Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

In Things Fall Apart, Achebe changes Nwoye from a boy who struggles to please his father Okonkwo to a deeply converted Christian that defies his Okonkwo’s wishes. Achebe showed this by making Nwoye enter a very sad and vulnerable state made him very susceptible to the culture collision that the missionaries brought. Achebe was trying to show that the weak minded were the first to be changed when a new culture entered a more traditional one.
Nwoye was always trying to earn Okonkwo’s respect from the start of the novel. No matter the cost. He gave up things like reading “the kind of [stories he} loved. But he knew … His father wanted him to be a man”( Achebe p. 52.) like Okonkwo. He would have done anything to please Okonkwo. It wasn’t until after Ikemefuna died that he stopped trying to please his father. He felt uncomfortable around him and blamed Okonkwo for Ikemefuna’s death. Afterwards he fell into a state of depression that he was desperate to break. And it happened to be the Christian missionaries that do it.

The missionaries force their ideals onto the natives, thinking that they don’t know any better.

Most discarded and ignored them, but not Nwyoe. From the start he was “attracted to the new faith from the very first day,”( Achebe p. 151). But, after a savage beating, it was Okonkwo that persuaded him to make his final choice and convert to Christianity. Originally he “kept it secret… for fear of his father” but when his father openly tries to kill him he has a revelation to leave his father and family to pursue his new faith. Achebe shows how those weak minded will easily lose their beliefs during cultural collisions. Nwoye grew from that point onto teach the young to read the bible and convert more people. He was finally happy and no longer looking for Okonkwo’s

respect.
Nwyoe’s actions caused other Ibo people to “fear for [the young people] because [they] do not understand how strong [the bond] of kinship…” and how losing it has led to the creation of “an abominable religion.” (Achebe p.167) The Ibo people feared for if he may “curse the gods” of his “father and ancestors” it will bring misfortune from the gods. This did get some Ibo people to rise up against the missionaries. It lead to some guerrilla warfare, including: destruction of the church, forcing every “man in Umuofia [to be] armed with a gun or a machete]”, tying up the 6 village leaders, and ultimately Okonkwo’s suicide.
Though out Things Fall Apart Nwyoe undergoes changes from a boy trying to please his father, to a Christian convert that goes against his wishes. Achebe uses Nwyoe as an example of what happens to weak willed minds during a cultural collision. Ultimately, when different culturs do collide, there will be major changes.