Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, religion is a powerful aspect of both the Ibo and Evangelist cultures. For the Ibo, gods, ancestors, and other powerful spirits are used to understand the world around them and better connect with one another. However, in this novel, the main focus of the Evangelists is to convert as many people as possible and turn them away from a “savage” religion, bringing them to God and heaven. Because these religions have goals that conflict with one another, the Ibo and white men have limited information and communication leading to extreme actions from people on both sides of this story. Achebe’s novel shows the misinterpretation and miscommunication about the Ibo and Evangelist’s religions that leads to violence

As Obierika hears of the annihilation of Abame after a white man comes to stay, he learns, “The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them…it said that other white men were on their way” (138). Because this was the only story, the “single story” of the strange white men, the Ibo become frightened for their lives or, like Okonkwo, overly violent towards the strangers. Okonkwo reacts to the conspiring events with the new people, “He mourned for the clan which he saw breaking up and falling apart, and he mourned for the warlike men of Umuofia, who had so unaccountably become soft like women” (183). Due to his intense feelings for his Fatherland, Okonkwo begins to fight the strange men and literally ends up killing the messenger. Because a few of the Ibo react violently due to one source, they have misinterpreted the actions of the white men and therefore started a war they are not likely to

Before Okonkwo leaves his Motherland, one of the Kinsmen comments, “I fear for you young people because you do not understand…the bond of kinship. You do not know what it is to speak with one voice. And what is the result? An abominable religion has settled among you” (167). Before the introduction of the white men, there was only one religion in Umuofia, and most people lived peacefully, sharing ideals that usually resembled the others. However, as relationships split and the people are no longer united, communication and understanding become harder tasks, and rare is the occasion when the Evangelists and steadfast Ibo can agree or talk in a direct manner. When Nwoye joins the new religion Okonkwo tells the rest of his sons, “If any one of you prefers to be a woman, let him follow Nwoye now while I am alive so that I can curse him” (172). Because Okonkwo now holds contempt for his eldest and previously most promising son, his heart and head conflict, but eventually his anger and stubbornness take over. The conversion of many sons and daughters into the new strangers religion, makes the inevitable violent conflict with the Evangelists a personal matter. For many families not excluding Okonkwo’s, this makes it more painful for many to communicate if they are to do so through their estranged