Ch. 16-18 Missionaries

Missionaries had come to the village of Okonkwo's motherland and built their church. They wanted to change everyone's views on religion, and wanted to convert all to Christianity. However, it was very hard at first to do so because they have been worshiping their "gods" for years. Mr. Brown was more calm, he wasn't forcing anyone to do anything, but he was nonetheless preaching the word of God. Consequently, Okonkwo's son Nwoye converted into Christianity, which was disappointing to Okonkwo. He thought that his son betrayed his ancestors and their gods and so he stopped calling him son. Okonkwo believed that his chi, his god, clearly wanted him to be miserable because nothing good was happening the way he wanted it. Okonkwo wanted to become the greatest leader back in his village, but since he had to flee, he couldn't and would never become one. The missionaries came to invade their village and their religion, and most of the villagers were already giving in to this new religion. Okonkwo couldn't understand how men would become like women--soft and easy to convince. The "white men had not only brought a religion but also a government" (155) The white men clearly wanted to be the rulers of these villages and so they built a government so that they could have more power over the villagers. With Mr. Brown being the head of the church, more and more people were starting to convert and even the ones that were once the "outcast" decided to come in as well. However, those of the villagers who were true to their gods and customs, decided to outlawed the Christians. I kind of understand why they would do such thing. These missionaries came all of a sudden to their land and wanted their customs changed overnight. It is not possible for that to happened because most of these villagers are old and they were going to be true to their ancestors, gods, and customs no matter what.