Things Fall Apart, Chapter 24&25 - 'The End Of Things'

"Why can't you take him down yourselves? he asked. It is against our custom, said one of the men. It is an abomination for a man to take his own life. It is an offense against the Earth, and a man who commits it will not be buried by his clansmen. His body is evil, and only strangers may touch it. That is why we ask your people to bring him down, because you are strangers. Will you bury him like any other man? asked the Commissioner. We cannot bury him. Only strangers can. We shall pay your men to do it. When he has been buried we will then do our duty by him. We shall make sacrifices to cleanse the desecrated land" (Achebe 207-208).

In this part of the book the Commissioner has come to the village of Umuofia for Okonkwo but it was too late because Okonkwo has killed himself. The villagers had known that Okonkwo was dead for a while but had not cut him down from the tree he had hung himself on when the Commissioner had arrived. The Commissioner and his followers found it odd that the villagers had not done anything to get him down and give him a proper burial and this was because to the village's culture Okonkwo has committed a sin to the Earth by committing suicide. This traditional culture in Umuofia where they will not touch the dead body of a person who has committed a sin in their culture would be challenged by an imperialist country because in an imperialist country whether a person who died had killed themselves or not or does not die from natural causes they would be given a proper burial with their loved ones and other people from that place would touch the body.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 22&23 - 'How Could You'

"They agrees and were already retiring, when Enoch boasted aloud that they would not dare touch a Christian. Whereupon they all came back and one of them gave Enoch a good stroke of the cane, which was always carried. Enoch fell on him and tore off his mask. The other egwugwu immediately surrounded their desecrated companion, to shield him from the profane gaze of women and children, and led him away. Enoch had killed an ancestral spirit, and Umuofia was thrown into confusion" (Achebe 186).

In this part of the novel the annual worship of the earth goddess is happening in the village of Umuofia and this worship happened to be on a Sunday. This angered one of the converts Enoch who has become extremely devoted to his new Christian religion and he does one of the worst things imaginable, he removes the mask from one of the egwugwu which kills the sacred spirit. Imperialism is encouraged through Enoch's patriotism towards his new found beliefs with the Christian religion. Enoch shows his patriotism when he courageously turns against everything he has known and he does the one thing he has known is wrong which is to take the mask off one of the egwugwu spirits believes that they are disrespecting his new Christian religion by touching a Christian. When Enoch the whole village of Umuofia is in total shock to what Enoch did because it showed that he has abandoned his beliefs and the lengthens he would go to show his patriotism to the Christian religion the white man brought to Umuofia.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 20&21 - 'How Should One Be Punished?'

"When he killed Oduche in the fight over the land, he fled to Aninta to escape the wrath of the earth. This was about eight days after the fight, because Oduche had not died immediately from his wounds. It was on the seventh day that he died. But everybody knew that he was going to die and Aneto got his belongings together in readiness to flee. But the Christians had told the white man about the accident, and he sent his kotma to catch Aneto. He was imprisoned with all the leaders of his family. In the end Oduche died and Aneto was taken to Umuru and hanged" (Achebe 177).

In this part of the novel Okonowo is learning from his friend, Obierika the things that have happened in his fatherland Umuofia and how the white man is changing a lot of the culture they have known for so long. One of their traditional cultures that is challenged by imperialism is when a man kills another man he is to flee from his fatherland with his family into exile for at least seven years. But when one man named Aneto got into a fight with Oduche where Aneto beats him to the point of being on the verge of death and his opponent Oduche is able to name who did this to him. Unfortunately for Aneto the Christians told the white man about this incident and before Aneto could flee his fatherland, he was taken away as well as his family to prison in Umuru and Aneto was hanged for his crime. Compared to the traditional culture of Umuofia where Aneto could have fled to another village and return to his fatherland after the crime he has committed, the imperialist culture would not see to that and punished Aneto for his crimes in a different way by hanging him.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 17-19 - 'Religion Is the New Imperialism'

"Unless you shave off the mark of your heathen belief I will not admit you into the church, said Mr. Kiaga. You fear that you will die. Why should that be? How are you different from other men who shave their hair? The same God created you and them. But they have cast you out like lepers. It is against the will of God, who has promised everlasting life to all who believe in His holy name. The heathen say you will die if you do this or that, and you are afraid. They also said I would die if I built my church on this ground. Am I dead? They said I would die if I took care of twins. I am still alive. The heathen speak nothing but falsehood. Only the word of out God is true. The two outcasts shaved off their hair, and soon they were the strongest adherents of the new faith" (Achebe 157).

In this part of the book Mr. Kiaga who is in charge of the congregation is sick and tired of Mbanta's superstitions of how if you have twins they must be left in the Evil Forest to die and that outcasts must never cut their hair and cannot go to any of the tribe's assemblies or live in house. Traditional culture is challenged by imperialism because when Mr. Kiaga tells the two outcasts that they will not be punished by their "heathen gods" if they shaved off their hair because he was also told that he would die if he built the church in the Evil Forest and yet he is still alive after many months. The two outcasts grow courage from Mr. Kiaga's words because if God did not punish Mr. Kiaga for having the church in the Evil Forest and taking in abandoned twins then he would have died long ago instead of staying alive so the two outcasts shave off their long hair and become some of the most devoted people of this new faith. Imperialism through the new religion disproves the traditional culture the Mbanta tribe knows because if their gods were truly real than Mr. Kiaga would have been punished which makes some people convert to Christianity and believe in only one God.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 15&16 - 'Outcasts'

"But there was a young lad who had been captivated. His name was Nwoye, Okonkwo's first son. It was not the mad logic of the Trinity that captivated him. He did not understand it. It as the poetry of the new religion, something felt in the marrow. The hymn about brothers who sat in darkness and in fear seemed to answer a vague and persistent question that haunted his young soul-the question of the twins crying in the bush and the question of Ikemefuna who was killed. He felt a relief within as the hymn poured into his parched soul. The words of the hymn were like the drops of frozen rain melting on the dry palate of the panting earth. Nwoye's callow mind was greatly puzzled" (Achebe 147).

The white people have come to Umuofia to spread their beliefs to the people in the nine villages and try to convert from believing in the egwugwu, and multiple gods and to just believe in only one true god. One of the villagers who is interested in these new beliefs and wants to convert is Okonkwo's eldest son Nwoye. Imperialism is encouraged through religion in this part of the book because the missionaries who are not from Umuofia are trying to convince everyone in each of the nine villages that they should not believe in their many gods and only believe in this one god. The missionaries, through an interpreter told the villagers that the gods they believe are evil because they tell you to kill others and destroy innocent children and that they should turn away from them and believe in the true God the missionaries are talking about who will reward them in life and in death.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 13&14 - 'Funeral Dos and Dont's'

"Ezeudu was a great man, and so all the clan was at his funeral. The ancient drums of death beat, guns and cannon were fired, and men dashed about in frenzy, cutting down every tree or animal they saw, jumping over walls and dancing on the roof. It was a warrior's funeral, and from morning till night warriors came and went in their age groups. The all wore smoked raffia skirts and their bodies were painted with chalk and charcoal" (Achebe 121).

In all the nine villages they were waiting to see what has happened when they heard the sound of the ekwe. Then when they announced that something that happened in the village of Umufia, Okonkwo was and everyone else was curious as to what happened and finally it was announced that Ezeudu who was the oldest man in the village had died. Ezeudu was a very important man in this village so they threw him a proper funeral for a warrior where guns and cannons were fires and the men of the village would kill any animal or tree they saw. This traditional culture for the village of Umuofia would likely be challenged by imperialism because in an imperialist country such as England they would have a grand funeral for someone as important as Ezeudu was but they would not have done some of these crazy things like kill every animal or tree they saw, fire guns and cannons, or have their bodies painted up. People at a funeral in an imperialist country would be dressed in black from head to toe giving their respects to the departed at any time with their families and not with people in their age group.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 11&12 - 'Food Is Worth It'

"Tortoise turned to all the birds and said: 'You remember that my name is All of you. The custom here is to serve the spokesman first and the others later. They will serve you when I have eaten.' He began to eat and the birds grumbled angrily. The people of the sky thought it must be their custom to leave all the food for their king. And so Tortoise ate the best part of the food and then drank two pots of palm-wine, so that he was full of food and drink and his body filled out in his shell" (Achebe 98).

Ekwefi is telling her daughter, Ezinma a story about how a tortoise who tried taking advantage of the birds' great feast and the consequences he suffered by doing this. In the story the second wife is telling, there is a famine in the land so tortoise was very hungry and would try anything to get some food and drink. Imperialism is showed in this story that is being told because the tortoise uses his knowledge of certain cultures to eat most of the great food and drink that the birds had prepared for their feast, before any of them could get a chance to have some. But when tortoise uses his knowledge of cultures to fill his growing appetite, the birds grow angry of how the tortoise took advantage of the birds' kindness to let him come to their feast and just use his superiority of knowledge of certain customs to eat all their food. So the birds also show imperialism through an act of patriotism towards their kind to get back at the tortoise, they tell his wife to bring out all the hard things instead of soft things so when he fell to land at his home he broke his shell.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 9&10 - 'Which Heals You Best?'

"Okonkwo returned from the bush carrying on his left shoulder a large bundle of grasses and leaves, roots and barks of medicinal trees and shrubs. He went int Ekwefi's hut, put down his load and sat down" (Achebe 85).

Okonkwo is notified by his second wife Ekwefi that their daughter Ezinma that she is supposedly dying but, Okonkwo concludes that Ezinma has got iba which is a fever. Okonkwo goes to a large amount of grasses and leaves, roots and barks to use to make some medicine for Ezinma which will help her recover from her sickness iba. In rural countries such as Nigeria which Umuofia is located in it is common to find that the medicine that they use is made from plants and herbs whereas in Western civilizations medicine is more advanced. In these Western civilizations they would mock the kind of medicine that the village of Umuofia uses to heal their illnesses. Any imperialist European would replace this form of medicine of using herbs and plants their more modern form of medicine to heal the sick. Although Okonkwo's medicine made of herbs and plants is different from the imperialist countries form medicine is should not matter which is better as long as they will both heal the person who is sick.

Things Fall Apart, Chapter 7&8 - 'True Love?'

"We had not thought to go below thirty. But as the dog said, 'If I fall down for you and you fall down for me, it is play'. Marriage should be a play and not a fight; so we are falling down again. He then added ten sticks to the fifteen and gave the bundle to Ukegbu. In this way Akuke's bride-price was finally settled at twenty bags of cowries. It was already dusk when the two parties came to this agreement" (Achebe 73).

In this part of the book Obierika (Okonkwo's friend) is discussing with the suitor Ibe and his father Ukegbu who were discussing the bride-price of Obierika's daughter Akuke. Obierika makes an offer of thirty broomsticks to give to Ukegbu in exchange for Ibe to marry his daughter but, they settle with giving twenty bags of cowries for the two to marry each other. This exchange between the two parties would not be tolerated if they were being ruled by an imperialist country. For example when France had control over some countries in Africa they tried to bring things to their standards by bringing Christianity over to the countries that they had control over. If the people in these villages had been ruled by the French and were practicing Christianity they would not have discussed the marriage between Akuke and Ibe in this manner at all. They would have been discussing whether or not that Ibe would be able to provide enough to take care of Akuke and have her as his only wife instead of having multiple wives like most of the men in these villages did.