Power enables one to gain control of religion, and with that power, comes the ability to override and strip one of their control over their ways of life. In Chinua Achebe’s story Things Fall Apart, things fall apart for Okonkwo and the Ibo tribe. There is a critical moment that specifically leads to this conflict throughout the story. Okonkwo was a brave and strong man, and he wasn’t afraid to use a heavy hand to control his wives and children. One of the reasons why he used a heavy hand was because of his ill fated father. In his eyes, his father was a weak man, a man as weak as a woman. Being compared to his father was always the last thing he wanted. He was willing to go to almost any measure to make sure that never happened, even if that meant killing a boy who had grown to be like a son to him. Through Achebe’s story, he explains that one’s desire and determination to obtain power and control over religion can ultimately lead to the beginning of self-annihilation as shown when Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna. Having such determination to obtain power can lead to a distancing relationship between a parent and child. Okonkwo, expected his eldest son Nwoye to grow to be a powerful …show more content…
Okonkwo blamed his son’s leaving on the Christians, in fact, hatred began to arise towards them from within, and it was only a matter of time before he reached his boiling point. When religions collide, they will belittle and try to acquire control over each other. Shortly after the missionaries arrived in the villages, they told the Ibo people of their God, “the creator of all the men and women.” They told them that they were worshipping false Gods, that they were not alive and “could do them no harm,” (53) that they were “pieces of wood and stone.” (53) This confused many Ibo people, and the later fact that the white men survived the “evil forest” caused them to question their own