Chinua Achebe illustrates the way that European colonialism divided, disrupted, and dismantled the traditional Igbo societies of Nigeria. Under the guise of religion and economic prosperity, the European colonizers gradually created dissension among the Igbo villages by introducing Christianity and persuading native Africans to join their schools. Their passive approach to gaining a foothold in the Igbo societies leads to the establishment of European bureaucracies, which undermine the authority of the traditional Igbo leaders. As the missionaries persuade more and more villagers to join their church and the natives take advantage of the economic opportunities provided by the European trading posts, the Igbo people begin to divide, which creates tension throughout their tribes and villages. The supporters of traditional Igbo culture eventually challenge the established European institutions but are too late.

Unfortunately, the Igbo people lack the resources and technological advances that allow European colonialism to flourish and cannot defeat their oppressors. Okonkwo's suicide metaphorically represents how the once great, respected Igbo culture has been corrupted and weakened by European colonists. The intricate, complex Igbo culture that Achebe illustrates throughout the novel is pillaged by the deceitful, selfish Europeans, who view the native Africans as ignorant savages. The District Commissioner's candid response after witnessing Okonkwo's corpse swinging from a rope also reveals the callous, insensitive, prejudiced nature of the European colonists.

It is colonialism that destroys the traditional setting of the Igbo and causes all sorts of undermining.  Colonialism is depicted as an artificial source that enters and subverts the traditions and bonds that had existed for some time.  Through Okonkwo's eyes, colonialism has wrecked the village, transformed the characteristics of people there, and changed his own family's dynamics between he and his son.  Achebe's depiction is one where outsiders entered and were able to undercut all hopes of collectivity with the lure of material riches and impositions of outside power.  In the end, the destruction of Igbo values might have been inevitable, but Achebe paints colonialism as the prime culprit that hastened the process.

The picture that Achebe paints is not a very positive one, using the story to depict a colonial power that enters and then brings about the death of the Igbo culture.  Through the Christian religion as well as technological advances, the agents of colonial power enter the village and work tirelessly to convince the Igbo that their ways are the ways of the past and of ignorance and that the ways of the white man are better.  They create rifts in the village and seek to exacerbate those by continuing to point out ways that the village is backwards.

Eventually the interference of the white men and the conflict of their ways with the traditions of the Igbo bring about the death of the Igbo culture signified in part by Okonkwo's suicide.

How does Chinua Achebe, through his novel Things Fall Apart, counter the imperialist stereotypes of Africa as an uncivilized continent?

In An Image of Africa, Achebe talks at length about the grotesque and inaccurate African caricatures that inhabit the margins of Western literature and exist only to justify the condescending white narrative of the "uncivilized" continent of Africa:

Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as "the other world," the antithesis of Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man's vaunted intelligence and refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality (1614).

Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart was written in part to counteract poisonous Eurocentric depictions of Africa as a "dark" continent. Indeed, by centering the novel on the traditional warrior Okonkwo and casting white settlers as an invasive force, Achebe subverts Eurocentric expectations. One interesting section that shows that the white settlers have displaced traditional Umuofian values occurs when Okonkwo and Obierika discuss a land dispute. The white settlers installed a European judicial model in Umuofia and, in doing so, have completely upset the customs of the people. When Okonkwo asks if the white man understands Umofian culture, Obierika responds in a pointed fashion,

How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad. . . He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart (176).

Here, Achebe gives readers an often marginalized perspective. White settlers believe (perhaps sincerely) that they help "uncivilized" Africans by applying their own model of justice. Achebe shows the side often disregarded or overlooked by Western literature: he shows that this "fair and balanced" approach by white judges tosses aside decades of Umuofian customs.

Perhaps the most interesting and foreboding passage of the novel comes at the very end. After spending the majority of the novel in the native perspective, Achebe shifts the narrative focus to the white District Commissioner. The novel ends as he ponders how to work Okonkwo's story into his own book:

The story of this man who had killed a messenger and hanged himself would make interesting reading. One could almost write a whole chapter on him. Perhaps not a whole chapter but a reasonable paragraph at any rate. . . He had already chosen the title of the book, after much thought: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger (208-9).

The ironic part here, of course, is that much more than a paragraph has already been written about Okonkwo. The arrogant District Commissioner wants to appropriate only the section that he finds interesting about Okonkwo and weave this into his own Eurocentric vision of Africa. Even the working title of his book reveals that he considers the people of the region to be monolithic, a group defined by their "primitive" nature and destined to be "pacified" by white settlers.

Thus, by writing the novel from the typically overlooked perspective of a traditional tribal man in Nigeria, Achebe subverts Western ideas about the region.

I took the passage from An Image of Africa from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 2nd ed.

How is African culture influenced in Chinua Achebe's novel 'Things Fall Apart'?

The second part of the novel focuses mainly on this aspect. It becomes clear that the arrival of the missionaries, obviously of European descent, and the establishment of foreign forms of government creates conflict not only between the colonialists and the tribes but also within the different villages, their inhabitants, their families and amongst individuals. It also gradually eroded the natives' convictions. It is this conflict and erosion which directly impact traditional culture and lead to its breakdown.

The arrival of a few white people created confusion amongst the natives, but the matter was quickly dealt with after consultation with the oracles, as Obierika tells Okonkwo in Chapter 15, when he went to visit him in exile:

"...The first people who saw him ran away, but he stood beckoning to them. In the end the fearless ones went near and even touched him. The elders consulted their Oracle and it told them that the strange man would break their clan and spread destruction among them..."

"...I forgot to tell you another thing which the Oracle said. It said that other white men were on their way. They were locusts, it said, and that first man was their harbinger sent to explore the terrain. And so they killed him."

The murder resulted in severe retribution by the white men, as Obierika explained further:

"...The three white men and a very large number of other men surrounded the market. They must have used a powerful medicine to make themselves invisible until the market was full. And they began to shoot. Everybody was killed, except the old and the sick who were at home and a handful of men and women whose chi were wide awake and brought them out of that market."

When Obierika returned for another visit, two years later, he told Okonkwo that the situation in his home village, Umuofia had changed drastically. The missionaries had built a church there and had already converted some of the inhabitants and were sending evangelists around to the other villages.

The missionaries also arrived in Mbanta and criticized the villagers' belief in dead gods of wood and stone who unfairly punished those who did not obey the rules and destroyed children. They were told of the holy trinity and the evangelists then burst into song, which enthralled many of the onlookers, especially Nwoye, Okonkwo's son.

Many of the villagers left and some of them mocked the new religion. However, an impact had been made and would later have serious repercussions on traditional life, since many of those who had been banished from their tribes would turn to the religion. Many converts would also be found in others, such as Nwoye, who had been affected by some or other painful trauma related to their own religion or culture.

When the missionaries were given land in the Evil Forest, many thought they would die, but they persevered and nothing happened to them. It was believed that they had a very powerful fetish and more converts were won. In this way, the missionaries gained more support, creating greater division amongst the villagers. The culture and beliefs of the natives were gradually being eroded in this manner.

The colonialists also introduced a new form of government and installed District Commissioners who introduced and exercised new laws. Certain cultural practices were outlawed, such as abandoning newborn twins in the evil forest. The perpetrators were arrested and imprisoned and were forced to perform menial tasks under guard. More serious crimes were punished by hanging. This form of control had a slow and debilitating effect on the villagers, which caused even more people to turn to the new faith, giving up their tradition.

Another factor which won many new converts, specifically in Umuofia, was the kindness and patience of Mr. Brown, the white missionary. He made the villagers believe that there was some value in the new faith, after all. He built a school and hospital in the village and, as the extracts below indicate, he won more and more support.

In the end Mr. Brown's arguments began to have an effect. More people came to learn in his school, and he encouraged them with gifts of singlets and towels.

And it was not long before the people began to say that the white man's medicine was quick in working.

It is in these ways that support for the white man's laws and his religion grew. Okonkwo was one of very few who saw the threat of the destruction of their culture. He was prepared to fight for his culture, but most did not have his fiery passion or conviction and gradually, Ibo culture was swallowed by a new belief system and a new government.

Okonkwo's suicide symbolizes the death of Ibo culture. He killed himself not only out of pride but also because he was not prepared to be dominated and ruled by something he could never accept. He would rather commit an abomination than commit to one.

How does Chinua Achebe present time in Things Fall Apart?

There is an overall linear chronology in Things Fall Apart, as the narrative about Okonkwo follows him from his youth to his death. Because the plot is oriented around Okonkwo, there is also a long gap regarding the events in Umuofia during the years that he lived in exile. The events in Mbanta are picked up when he arrives there. The reader, like Okonkwo, learns a little of what is happening simultaneously in Umuofia, and likewise becomes more fully apprised of those developments when he returns home.

The focus on Okonkwo also means that the author occasionally jumps around in time, but the way he manages this is consistent with a realist approach. Because people often have vivid memories of significant past events, the device of flashback fits into the overall forward movement. The use of flashback provides insight into the earlier lives of Okonkwo and his wife Ekwefi after their frightening ordeal when Ezinma falls ill. The reader also learns about Ekwefi's past pregnancies and the babies who did not survive, which is a set of experiences over time that profoundly shaped her identity and her relationship with her husband and son.

Time also serves as a metaphor for cultural difference, as modernity is associated with the British and their colonizing efforts, while tradition is the Igbo realm. The narrator includes elements from Igbo traditional narrative, which often reference the temporal scope of events, and Okonkwo also tells stories of the ancient times.

How does Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe relate to how things were in Africa during colonization from the Europeans?

Things Fall Apart is set during the height of European colonization. England is the colonizer relevant to the village of Umuofia. During colonization, England has outlawed the slave trade. Missionaries came to convert Africans to make amends for the atrocities of the slave era. English government rules the villages in the for District Commissioners. The Commissioners are at odds with the villages since the laws that govern Europeans and laws that govern village are extremely different. Achebe gives a picture of these things and their effects in his novel.