The introduction of the British missionaries to the Ibo people and to the book has an enormous effect on the characters and plot in the novel Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe. Along with the introduction of the British comes Christianity leading to some of the characters clashing with the new foreigners, and others to accepting the foreigners and their beliefs. The introduction of Christianity also leads to the book finally earning its title; when things literally start to fall apart for the main character, Okonkwo. Okonkwo’s response to this new foreign religion and his reasonings behind that response are quite prevalent in the text. However, Nwoye’s response to this new religion and his reasoning behind it is quite interesting, as there …show more content…
By the time the British are starting to colonize Nigeria Okonkwo is already at a low point having killed Ikemefuna, he’s getting even further away from Nwoye, and has now been kicked out of his home land. As the British continue to progress, slowly advancing into Nigeria, news of the British spreads to Mbanta via Obierika and in return Okonkwo as well. The clan of Abame killed a lone British man who had peacefully come to their tribe on a bike which resulted in more British missionaries to be sent over and destroy their village. Obierika states that he believes it was foolish of them to kill the man and Okonkwo agrees, but Okonkwo also thinks that they should have prepared for the other British missionaries that came. The missionaries expand into Umuofia and soon after reach Mbanta, where they set up a church for converts to learn more of Christianity. Some of the missionaries preach their beliefs in Mbanta to little avail. Most of the tribe members scoff at their claims, including Okonkwo. While a few other Igbo people are drawn towards Christianity, Okonkwo continues to push away Christianity no matter the cost, until he feels completely alone in his fight against change and hangs himself. The scene of Okonkwo’s suicide is described in chapter 25, “then they came to the tree from which Okonkwo’s body was dangling”(Achebe …show more content…
However, for Nwoye the introduction of the British brings a renewed hope and comfort. This is because “a new door had opened” in the sense that Nwoye now had a place and platform to accept his own differences, that he did not have access to before. He soon starts to attend the church that the British started in Mbanta, unbeknownst to his father. The book states his reasonings of accepting Christianity is because he finds a certain comfort or clarity from Christianity that he didn’t get from the Igbo religion. This may be the main reason he converts to Christianity but, there are other factors that play into him choosing Christianity. For instance, Nwoye seems to have the same flaw as Okonkwo in that he wants to be nothing like his father and his way of rebelling is by becoming a member of the religion that his father despises. This would back up his reasoning for converting to Christianity and make him more willing to make the leap from the Igbo religion that he had become accustomed to into Christianity, which was more foreign. His defiance of Okonkwo is pushed to the brink when a cousin of Okonkwo reports that he saw Nwoye in the Christian church and Okonkwo beats Nwoye. Nwoye decides to leave his father behind by moving to Umuofia and attending the missionaries school to dive deeper into Christianity and further into becoming what his father despises.