The missionaries request land to build a church. The village elders offer them a plot in an evil forest, expecting the sinister spirits there to kill the missionaries. However, nothing happens to the missionaries. Okonkwo's cousin tells him that Nwoye has joined the Christians. When Nwoye returns, Okonkwo chokes him for information and Nwoye leaves to attend a Christian school in Umuofia.

1. Things Fall Apart - Chp17
Lily Hunt

2. Events
•
•
Missionaries request a piece of land to build a church
•
Missionaries accept offer but elders think the forest’s sinister spirits
and forces will kill the missionaries within days (nothing ends up
happening)
•
•
•
Village leaders and elders offer them a plot in the evil forest
(thinking they won’t accept it)
Okonkwo’s cousin informs Okonkwo that Nwoye is among the
Christians
Okonkwo chokes Nwoye when he returns demanding to know where
he had been
Nwoye leaves and travels to a school in Umuofia to learn how to read
and write

3. Conflicts
• Okonkwo VS Nwoye

4. Cultural Norms
• Trading land
• Sinister spirits and forces
• Ancestral spirits will allow an offending
•
man a grace period of 28 days before
punishing his sins
Church on 7th day

5. Terms & Definitions
Chi: personal god
Obi: part of a house

6. Connections to today
• Going to church every Sunday
• Trading land
• Father/son relationship

7. Characters
Mr. Kiaga: A native-turned-christian
missionary who arrives in Mbanta and
converts Nwoye and others
Nwoye: Converts to Christianity
Okonkwo: Thinks he fathered a weak son
Nneka: Pregnant and converts to Christianity

8. Questions
1. Do you think Nwoye will come back to
convert his mother, brothers, and sisters to
the new faith like he says he will?
2. Do you think the elders beliefs changed
after seeing that nothing happened to the
missionaries when they went into the evil
forest?