becoming

    The Ibo culture in Things Fall Apart began to experience colonization, all after Okonkwo was exiled. He was sent away for seven years for killing a clansman. As soon as Okonkwo had left, Umuofia was greeted by Christian missionaries. They were there to convert the villagers to Christianity, to build churches, schools, and hospitals for them. When Okonkwo was exiled, Nwoye snuck off to be among the Christians. He enjoyed being around them and examined their religious views. But, Okonkwo was not happy about Nwoye’s decisions. Okonkwo chokes him by the neck, and demands Nwoye to tell him where he has been. “I don’t know, he is not my father.” (Achebe 137) Being almost killed by his own father really encouraged Nwoye to disassociate himself from his father completely and to head back home to Umuofia. Nwoye was drawn to Christianity because it made him feel welcomed, rather than when he was apart of his native religion.

2. Page #______ What is the “normal course of action” when a member of a neighboring clan

In the beginning of the book Chinua sets up the story by explaining about the tribe of Umofia, and the people who live there. Okonkwo is a powerful native with 3 wives, and several children. The story continues on until he is banished from the clan and forced to live on his mother’s land. During his time there, his friend Obierika visits him and brings him currency from yams sold that belonged to Okonkwo. He learns that during his exile Christian missionaries came to the tribe. His own son Nwoye has been interacting with the missionaries. In the text, Obierika asks Nwoye how his father is and Nwoye responds, “I don’t know. He is not my father.” when Oknokwo heard this, he did not want to speak about Nwoye (Achebe 52). This is the first example in the story where the European missionaries have directly affected the main character. Although Okonkwo did not like Nwoye, this event opened up the story to deeper interaction with the Christian missionaries. These people were beginning to implement themselves into African territory, and

Okonkwo’s story portrays the major differences between African culture and the idea that the Western society had on the African culture. Okonkwo is native to the Umuofia tribe and represented this oversized human being who with holds no emotion. All this makes Okonkwo seem very unrelatable and unfriendly, but this is what makes his relationships with the characters in the book so entertaining. For example, Okonkwo had a very negative connection with his father that affected him so much that it brought him to the point where it changed his life and is also the reason why he is so strict with his kids. With the introduction of these missionaries into the tribe, it completely changed the way the tribe acted and ended up bringing Okonkwo to a point where he had to pay the ultimate price. It was all because they couldn’t get along.

Lastly, the missionaries drive Okonkwo to violence and brutality through the mere presence of them in Umuofia. For example, Okonkwo ‘trembles with hate, unable to utter a word’ (204) as they integrate Christianity into his village. Thus, Okonkwo’s hatred and closed mind with his son, his community, and the missionaries drive him to mental stress, causing his life to turn into bad struggle and savagery. Firstly, after Nwoye shows disloyalty towards his father, Okonkwo disowns him. He tells his other children the ‘great abomination’ Nwoye is and how ‘he is no longer his son or their brothers’ (172). This dispute within the kinship is due to Okonkwo’s resistance to embrace his son's beliefs and admiration for Christianity. His unwillingness to see through the ‘betrayal’ of his son leads to division in family, hurting his mental state. Furthermore, the people within his village create angst in his life as well. With all the change in Umuofia, Okonkwo develops a new outlook on the men and people, seeing them as weak and frail. To illustrate, he exclaims that ‘he mourned for the clan’ and ‘mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had unaccountably become soft like women’

The missionaries conflict with everything Okonkwo believes or values. The missionaries are so outlandish to Okonkwo that his first reaction is just to laugh at them. This is shown on page 147, paragraph 4, “ At the end of it Okonkwo was fully convinced that the man was mad. He shrugged his shoulders and went away.” Okonkwo later begins to understand the threat the missionaries pose to his society and passionately speaks for forcing the missionaries out of Umuofia. However when his people will not listen to him, he feels like he is forced to take matters into his own hands. This is shown on page 204, paragraph 7,” Okonkwo’s machete descended twice and the man’s head lay beside his uniformed body”. The Ibo people do not join in on the violence as Okonkwo had hoped, which contradicted with Okonkwo belief that the Ibo were warrior people. This final loss of Okonkwo’s core beliefs is what shatters Okonkwo’s final sense of identity as a man. As Okonkwo is no longer any of the things he has come to identify himself as, and Okonkwo blames the missionaries for this, his final response to the missionaries is to take his own life. Okonkwo's death is shown on page 207, paragraph 3 “ Then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling, and they stopped dead.” When Okonkwo identity was ripped from him he no longer saw a point in living and his fight with the

The fact that these missionaries have started to really make an impact was unprecedented by the Ibo people; their continuous misunderstandings of one another contribute to make this situation frustrating to both the Ibo clansmen and the Christians that view their religion as superior. Okonkwo returns back to his home village of Umuofia after his exile to Mbanta, and he arrives to see missionaries have overtaken the village, created a government, and many Umuofians have joined the church. As Okonkwo and his friend Obierika are talking, Obierika says of the missionaries and their impact, “He says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us?...He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart” (176). The white men and missionaries have been successful in coming in and gaining power. They believe the customs to be “bad”, showing their disregard of Ibo culture, and how their motives for infiltrating Ibo life is based off of selfish ideas- only to gain more followers to their religion. Furthermore, by actually being successful in drawing Umuofians into their religion, they have turned

The accumulation of a congregation was a slow process.  Mr. Kiaga, the interpreter in charge of the congregation, was "firm" and it was this trait that "saved the young church" (157, Ach).  His strong faith and new beliefs were inspirational to those clansmen that had ever questioned the Ibo practices.  Mr. Brown, a white missionary, was characterized as "respected even by the clan" (178, Ach).  Mr. Brown was even offered a gift by one of the neighboring villages, "which was a sign of his dignity and rank" (179, Ach).  He did not simply preach his ideas, but educated himself in the tribe's culture through conversations with the clansmen.  Mr. Brown opened a school and hospital in Umofia.  "And it was not long before the people began to say that the white man's medicine was quick in working.  Mr. Brown's school produced quick results" (181, Ach).  Achebe chooses to characterize a missionary such as Mr. Brown favorably to create for the reader a respectable and exemplary view of the missionary.  This benevolent perception of missionaries is neutralized with Mr. Browns contrast: Reverend James Smith.

Nwoye most likely remembers the twins he heard thrown in the Evil Forest and intends to be like Isaac, and protect twins and others that the Ibo consider evil. Nwoye has also become a teacher which shows his devotion to Christianity, greater than any devotion he had in Umuofia, whether to working in the fields, his father, or his culture. Mr. Brown's friendly nature is also shown in this section. He heard of Okonkwo returning to Umuofia and "immediately paid him a visit" and "hoped that Okonkwo would be happy to hear of it," referring to Nwoye. Okonkwo, however, drove Mr. Brown away and threatened him. This treatment of Mr. Brown shows Okonkwo's genuine hatred of Christianity that stole his first-born son and any change that has come with it.