The Igbo People In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

When society is made richer through veiled intentions, it is hard to gauge whether it was made richer at all. This was the case for the Igbo people in Things Fall Apart. On one hand, their society took several beneficial turns as a result of the Missionary’s intervention. On the other, their presence caused a great divide within the Igbo clan, shattering their culture into a million pieces, impossible to put back together once again. Unfortunately, the Igbo were not the only victims of such exploitation; other African tribes were taken over by various European powers in the same manner. When the industrial revolution struck in Europe in the nineteenth Century, the need for raw materials skyrocketed. Africa, rich in natural resources, became a prime target for such necessities. However, it is hard to say whether the increased wealth and adopted modern social customs were worth the exploitation they were achieved through. While the Christian

For one, the Christians brought with them teachers, erecting schools for reading and writing. Although originally intended to train indigenous people to read the Bible, these schools did help gain Africa recognition as “civilized” in a more defined sense. In chapter seventeen of Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo discovers his son Nwoye’s plan to leave him for a Christian school back in Umuofia (at this moment Okonkwo and his family are living with his mother’s kinsman after being exiled for an accidental killing). “He [Nwoye] went back to the church and told Mr. Kiaga that he had decided to go to Umuofia where the white missionary had set up a school to teach young Christians to read and write” (Achebe 132). Nwoye sees this as a perfect opportunity to make something of himself, especially after hearing all the things an education can get a Christian