“The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
“Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.”
In Things fall Apart, the foundation of the Igbo society can be seen as religion, government and family. Things fall apart because the Western influences cause the Igbo people to question their own beliefs, traditions and customs.
The first foundation to crumble, is that of religion. With the introduction of Christianity, the Igbo start examine their own beliefs. Their faith is undermined when the evil forest doesn’t have an effect on the church. When the church declares that throwing away twins is evil, conflict begins to arise as there are clan members such as the wife of Amadi who had thrown away four sets of twins and did not agree with the practice. The religion foundation crumbles when not only the worthless men “efelefu” join the church, but important members of the clan like Nwoye and Obierika also start agreeing more with the Christians than with the Igbo.
“The world has no end,...
