The novel Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe is a classic of African literature and the most read novel written by an African author. Achebe 's novel portrays - using the example of an Igbo-village - how an ancient and prosperous community tragically falls apart after the infiltration of European missionaries. This essay will examine in what way the missionaries are represented and how they both guided and destroyed the society in Things Fall Apart. Understanding the setting of the novel, Things Fall Apart, is important to understanding its themes. The novel is split into three parts. The first part describes life in the Ibo village Umuofia before the time of the missionaries. The middle section concentrates on the first seven years under command of the missionaries and the third part focuses on how the influence of the missionaries lead to the Ibo society falling apart. This written task will mainly focus on part two and three to be able to concentrate on the way the missionaries are represented and developed in the novel. Wanting the missionaries to seem superior they are first introduced as violent and cruel. Evidence is the complete swipe out of one of the Ibo villages. Gaining respect and fear through that first impression the missionaries are now able to recruit more and more people without using physical force. They now seem like amiable people trying to modernize and pacify the tribe. But the impression is deceiving since the missionaries are very serious