The arrival of Western ideas into Ibo culture has greatly changed the lives and the way of living of the natives. For multiple numbers of years, the culture of the Ibo has remained untouched, and unaltered by anyone of the outside world. The "White Man" came to the Ibo culture seeking salvation for those who were lost. The church first targets the Efulefu, or those who are titleless, worthless men. In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, we see the response of the African culture to the European changes in the culture.
The European, and Christian change in the Ibo culture has caused Okonkwo to become a crazed, mad man. Okonkwo is enraged at the fact that, not only his village, but also his tribe has defied their traditional beliefs, and switched over to the new Christian culture. During the arrival of the white missionaries, Okonkwo had been exiled from the tribe for a 7 years time period.
English: Computer generated image of an udu made b...
English: Igbo Ukwu pendant.
Onyekachi Okonkwo, soccer player FC ZurichAt the time, Okonkwo didn't know much about what was going on. He heard from one of his great friends, Obierika that there were whit men coming to the village as missionaries.
Okonkwo, the greatest warrior of the Ibo tribe, seems to have a hard time understanding and adapting to his new culture as he returns from his exile. The changes in his culture, imposed by the Europeans and the Christians bring him to conflict with friends, family, and the village. The foreign missionaries had such a great effect on Okonkwos tribe, and clansmen, that many of them converted to the new ways. Okonkwo believed that his clansmen's decision to not fight back made them look weak, and if Okonkwos clansmen looked weak, he thought that he would be deemed weak as well. In order to not be seen as weak,