Things Are Starting to Fall Apart...

   Chapters 12-19 were the most eventful and exciting chapters I've read so far in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Okonkwo accidentally kills a deceased elder man's son, "In the center of the crowd lay a pool of blood. It was the dead man's sixteen year old son...Okonkwo's gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy's heart," (Achebe 124). Okonkwo and his family are exiled from the village of Umuofia. He can return to the village in seven years, as opposed to never returning to the village, because he accidentally killed the boy.

    Okonkwo, along with his wives and children, travels to Okonkwo's motherland, Mbantu. There, the book introduces Uchendu, his mother's brother. Uchendu earned the spot as my favorite character in the  book with just one speech to Okonkwo, "A man belongs to his fatherland when things are good and life is sweet. But when there is sorrow and bitterness he finds refuge in his motherland. Your mother is there to protect you...And that is why we say that mother is supreme," (Achebe 134). He puts Okonkwo in his place, and I like that he is so firm but caring at the same time. To be honest, I've become a little annoyed with Okonkwo, and reading this scene between him and Uchendu eases my irritation. 

    The white men, or missionaries, move into the villages. I'm surprised to read that they do not force the villagers to convert, at least not at yet. Instead, the missionaries give speeches about God to inspire the villagers to convert to Christianity. "'We have been sent by this great God to ask you to leave your wicked ways and false gods and turn to Him so that you may be saved when you die,'" (Achebe 145). The missionaries could genuinely be trying to "save" the people of the villages, and they seem to be doing so peacefully, but I don't like how they disrupt the lives of the villagers. I agree with Okonkwo; I would be very angry if people invaded my village and started to change everything I'd ever believed in. 

     At the end of Chapter 19, Okonkwo and his family prepare for the journey back to Umuofia. Zwoye  is already back in Umuofia, because of his decision to convert to Christianity. Missionaries have built a church in Umuofia, which leads me to think that a lot of villagers have also converted. I'm nervous to see how Part Three of the book will play out.